Page 11 of Home for Nathan
All in all, Zion was really enjoying his house and Secret Springs. There were good places to eat, there was an amazing library, he could get to any number of fourteeners in an extremely short amount of time.
And then there was Nathan.
Nathan, who was sweet and a little shy and a lot of opinionated about food among other things, and who made him absolutely crazy just by being who he was. And not in a mean way, more in a “alpha wants to do bad things to you, omega”sort of way. Which made him sound way more creepy than he was, but he’d been on three dates with Nathan now, and he had decided that might never be enough for him. He was taking it slow, though, because Nathan had been hurt badly, and because he was pregnant, and that was a commitment he had to respect.
Getting involved with the pregnant omega meant getting involved with their eventually born baby, and while that was totally cool with him in a lot of ways, it also scared him a little bit. Zion figured he needed to be self-aware enough to admit that. So he was taking it one date at a time.
He hadn’t even taken the kiss yet. They’d had a really nice long hug the last time they’d gone out. He’d taken Nathan to the truck stop, where they had ended up eating in his SUV, because poor Nathan couldn’t handle the smell inside even if he wanted the pancakes and chicken and maple sausage really badly. It had been so much fun, like going to a drive-in. In fact, pretty much everything he did with Nathan made him incredibly happy.
“Knock-knock,” somebody yelled through the open screen door, and he glanced up to see his friend Kaleb standing outside, grinning at him like a monkey.
“Hey, man, what’s up? Come on in. It’s open.” It wasn’t like he had to worry about anybody out here in the back of beyond to be perfectly honest. And if he did, he was pretty able to take care of himself.
“I brought lunch,” Kaleb said, holding up a bag that smelled like red sauce heaven. “I thought I’d come see if there was anything I could do to help.”
“Charlie kick you out?” he asked with a quick smile.
“Nah, he took the kids to story time at the library, and he was gonna hang out in town and do some work at the hotel. I didn’t really want to sit around and wait down there, so I came out here. I’m dressed for hard work, and I brought David’s.”
“Oh, damn. Did you get me a calzone and half and half salad?”
“I did. I know you well.” Kaleb’s grin widened to something a little evil.
Yeah, he figured Kaleb knew him about as well as anybody did, including his own siblings. The guy had partnered with him several years ago on a capital venture for a snowboard company, and they had hit it off like a house on fire.
“So you’re doing the floors?” Kaleb came in and sat the lunch bag on the workbench Zion had set up so he could cut things and look like he knew what he was doing with the chop saw.
“I am. Mainly it’s sanding and refinishing, but I had to replace one board.”
“It’s looking good, man. I can’t wait to see your hall tree in here. Is it out in the yurt right now?”
“Actually, it’s sitting in the living room if you want to go look at it. So is all the other stuff I got from the Crapitorium, because I had to kind of corral it all in one place while I work on the rooms.”
“I totally want to go see it. I’ll be right back.” Kaleb didn’t stand on ceremony with him, and he was glad. Also, he refused to feel house shame or worry even though Kaleb lived in one of the biggest mansions in western Colorado and had refinished the place to absolute historical perfection.
His own house was going to be more of an amalgamation of his personality and a restoration of the basic bones of the house so that it looked beautiful. He was going to have one room down in the basement, which he had to finish completely first, that was going to hold his snowboards and his awards and all of the things that probably wouldn’t fit in with the decor anywhere else. He figured that was one of those someday project, “I can keep everything in storage for a while” things.
Kaleb wandered back into the foyer. “That hall tree really is amazing,” he said.
“I know, right? Carrie knew a sucker when she saw one, there.”
“True that. So…” Kaleb began to unpack their lunch bag. “Charlie tells me you’ve had three dates with Nathan.”
“Wow, this really is a small town. Everybody knows everybody’s business.”
“Yes, but also Charlie and Nathan are getting pretty friendly. I think that he’s going to ask Nathan to come up to dinner at the house soon, which, you know, for Charlie, that pretty well means that he likes Nathan a lot.”
Kaleb had filled him in a little bit on Charlie’s history, and there had been some bad moments for the guy. Charlie felt like his home was his haven, and it was difficult for him to open up to friends coming over. Although once a year, Kaleb and Charlie did have a big reception up at the mansion, because why not? It was a historical part of Secret Springs, and Kaleb and Charlie did like to share it with people once in a while for charity.
“So what about it?” Zion asked. “I like the guy.”
“Well, sure. I mean, that’s obvious if you’ve gone out on those three dates now.” Kaleb waggled his eyebrows while he handed Zion a box with his calzone and another one with his salad. “I just kinda want to know where your head is. It’s probably none of my business, but it’s important.”
“I’m actually glad that Nathan has somebody who’s looking out for him,” Zion said as he grabbed the silverware that Kaleb handed over. “But my first instinct is to tell you to fuck off.”
Kaleb chuckled, opening up his own box which turned out to be maybe spaghetti and meatballs and a slice of pizza. “Yeah, I get that. I mean, nobody wants somebody digging into their love life. The only problem here is that Nathan is pregnant.”
Zion let his eyes go wide. “And there goes the elephant right through the room.”
