Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) by Lindsey Fairleigh, Lindsey Pogue Page A

putting my canvas bag of wash stuff into the wheelbarrow, along with a
stack of the clothes that were already dry and folded on the boulder. “I’ll get
it,” Tavis offered. He exchanged a quick
glance with Jake, then pushed the wheelbarrow toward camp.
    Walking side by side, Jake and I
followed behind him.
    “Your shirts are clean,” I said
awkwardly.
    “Shadow’s fed,” he offered in
exchange, and treated me to a rare smile.
    I grinned. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll get
to start riding him soon. He seems to be doing a little better.”
    “Yeah, I think so,” Jake said. I
could tell he was trying to figure out what to say.
    “So, what do two people talk about
when one knows nothing and the other knows everything?” I asked, wondering if
my nervous babble helped break the tension or only added to it.
    Jake offered me a sympathetic
smile. “I don’t know everything.” After a brief hesitation, he added, “What do
you want to know?”
    I thought about it for a moment,
wondering which, of all my questions, I wanted to ask Jake the most. “What were
you like before the Ending? I mean, what did you like to do for fun and that sort
of thing?”
    He looked at me with an amused
grin.
    “I know it’s probably not the
question you were expecting, but I figured I’d start with the basics…”
    Leaning down, Jake pulled a piece
of wild grass from the field, and we continued walking. “For fun?” He shrugged.
“I traveled a lot, took a lot of odd jobs, and got into a lot of trouble
instead of going to college.” Jake paused, and I could feel a sudden sadness
filling him. “I came back when Gabe’s sister passed away from leukemia and
decided it was time to get my act together. I needed to be there for Becca.”
    “I’m sorry about your friend,” I
said. “At least you still have Becca and Gabe, I guess…” I’d seen enough of
Gabe’s memories to know that was sort of a sticky situation.
    Jake nodded, and I could tell he was grateful. “I just wish I hadn’t taken so long to do the right thing. I
finally found a good, steady job as a mechanic, bought a house, and figured out
how to stay out of trouble.”
    “Yeah? That’s good.” I had a hard
time picturing Jake getting into trouble, but then, I had no idea what I even did before the Ending. “And how was it that you managed to stay out of
trouble?”
    “Reading…a lot.”
    “Oh…”
    He gave me a thoughtful, sidelong
glance. “‘Oh?’” He smiled. “What were you expecting?”
    “I’m not sure, I just didn’t
picture you as a reader, I guess.”
    He shrugged. “I couldn’t picture
you as a gallery assistant.”
    “A gallery assistant? I can’t
really picture it either.” We ambled along, Tavis a dozen yards ahead of us,
rolling the wheelbarrow into camp, and Cooper exploring the sparse woods nearby.
    “I wish you could ask me a
question, or rather, that I could answer one,” I said quietly. “And I’m sorry
you have to tell me all of this again.”
    “Actually, we’ve never really
talked about this sort of stuff before.”
    “No? But I thought…”
    Jake shrugged. “Pasts don’t matter
so much when your whole world is ripped away from you. We just weren’t like
that…we didn’t dwell on the past.”
    It was hard to miss the longing in
his voice. “Oh,” I said.
    “Sorry, that probably wasn’t very
helpful.”
    Since he was closer to me than
usual, I had an easier time feeling his emotions. I knew he was sad and hopeful
and confused, which I understood and tried not to hold against him. I felt the
same way.
    “Maybe one day you can tell me
more about myself?” I joked, realizing how idiotic that sounded. Too bad it was
true.
    “Or, maybe…” He stopped walking,
and I automatically stopped as well. “Maybe we can just start over.”
    I faced him and stared into his
eyes, trying to see the truth, not just feel it. “Do you want to?” I was
picking up mixed signals from him, and I wasn’t really sure what my own