Page 2 of Building Haven

“I can rent out a spa, if you’d like?”I joke, but if that’s what she wants, I’ll do it.I’ll do anything for her.

She laughs, sliding my braid over my shoulder forward, a dark red bow at the bottom.Where did she get that from?“Tempting, but I feel sticky enough as it is, I don’t need any more stickiness.”She sits behind me on the chair, her arms around my waist, her head against my back as she breathes slowly.“If we’re fleeing the house to get away from the noise, I’d like to go somewhere quiet.”

“Makes sense.”I put my hand over hers.“Maybe one of the others has an idea.”I think for a moment.“I can also rent a place in the middle of nowhere for a few days, until the renovations are done?”

“No, thanks.I’d like to sleep at home, feels better.Also, I don’t think Derrick will appreciate having to take care of security for a place like that, not when he’s in the middle of so many other things.”She laughs, relaxing against me more.

“Fair.I’d prefer to not push him away by overloading him with work.It’s hard to find good security.”I turn around slightly, pulling Vera into my lap, before I stand up, lifting her with me.“You said something about breakfast?”

She quickly wraps her arms around my neck.“Yes.Eli made you toast.I put it in the bedroom, in case it made you queasy.”

“Thank you.”She’s really considerate.

As I step into the bedroom, I spot the plate with toast on the table near the window and my stomach growls.Yes, I should really eat something.I kiss the side of her head as I sit down, keeping her in my lap.

I break a piece off the toast, putting it in my mouth.It’s dry, but it’s crispy and doesn’t make my stomach swirl, which is good.

“Oh!”Vera’s eyes fall on Riley’s suitcase, which is spilling out against Vera’s boxes with clothes.We really, really need more space for everyone’s clothes.“Can we go to a craft store?I’d like some crafting supplies and we can make things for our nest ourselves, make it extra special.”

I smile at her excitement, kissing her shoulder.“Sounds like a good idea, as long as it doesn’t contain glitter.Glitter is the herpes of the craft world.I don’t want any of that in my nest.”

That makes Vera laugh so hard that she nearly slides off my lap and I quickly wrap my arm around her to keep her in place.She can’t seem to stop laughing, and it’s hard not to laugh at her feeble attempts to stop.

I like her sweet smiles and quiet laughs a lot, but she doesn’t do these full-body laughs very often and they make me fall for her hard each time.It’s adorable and makes me feel like she trusts me a lot, to be this defenceless around me without paying attention to anything else.

Going to a craft store might not be such a bad idea.

Riley has been knitting on and off since she came here, and it looks like she’s nearly done with all the projects she brought with her.So she’ll probably also appreciate a trip to a craft store.I’m curious what other hobbies she’s into.

And maybe I should learn a craft or two.That way, I’ll have something to do when I’m too big to focus on much or when I’m awake in the middle of the night with the little ones.

That actually sounds like a good idea.I could probably get some reading done in that time, but I also know that I’m not that good at sitting still.

Doing something creative, just for the fun of it, isn’t something I’ve been able to do for such a long time, probably not since I was a little kid, before my parents were killed.

I guess it’s time for me to see if I’ve got any creativity, or if I’m better off watching the others do their thing and simply encourage from the sidelines.

Not that that would be so bad either…

2

Caleb

“Can we get an overlocker too?”Vera bounces over to the machines displayed at the farthest wall.

When I heard that we were going to a craft store today, I didn’t know what to expect.Vera is into crafty things, but we usually have to depend on luck to find something good.But I shouldn’t have worried as, within minutes, Riley had a shortlist of the best craft stores to visit in the area, sorted by type of craft.

Apparently, when she heard that Erika was sending her here for a week, she’d made a list of all potential craft stores she could need, because she wasn’t sure her knitting projects would be enough or that she’d want to do something else once she’d arrived.So, when Vera announced she wanted to go on a crafty outing, Riley picked the stores that best fit Vera’s requirements and we were ready to go.

The crafts store we went to didn’t have what Vera or Riley wanted, it was too ‘mainstream’ for their liking —too focused on the most recent social media trend, not enough on everyday crafts— and the two are apparently on the hunt for crafty projects that are also ‘useful’ in some way, not just crafty for the sake of crafting but something where we can use the end result.

Which is how we ended up in a gigantic fabric store with an attached store that specialises in sewing machines, both selling and repairs, and Vera is having the time of her life choosing a machine.

Lugging a sewing machine around while you’re on the run isn’t practical, so the only times Vera was able to use one was when she became friends with someone who had one or the rare few times we spent some time with Erika and her pack.

Vera is a pretty good sewist, and she’s fast too.She would put together a new dress in a day, a new shirt in an afternoon.And she always looked so good in whatever she made.I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s going to make next, once she decides which machine she wants, that is.

For years, she’s had her eyes on a ‘competent but low-budget’ machine, for if we ever settled down somewhere long enough that we could invest in buying things for fun and not only what was strictly needed.But now she’s got an unlimited budget, she’s starting to question if she should maybe buy something more fancy and that seems to have overwhelmed her so much that she’s looking all over the store instead of making choices.

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