Harem Apocalypse: My Seed is the Cure?!

Chapter 372: Waking up at Carmen’s

The next morning, I woke up feeling like some old man who had slept too well and now had to pay for it.

My whole body felt heavy in that good, stupid way that only came after real sleep.

Yeah.

Turns out I’d been lying to myself yesterday about being fine sleeping on the ground.

One night in an actual bed and suddenly all my standards came crawling back from the dead.

What made it worse was how completely I’d been out. No half-waking. No shifting around. No snapping awake at every little sound like somebody might decide to split my skull open while I slept. I had just dropped and stayed gone.

Honestly, I’d slept even better than I had back in the Whitesun Hotel.

That thought lasted right up until I looked toward the window and noticed how bright it already was.

I froze.

Then I turned toward the clock.

"Crap."

It was already late in the morning.

I threw the blanket aside and got out of bed too fast, nearly stumbling because my legs still hadn’t caught up with the rest of me. I grabbed my clothes, pulled them on in a rush, dragged my shirt over my head, and ran a hand through my hair in a useless attempt to make myself look less like I’d just climbed out of the grave.

I really hoped Summer hadn’t already gone alone to that damn mall.

I opened the door and hurried downstairs two steps at a time, one hand catching the railing as I took the corner too fast. The smell of food hit me before I reached the bottom, warm and rich and distracting in a way that was honestly unfair when I was trying to panic properly.

Then another thought caught up with me.

Wait.

They even did breakfast here?

That surprised me more than it probably should have. With the way things were these days, breakfast wasn’t exactly a given. Most places barely managed one decent meal without stretching supplies thin. But then again, the Boardwalk handled its resources better than most places I’d seen. People here knew how to keep things running. They had systems, gardens, routines. They weren’t exactly living easy, but they were doing a lot better than plenty of others still breathing out there.

When I got downstairs, I spotted Carmen outside in the little garden area, bent slightly over the old stove while she cooked. Smoke drifted up in thin gray strands, and the morning light caught against her hair and shoulders while she moved calmly between the pot and the small table beside her like this was just another normal day.

Inside, Shannon was stretched out on the sofa with a book in her hands.

The second she saw me, she sat up with a smile.

"Oh, Ryan. Finally awake."

"Yeah," I muttered, still trying to fully come back to life. "I slept too long..."

"You did," Carmen called from outside with a small laugh in her voice. "Come sit. I’m nearly done."

Great.

After already eating lunch and dinner here so often, now I was about to start taking breakfast too.

At this point I was really starting to feel bad.

Still, my stomach didn’t care much about my guilt. The smell alone was enough to remind me I was hungry all over again.

I stepped closer, slower this time, and looked at what Carmen was making with the meager stuff people in a world like this could still scrape together. And somehow, like always, she was making it look easy. Between the vegetables from the garden, whatever they had managed to preserve, and whatever trick she seemed to know with seasoning and heat, it didn’t look meager at all.

It looked good.

Way too good.

The small garden helped, obviously. They were probably better off than most because of it. Still, that didn’t fully explain how Carmen kept turning limited supplies into food that smelled like something from before the world got chewed apart.

Shannon had already tossed her book aside and was watching me amused.

"You look shocked, Ryan," she said.

"I am a little," I admitted.

"At breakfast?"

"At the fact your mom can apparently make a proper meal out of thin air."

Shannon smirked proudly. "That’s not even one of her best ones."

Carmen shook her head lightly from outside. "Don’t listen to her. She says that every time."

"Because it’s true," Shannon said at once, like this was a matter she was fully prepared to defend in court.

I drifted toward the doorway and leaned there for a second, letting the warmth from the stove and the smell of food hit me properly now that I’d stopped rushing.

There was bread warming on the side, something cooking in the pan that smelled savory enough to make my stomach tighten, and a few things laid out that looked simple but clean and cared for. Nothing fancy. Nothing wasteful. Just good food made by somebody who knew exactly what she was doing.

In a world like this, that kind of thing almost felt dangerous.

It made a place feel too comfortable.

Too easy to want.

Carmen glanced over at me and smiled when she caught me staring. "You look like you’re trying to decide whether to apologize or sit down."

"A bit of both," I admitted.

That made her laugh softly.

"Then sit down first and apologize later."

"See? You’re invited. Again. So stop standing there and eat, Ryan," Shannon said, grabbing my arm again and pulling me down into the chair before I could argue.

