food and lodging

Ellie didn't know why she'd called Eric first. It was actually the only telephone number she could remember. She hadn't meant to. She really hadn't. Or had she?

She looked down at the piping hot chicken pot pie that Casey's mother took out of the oven.

"Hope you don't mind, but we're trying to make room for some Omaha Steaks that are coming today." She told Ellie.

Ellie found herself smiling then. "I love chicken pot pie." Ellie couldn't wait to devour the hot crusty meal. She'd showered and was out of her old clothes. Just a baggy shirt and leggings now along with some flip-flops.

"How long do you think you were walking?" Casey wanted to know. It was after all in the mid afternoon. He was on break from college visiting his mother and grandmother out at their home near the Pine Ridge reservation.

"Dunno."

"You sure, we can't call the cops or someone?"

"I called a friend. He's on his way." Ellie nodded, but that might be more than eight hours from now. She was pretty sure Eric wasn't going to drive too fast. Not for her. And she wouldn't want him to, anyway.

"But what about this other guy? Could he-" Casey winced then as if he wanted to question her, but then he didn't.

"I'm all right. I'm fine." Ellie wanted to believe that. Maybe Ryan would get caught for speeding. Something. She felt too overwhelmed to even know what to say without sounding stupid or foolish. She broke into the steaming pot pie with a spoon then. Nothing was going to spoil her appetite. Not even Ryan.