PROJECT ANDERSON

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT: ANDIE

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe we just want to protect you?" I asked as I caught up with my daughter. 

"I don't need protecting Mommy, I need to understand why we couldn't have just stayed home." She argued back. "What was in the house that you didn't want me to see?"

Why did she need to know about that?

She didn't she just wanted to know what was going on around us, but I mistakenly thought she already knew because of the way she was acting.

"What did you see when you were in the house?" I asked before sitting down next to her and grabbed some canned soup.

"Just Daddy coming out of my room and then you came out with my stuff." she answered as she continued to play with her bear. "I knew better than to look around for anything that could have upset me."

"But you went into that room when I told you not to when we were in that poor family's house."

"I wanted to prove to you that I was brave." She defended sheepishly "But I wasn't."

"And what makes you thing that you are ready now?" I asked as I zipped up the black duffel we were using for our food supply.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But don't I have a right to know what happened?"

"Tell you what, if we make it to the bunkers safely and you show me that you aren't scared anymore I will tell you what happened." I said offering her a compromise.

"I can do that."

"Good, now lets go find you and Romeo some new toys." I said as I helped her off the floor. "And then we can go find your daddy."

"Are you worried that something is going to happen to him before we get there?" She asked as she placed her head against my hip.

"There's a lot that could go wrong before we get there honey and I'm worried about all of it."

"Maybe you should try to think about something else babe." Jesse said as he came up behind us.

"I wish I could, but it isn't that easy...especially for me." I said completely ignoring the fact that he called me babe.

"Mommy likes to worry." Ashley retorted softly. "She's always been that way."

"Well Ash when you've been through what your mother has there seems to always be something for you to worry about."

"How about we stop talking about me when I am standing right here." I said before picking up my bag and put it back onto my back and then grabbed the duffle. "I have enough food in here for a week, but there should be more in the bunkers."

"I was able to find the locks, but there doesn't seem to be any chains on any of the shelves, so we might have to stop somewhere else." He said almost scared that I would be mad at him.

"That's alright I figure that much...we need to find a hardware store." I said before walking passed him. "Come on Ash, let's go back to the truck."

"What about Daddy?" She asked as she looked back to Jesse.

"If he knows what's good for him, he'll be right behind us." I answered sweetly. "Don't worry about him."

She was still worried however, even though there wasn't anything to worry about...because like I said he was following right behind us.

"Everything is going to be okay baby girl." I said with a fake smile.

"I know that there is something wrong with you." Ashley said in almost a whisper as if it was some kind of secret.