Page 86 of The Outsider
I flushed, and John grinned. We said a polite goodbye and departed for the next homestead on our list. Unfortunately, the next household—the Wangs—refused to allow me or Asha in. John made a fuss, but they wouldn’t budge. Instead, they insisted we wait at the gate to their homestead while they dealt exclusively with John and Kimmy.
“I’m sorry,” John said to me, pained. “Are you—?”
“It’s fine,” I replied, forcing a smile for his benefit. “Just get what you need, darling.”
He gave me a kiss and reluctantly left me at the gate with Asha. Kimmy shot us both a look of apology as she followed.
It didn’t end there. The next two households also refused us, leaving us waiting at their gates. I should’ve been prepared for it, but a wave of mortification still broke over me as I waited for John and Kimmy to return.You’re already on the outside looking in, a nagging voice in my head said. That’s how you’ll always be.
A dull ache in my lower back made itself known as Asha aggressively shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and stood there with utter contempt on her face.
“They’re treating us as if we’re the savages,” she said, and her scathing tone could’ve wounded even the most stoic person in the world.
“We would’ve treated them the same,” I replied weakly, even as it hurt me to admit it. Now, more than ever, Ifelthow wrong I’d been about Wastelanders. Nobody who could build a place as beautiful as the Valley was a savage. They were the architects of the only hope this fallen world might have.
Asha sighed. “I guess. Can’t wait to start scavving. Get out of this place for a while.”
“We just got here,” I said, nettled. “Can’t you at least give it a chance?”
She fixed me with that unsettling stare of hers. “Look where we are. You think they’re giving us a chance?”
“We’re still here,” I pointed out. “And if we play our cards right, they’ll let us stay.”
As the words came out, I knew I was saying them for myself as much as her…especially when we then had to visit the Jameson homestead. Predictably, they didn’t want us either. The eldest son, Zach—the one who’d made the crude comment about me at the council meeting—met us at the door and sneered.
“Take your outsider trash to the gate,” he said, and John told him to go do something I didn’t have the gall to repeat. Kimmy’s lips twitched, but she managed to maintain her scowl.
“You kiss your wife with that mouth, Madigan?” Zach replied, raising an eyebrow. “Knowing the quality of woman you’ve got there, she probably enjoys it. You think because you’re Oisín’s grandson, you get to break the rules? Nah. But you’ll get her and her friend off our property, or I’ll let my father know about this. Good luck getting half the Valley to trade with you then.”
The irony of Zach Jameson accusing John of abusing his grandfather’s former position to break the rules was not lost on me, and John looked like he could’ve cheerfully murdered him. I touched his arm.
“Don’t,” I murmured. “It’s okay. I’ll go wait.”
John gave me a helpless look that said he didn’t want to let this go. But I knew he had to. The Jamesons had the biggest farm in the Valley, and we needed seeds for planting in the spring. I also knew that with the amount of influence they apparently wielded, we couldn’t affordto be on their bad side—especially now, when our presence was so new.
I turned away and walked back towards the gate with Asha.
“Good,” Zach grunted behind us. “At leastthistrash takes itself out.”
Kimmy made a sharp retort as we walked away. Asha and I waited again at the gate, and I tried not to be totally dejected, but it was a losing battle at the moment.
“I wouldn’t worry, Claire,” Asha said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “The guy’s a complete waste of space. You don’t need to impress him, and he doesn’t deserve it anyway.”
I gave a weak smile. She was trying to comfort me, the way she used to. I touched her hand, and we waited in a more companionable silence for the other two to return.
“The next one’ll be better,” John reassured me when we finally rode away. I winced; the ache in my back had spread to my bottom. I wasn’t used riding for hours in a hard leather saddle.
“Yeah, Nimkii’s lovely,” Kimmy said brightly, then added, “I always thought it was too bad she was straight.”
Despite my mood, I laughed as Asha raised her eyebrows. Kimmy flushed a little in response and handwaved it away: “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t,” Asha said, and there was real amusement in her voice. “Pray tell, why would you wish she wasn’t straight? I didn’t know you were into girls.”
Kimmy’s only response was a snort, and my heart lightened a little. It felt good to see Asha teasing her, to know that the friend I remembered was still in there somewhere.
The next homestead apparently belonged to the Payette family, who specialized in textiles. I was finally going to get new clothes, which—whatever I’d told John before—were sorely needed. My current wardrobe had been worn so much that I worried it might disintegrate at any moment.
The Payette home wasn’t visible from the road; instead, there stood a large, rectangular building with a flat roof that looked more industrial than residential. A double glass door faced the road with a sign overhead that readPayette Textiles & Footwear.
