Page 43 of Bonding the Band

“We could try,” he offered. “We’re in Minneapolis next. We have one show booked there, then Chicago for four nights and Boston for three.”

“Of course, they’re nowhere near Seattle,” Meadow lamented, looking off into the distance, deep in thought.

“We could fly you out if you wanted,” I suggested. “At least, until it’s not safe for you to fly anymore.”

“Can you come with us?” Hendrix asked.

Meadow was chewing on her lip, her sweet scent turning slightly sour as she thought. It wasn’t an ideal situation, having a mate who was busy with university and unable to accommodate our schedule. “I can ask my professors about taking my classes online for a few weeks, but I’ll have to be there for my final project.”

“You can come live on the bus with us!” Arlo beamed at her. “It’ll be an awesome long-term sleepover! You can have the bedroom. Won’t that be amazing, princess?”

“I mean…sure, but I’ll need to go home first. I didn’t bring much of anything with me.”

“You don’t need anything. We can buy whatever you need,” Hendrix insisted. “We have money. It’s the least we can do.”

Instead of jumping on the offer, like I would expect most women to, she frowned at him. “I would much rather have my own things, my own nesting supplies. Thanks to the little nugget I’m growing, I’ve become even more attached to my creature comforts.”

“We can hire someone to go get your things,” I offered, desperately trying to figure out a way for her to get her things without leaving us and fucking over Hendrix’s health. He was already looking so much better with her around. If the pair of them separated again so quickly, it could be a nightmare.

“No!” she rushed to say. “I appreciate the thought, but the idea of anyone else handling my things makes me want to hurl.” She shuddered. “If I had strangers touching my nest, I’d have to burn my stuff, and Ilovemy nest.”

Ah. Yeah. We would need to facilitate her nesting.

I was fairly certain that the nesting instinct got worse during pregnancy as well. “We’ll do everything we can to deep clean the bedroom, so you can use it as a nest.”

Phin laughed. “Should probably burn that whole mattress and the sheets.”

“But wechristenedthose!” Arlo whined.

“Yeah, and probably two dozen other women got christened on them too. I can’t have them near my nest.” Meadow hummed. “I would probably need some extra pillows to fill in the space so the bedroom feels cozier. The pregnancy has made me hate open spaces, and I’ve basically constructed myself a blanket fort between the bed and the wall.”

We could do that.

“Is a tour bus really the best place to have a nest?” Phin asked. “We’ll be in a different city every week. Is that too much disruption?”

“I think it should be okay?” Meadow replied. “The bus is the one constant in all of that, and as long as the nest is perfect, I should be fine. Obviously, I would prefer to stay home, but I can’t be apart from Hendrix without feeling like something a cat threw up. And I refuse to be the reason that a bunch of people lose their jobs because you guys changed the tour.”

“That means you’re staying with us, then,” Arlo declared happily, sweeping Meadow up into a hug.

“Are we sure Gary won’t throw a fit at her being here?” I asked. “Not that I care about his opinions, but I just want us to be ready if that’s going to be the case.”

Hendrix shook his head. “Gary won’t say a word. I’ll make sure of it.”

I nodded, hoping like hell he was right. The last thing we needed was Gary upsetting Meadow. Then again, with Meadow around, Hendrix would have a little extra pep in his step, and he could hopefully rely on that instead of drugs.

Mentally, I started making a list of everything we would need to keep Meadow on the bus. The Internet offered some very helpful articles on the comfort of pregnant omegas.

“Do we have time to go get her stuff?” Phin asked. “The tour bus leaves tonight for the next stop.”

I thought for a moment, running a few calculations in my mind.

“We can all go. If we pay our backup driver to come with us too so they can switch off, we should be able to make it in time for the next show.”

“I have to go with Clover,” said Meadow. “She drove me all the way here. We could meet you in Seattle? We can move a bit quicker in the car than a bus can, and by the time you arrive, I should have everything I need packed.”

“That takes you away from Hendrix, though,” I pointed out. “He looks healthy for the first time in ages. Could he go with you, and we could follow in the bus?”

“Yeah, that should work. I’ll double-check with Clover.” Meadow yawned. “Okay, if we’re doing this, we need to do it in the morning because it’s getting late. Clo and I can get a cheap hotel for the night. We saw one on the way in.”

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