Page 13 of Nave (Henchmen MC: Next Generation #14)

Lolly

It was the first time in a long time that the sun shone on my face in the morning, and I was happy to wake up.

Hell, I was up before Edith, who was still snoozing soundly after I took a bracingly cool shower.

Kit and Ariah claimed that the water would get warm. But that they’d always just been too impatient and dealt with the cool water instead.

The cool showers and the composting toilet were the only big adjustments to my new life, though, and they were hardly a sacrifice at all if it meant I got my freedom.

I walked up the center of my new home, smiling at the little touches the girls had obviously put on the place when they’d been living there.

They had replaced the built-in dining area with something cuter and more feminine.

The driver and passenger seats had covers on them.

A soft hair tie was still stuck around the shifter.

There were decals on some of the windows.

I was sure they lent privacy, but I was equally as sure the aesthetics came into play as I watched the little rainbows sprinkle the walls from the sun shooting through the decals.

They’d even painted the ugly dark (faux) wood cabinets a much less oppressive off-white and used pretty green and pink vinyl tiles on the floor.

There were a few personal items stored away with all the practical things too: Kit’s Sunnydale High School Survivor sweatshirt and Ria’s buttery soft cashmere throw, and a collection of mismatched earrings in both their styles, and little beach passes from all up and down both coasts.

Edith let out a little woof to let me know she was awake and couldn’t jump off the bed.

I was going to have to rig something up for her.

Luckily, the girls had all kinds of wood lying around for ‘future projects.’ I was sure I could snag some.

Though, whether I would know what to do with it or the tools I’d need to make something was another thing entirely.

“Gotta go potty?” I asked, reveling in the freedom of being able to just let her out the door.

But the step was blocked.

By a cute little pink and white cooler.

I picked it up so Edith could head out, then brought the cooler inside so I could pull off the note.

Lolly - Just some essentials. Figured you’d want something to eat in the morning. Eggs are from our chickens. Fruit and veg from our gardens. And Ria made the mozzarella. - Kit

God, I couldn’t seem to stop crying lately.

I had no idea if it was just the relief of being free, the kindness from virtual strangers, or, you know, the pregnancy hormones.

Maybe it was all three.

Reaching inside the cooler, I pulled out a sauce container of balsamic glaze, half a dozen multicolored eggs, a bunch of tomatoes, lettuce greens, cucumbers, herbs, potatoes, strawberries, grapes, a small loaf of sourdough bread, and one perfectly round mound of homemade mozzarella cheese.

I didn’t even know you could make mozzarella cheese at home.

Inspiration struck; I sliced some of the cheese, tomatoes, and basil, set it on a slice of bread, then drizzled it with the balsamic for a quick caprese open-faced sandwich.

Not exactly breakfast food, but so good that I had to make a second one as I got Edith’s breakfast together.

Once finished, I cleaned up, then grabbed Edith’s leash. “Want to go explore?”

After the mint lemonade, homemade bagel lunch, and hearty stew dinner, and lots of talking, it had been too late for us to go explore the homestead. But Kit and Ria had assured me that they would be around at any point during the day if I wanted to walk around.

“Oh, hello,” I said as we stepped out of our little fenced yard to find a brilliantly colored rooster with his elaborate tail feathers running our way. “I don’t know if you should be here. Shouldn’t you be taking care of your ladies?”

If there was one farm animal I did have a small bit of experience with, it was chickens.

There’d been a few of them free-ranging around the trailer park when I was a kid.

They’d go up under the bushes, digging and pecking around in the dirt until they made little cooing sounds when they found a bug.

Until one day, they were nowhere to be found.

Then my father told me that they were probably on someone’s dinner plate, and I’d cried for days.

“Oh, okay. You’re coming with us?” I asked as he followed along, looking very serious.

We passed Ria’s tidy tiny house, then followed a little path in the woods before it opened up again to a sprawling field.

It was dappled on one side with rows of perfectly placed trees. The orchard, I figured. Kit had been talking about how summer and fall would have them so flush with fruit that they had to learn to can and make jam with it.

To the back were more well-laid rows of various plants.

Where much of my breakfast had come from, I was sure.

There were other areas, too.

Large sheds with fenced-in areas attached.

In them, I spotted turkeys, ducks, and, yes, lots of chickens.

Seeing his ladies, the rooster ran off, pacing the fence, frantic to get back in.

“Yes, well, I wouldn’t have to let you back in if you didn’t sneak out when I brought you breakfast, now, would I?

