Page 17 of 10 Things I Hate About Zombies

‘And this is why I live alone,’ said Nick. ‘No laugh tracks. Just Alice’s snores.’

He waved at Alice, who was patiently sitting in the truck, enjoying pats from a passing postal worker.

‘So, a sitcom, huh?’ He shot Zoey a sly glance. ‘What would you call this episode?’

‘The One with the Mushroom Farmer,’ she said, not missing a beat.

Nick chuckled. ‘Well done. Give me a minute, and I’ll load up the fridge.’

He deftly positioned the fridge on the dolly, which was one of the handy ones built for going up and down stairs, then wheeled it down the pathway and hoisted it up on the truck.

The whole thing took about a minute.

All right, so it was maybe more efficient than Zoey’s Rube Goldberg concepting. But less satisfying.

‘How’s that?’ he asked, opening the truck door for her, and she climbed in. Thankfully, the old truck was positioned much lower to the ground than its giant modern counterparts, so she managed the movement with a modicum of dignity.

Except the bit where Alice immediately French-kissed her.

‘Alice!’ Spluttering, Zoey gave the pup a hug. ‘What a greeting. Nice bandana.’

Nick climbed into the driver’s side and gave Alice a scratch behind the ear. ‘She loves getting dressed up for a trip into the city. She let me trim her nails and everything.’

‘Wow, she is the best girl. My gran’s chihuahua would get so vicious about nail trimming that Gran had to cut four leg holes in a leather handbag and pop the dog into it before each session.’

‘Smart. Leather’s probably decent armour against a chihuahua.’

‘Except the barking,’ pointed out Zoey. She gestured to the right. ‘The shop’s just around the corner, by the way. I’ll direct you.’

Nick started up the truck, and Zoey glanced over at him, feeling shy. ‘Thank you for this. You really didn’t have to.’

He drummed the steering wheel with his thumbs. ‘There’s plenty of stuff we don’t have to do. But I find that it’s usually more rewarding to help someone out. Unless it involves plucking chickens.’

‘That seems like a solid place to draw a line.’

‘I think so.’ Nick pulled the truck out onto the narrow street, arcing around a giant chalked hopscotch game and a cluster of scooters that had been multiplying in front of a bright orange craftsman for the past month or so.

‘Ooh, they’re up to seven,’ Zoey marvelled. ‘I’ll have to let Ainsley know. We have a bet going. She promised me dinner at Lardo if they get to ten.’

‘Ten scooters is quite a collection.’ Nick paused to let a pedestrian wearing Shrek Crocs cross. ‘I play the same game with some of the houses out where the farm is. Only with rusted-out cars.’

‘Any hovering at ten or more?’ asked Zoey curiously.

Nick chuckled. ‘Let’s just say I would single-handedly be keeping Lardo in business.’

‘It’s the logistics of it I’m curious about. If you have a rusted-out car that doesn’t move, how do you go get the next one?’

Nick shot her an amused glance. ‘I’m imagining something like that river-crossing puzzle where the guy in the boat is trying to get his fox, goose, and bag of beans to the other side, but he can only take one at a time. But with friends who also have rusted-out cars.’

‘Or scooters.’ Zoey leaned forward, pointing. ‘If you turn at the intersection with the house with the pirate ship in the yard, it’s the building on the corner. You can just park on the side road.’

‘Pirate ship … oh shit, you’re not kidding.’

‘So much better than a treehouse, right?’

‘Depends on your thoughts about pirates.’ Nick parked the truck and hopped out, coming over to open Zoey’s door.

Wow, a gentleman.