Chapter 98: What's Love Got to Do With It?

It was time to head back. Dinner would be called soon, and at least one of us needed to be there. The two of us were currently the heads of this little group of humanity. We needed to be present, to further embed that influence.

Michelle broke the silence as we rode back, “Do you realize that you’re falling in love with that girl?”

Well, color me baffled. “What girl? What the hell are you talking about?”

She laughed out loud, “You are such a hopeless fool, sometimes!”

“What the fuck Michelle!?” was all that I could reply.

“You idiot. You can’t even see what’s happening. You, sir, are falling for that girl. Your seven-year rule failed you,” she said with a smirk.

“The hell, you say,” was all that I could come up with, in response. We rode on for a minute or two, in suddenly tense silence.

“You and I - it’s never been about being in love,” she said gently, “it was about fun, comfort and friendship.”

All I could do was look at her.

“You’ve never been ‘in love’ with me, Zach, and I’ve not been ‘in love’ with you. We’ve been great friends, companions, and partners in this fucked up time-travel adventure. But that doesn’t mean that we’re a couple. We’re really still just business partners and you’ve just set me up in business again, in this time. It’s pretty much like you saved my business in the before time.” With that, she went silent.

It was finally my turn, “Michelle, you are the best friend I’ve ever had.” Plain and to the point with a little pain in it.

She gave me a long soulful look and replied, “Zach, I’ll remain your friend and business partner forever, but a wedding isn’t in our future. Ever.”

We rode along in silence. I lit another cigarette.

Suddenly, she laughed merrily, “That doesn’t we won’t have children, though...” and she galloped away.

It took me a moment to react, and only a minute or two for Lunch to gobble up the distance between us; the boy can run. Brin was happily chasing after us.

We went past Michelle and Cecile at an all-out sprint and I reined Lunch in, to confront her.

“What the hell do you mean?” I demanded.

Michelle reined up and simply looked at me.

So I stared back. I could do this. I was pretty good at staring contests.

Of course, she laughed at me and said, “The world has changed on you, big guy. Don’t you realize what your new reality is like?”

Well, obviously, I didn’t. So I just kept my mouth shut and waited.

Michelle had a point to make and was determined to make it, “You, sir, are the most desirable breeding stock in at least two hundred miles. Maybe a thousand. People like you just don’t happen very often.”

“The fuck, you say!” was the absolute best response I could come up with. I wish I could say I wasn’t flabbergasted, but I was.

“Yup. You are rich, powerful, handsome, and young. Not to mention that your exploits on the field of battle precede you wherever you go. We even heard about your fight with the Lakota down here, long before you returned.”