Afterward, when the boys had gone up, and Mateo and Roy had gone back to the bunk house, she sat across from Gideon at the kitchen bench with the ledger and her ration list. "I need to talk to you about provisions," she said. He looked at the ledger. Now you should know where we are before you sleep. She turned the ledger so so he could see the numbers.
We have enough to manage through March on current consumption. If this storm keeps the supply road closed past 2 weeks, we start cutting portions. I'd like to start the rationing plan now before we have to so the adjustment isn't drastic later. He looked at the columns she'd written. He was quiet for a moment.
This is very organized, he said. I've been at it all afternoon. While you were also, he stopped. Looked at her. The ledger needed doing, she said.
He was quiet again in a different way. Not the flat evaluating quiet of the first week. Something more like someone working out how to say something. They don't have the right words for her. The men won't like the ration cuts, he said finally.
No, but they'll like getting to April less if we don't manage it now. She closed the ledger. I can handle the kitchen side of it. I need you to back me with the men. Same as Coats and Briggs.
Same as Bellard. He looked at her steadily. You're asking me to tell my hands that the cook decides how much they eat. I'm asking you to tell them that the person managing the winter food supply has made an assessment and you trust it. She met his eyes.
Do you? The question sat between them. He said, "Yes." It was one word. She received it the way she received most things he said without visible reaction. And she stood up and put the ledger back on the desk.
"Get some sleep," she said. Stay on the ground floor tonight. The stairs are narrow if you're unssteady, and I'd rather not find you at the bottom of them in the morning. There's a cot in the study. Then use it.
She banked the fire for the night. She moved through the kitchen, turning things off and down and covered in the specific way she had developed over 3 weeks of learning how this particular stove behaved overnight. She was at the kitchen door when he said her name. She stopped. The men, he said, they'll back you.