I gave up and sat.

A minute later, I was already eating with them.

It was way too good.

I still had no idea how Carmen managed to make food taste like this. Even the bread was ridiculous. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten bread that good, maybe ever. It wasn’t even some huge breakfast spread either, but that barely mattered. In this world, the simple fact of sitting at a table and having breakfast at all already felt like a luxury.

No wonder Maribel and Summer came here so often. And I wa surety sure it wasn’t wrong that they were pretexting excuses just to come here and eat Carmen’s cooking.

"It’s really good," I said after swallowing. "Again. Thank you."

Carmen finally sat down too and waved it off lightly. "No need to thank me. You saved my daughter’s life. This is the least I can do."

I winced a little at that. "At this rate, I’m going to keep eating at your expense forever using that same reason."

Carmen looked at me across the table, and her expression shifted just enough to make me straighten a little.

"That is not an excuse, Ryan," she said. "Or does my daughter’s life weigh that little to you?"

"N...No," I said immediately. "That’s not what I meant at all."

The second the panic hit my voice, Carmen laughed.

Shannon rolled her eyes. "Geez, Mom, stop messing with him. Ryan really does think I’m precious. Otherwise he wouldn’t have saved me like that."

I kept quiet.

Mostly because if I said what I was actually thinking, it would probably come out wrong. I hadn’t even known her when I saved her. I’d done it because letting her die in front of me had never been an option. That was it. Simple. Still, I didn’t feel like turning that into an argument at breakfast.

So instead, I focused on what actually mattered.

I needed to find Summer.

And preferably before she wandered off to that place by herself.

I cleared my throat and tried to sound casual. "By the way... do you know where Summer lives?"

The silence that followed hit immediately.

I heard my own words too late and felt heat crawl right up my neck.

Great.

Asking where a girl lived at breakfast really did sound bad when you stopped to think about it.

"N...No, I mean—"

Carmen was already smiling.

"Of course I can tell you," she said, clearly enjoying this far more than she should have. "Though I’m not sure Marlon would appreciate you scouting out his daughter’s house."

"It’s not for that," I said quickly.

Which only sounded guiltier.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t exactly explain the real reason. Saying Summer and I were sneaking off together to check the Piers Shop would’ve sounded even worse.

Shannon propped her chin on her hand and stared at me with immediate suspicion. Then her mouth twisted into a sulk.

"I can’t believe it," she muttered. "So that’s your type? Someone like Summer?"

I nearly choked on the next bite. "What?"

Carmen gave Shannon a look. "And what exactly are you brooding about? Summer is a wonderful girl."

"I know," Shannon said with a dramatic sigh. "That’s why I’m jealous."

I blinked at her.

She kept going like she hadn’t just said something weird. "He probably fell for her pretty eyes."

"No, it’s not about that," I said at once.

Then, annoyingly, my brain betrayed me.

Because Summer’s eyes were... yeah. Hard to ignore. That aqua-green color of hers was the kind of thing you noticed whether you wanted to or not, bright enough to almost look turquoise in the light. Not a normal color. Not the kind you forgot after seeing once.

I paused for half a second.

Probably from her mother, I thought.

Honestly, she probably got everything from her mother. I still didn’t see a single damn resemblance between her and Marlon. Nothing. Not in the face, not in the attitude, not in the way either of them moved. If someone told me they weren’t related, I’d believe it on the spot.

"You’re thinking about Summer again, Ryan," Shannon said, catching the pause immediately.

I snapped back to the table. "I just need to talk to her since Maribel left me on my own."

The excuse came out fast enough that I barely thought about it.

I had just thrown Maribel under the bus.

Shannon’s eyes widened. "Wait, really? Maribel abandoned you?"

"Well..." I shrugged, trying to make it sound less messy than it was. "She said she didn’t want to babysit me anymore."

"That’s strange," Carmen said, thoughtful now. "Coming from Maribel."

Damn.

Maybe that had been the wrong thing to say.

I stood up before either of them could start digging deeper. "Anyway, thanks for breakfast. I should get going. I still need to help around."

Carmen smiled, still looking mildly unconvinced by half of what I’d said. "Have a good day, Ryan."

I nodded, headed upstairs to grab a jacket, and came back down fast before Shannon could corner me with more questions. After Carmen finally told me where Summer was living, I shoved my feet into my shoes, mumbled one last thanks, and got out the door before Shannon could start pestering me again.