” Kit asked, coming out in an apron full of tiny pockets that she seemed to have eggs stuffed in.

As well as a basket of them hanging off her arms. “Go on then,” she said, letting the rooster back inside. “Oh, hey! Good morning.”

“Good morning. Thanks so much for the food. I made a caprese sandwich.”

“Girl, that’s one of my go-to meals on days when I’m too lazy to cook. Ariah’s mozzarella is out of this world. And I’ve literally been to every state and still think Jersey tomatoes are the best.”

“It was the best breakfast I’ve had in years. Well, second best to Nave’s pancakes.”

“Well, that’s like trying to compare apples and oranges. He and his father have always been really good cooks. So, do you want a tour?”

I spent the next hour or so going in and out of coops, the barn, picking up chickens, petting mini goats and a soft-eyed cow, watching ducks splash around in their pools, feeding a friendly donkey a carrot straight from the garden, and then collecting a few more fruits and veggies to make myself a little soup later.

“Soon, we will have some grains, too,” Kit explained. “We’re growing a little bit of everything: wheat, rye, barley, oats, amaranth, and millet, mostly. Lots of wheat so we can make it into flour and, eventually, bread.”

I wouldn’t pretend to know what all that entailed, but I had a feeling it would be a lot of work.

“Is your goal to be fully self-sustaining?”

Kit gave me a wince.

“Well, if you are asking as one of our viewers, kind of.”

“If I’m asking as a friend?”

“As a friend, I really, really like coffee and chocolate.”

“I mean, they are essentials.”

“Exactly,” Kit said, reaching down to tug a bunch of lettuce out of the ground because it was ‘bolting.’ “I mean, it’s nice to know that if something ever happened and shelves went bare for a while, we would be able to feed ourselves with what we grow and store.

Oh, remind me to show you the root cellar.

But, yeah, I’m not trying to live completely off the land. ”

“Still, this is really something you two have built yourselves here. Do you plan to stay forever?”

Kit turned in a circle, sucked in a deep breath, and nodded. “Yeah, I think I do.”

“What about when you settle down? Have kids?”

“Well, you can’t get much more settled than we are here,” she said, going over to the chickens, opening the door, and throwing the lettuce in.

“But, I mean, yeah. This is home. We might need to add onto our houses over the years, but I don’t plan on leaving.

I can’t think of a better place to raise my babies. ”

I couldn’t seem to stop my hand from slipping to my stomach. Which was fine in private when I was picturing the future and how my body was going to be changing. But in front of others, it gave my situation away. Whether I meant to or not.

Kit’s gaze followed, then flicked back up.

“Does Nave know?”

My hand dropped. “Yes.”

To that, Kit’s brows pinched. “But then why are you here?”

“What?”

“If he knows, why are you living in the motorhome? Do I need to go take a visit to my Uncle Laz about it?”

“Your Uncle Laz?”

“Nave’s dad.”

“Why would you need to talk to Nave’s dad?”

“So he can knock some sense into his son.”

Oh.

Oooh.

“No, no. You misunderstand. It’s not Nave’s baby.”

“You sure?”

“Trust me, I wish it could be Nave’s. It’s… someone else’s. I just had nowhere to go, and Nave once offered to help me get away from my ex. I finally managed to call in that favor.”

“So the ex…” Kit gestured toward my stomach.

“Yes.”

“Must be a real shithead if you’re willing to do this whole thing alone.” She paused. “Well, no. You’re not alone. You have me and Ariah,” she said, wrapping an arm around my waist as we started to walk back toward the houses. “And, of course, Nave.”

“I don’t think I, you know, have Nave. I don’t think I’ll be seeing him much anymore.”

As much as my heart ached at that reality.

“You sure about that?”

Kit nodded her chin.

When I followed her gaze, I saw Nave slamming the door of a black SUV, revealing the bags in his hands.

“Oh, hey,” he called as we drew closer.

“Were your ears ringing?” Kit asked.

“What were you saying about me?”

“Well, I was about to go to your father to have him kick your ass for shirking your responsibilities. Until I realized it isn’t yours.”

“Oh, that. I didn’t want to share her secret with you guys without her permission.”

“Eh, it’s fine. A baby around here would be fun. Okay. I’ll leave you two to talk. I have some chores to finish up.”

“Thanks for the tour. And the snacks,” I said, waving the basket full of eggs and fruit and veg on top.

“Just drop the eggs at my door when you’re done putting stuff away.”

With that, Kit was off, leaving me alone with Nave.

“I didn’t think you’d be by so soon.”