Page 34 of Nesting With My Three Alphas
"Safety," I said finally. "I see safety."
The silence that followed was loaded with meaning I wasn't quite ready to unpack. These men who barely knew me, who owed me nothing, were making me feel more secure than I'd felt in years.
"Good," Reed said finally. "That's what we were going for."
Micah pulled out his phone and began scrolling through something. "You know, there's an art supply store about twenty minutes from here. Nothing fancy, but they have decent basics if you wanted to try drawing again."
"Oh, I couldn't..." I started automatically.
"Why not?" Charlie interrupted. "You just said you liked doing it. And you need a hobby."
"Do I need a hobby?"
"Everyone needs a hobby," Charlie said seriously. "Dad builds furniture when he's thinking hard about stuff. Reed fixes things that aren't even broken sometimes. And Micah bakes way too many cookies when he's happy."
"What do you do when you're thinking hard?" I asked Charlie.
"Read about dinosaurs. Or build nests." She grinned at me. "But you already helped me with that one."
The easy way she included me in her list of important activities made my chest warm. Like I was already woven into the fabric of her world.
"I haven't drawn anything in over two years," I admitted. "I might be terrible at it now."
"Impossible," Micah said firmly, his thumb stroking across my knuckles. "That kind of gift doesn't just disappear. It might be rusty, but it's still there."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I see the way you look at people," Micah said. "You notice things. The way Jonah's shoulders relax when Charlie laughs. How Reed's voice gets softer when he's worried about someone. The little things that make people who they are."
I blinked, surprised that he'd noticed me noticing. "I do that?"
"Constantly," Reed said with a grin. "It's actually kind of flattering, being seen that clearly."
"Most people don't like being seen," I said. "They prefer the versions of themselves they present to the world."
"Most people aren't us," Jonah said simply.
The weight of that statement settled between us.Most people aren't us. Like they were something different, something better. Something worth trusting with the parts of myself I'd learned to hide.
"After lunch," Micah said, apparently taking my participation as a given, "we could drive over to the art store. Just to look around. See if anything calls to you."
"We?" I repeated.
"Well, Charlie needs new colored pencils for her dinosaur diagrams," Micah said innocently. "And Reed mentioned wanting to see if they have any decent wood stain for his latest project."
"And I could use some sketch paper for work drawings," Jonah added, his eyes twinkling with barely suppressed mischief.
I looked around the table at their expectant faces, these three men and one precocious child who were conspiring to give me permission to want something for myself.
"You're all terrible liars," I said.
"We prefer 'creatively supportive,'" Reed said cheerfully.
"Fine," I said, trying to sound exasperated instead of deeply moved. "But I'm not promising to buy anything."
"Of course not," Micah said solemnly. "We're just... browsing."
Charlie clapped her hands together. "This is gonna be so fun! Kit's gonna draw again!"
