Saving Me [MxM]

Chapter 23

Elle only stayed for a little while longer after he’d talked to her, and by the time she’d left, Varian had busied himself with finishing the new fence posts. It was still almost unbearably hot out when he’d accomplished that task, and he’d stopped in the barn to check on the horses and their water.

Cana snorted him a greeting and he paused at his stall, touching the velvety soft snout of the giant red roan gelding.

“Hey boy,” he said, dipping his head to lay his cheek against Cana’s nose. The horse stood quietly, absorbing the attention.

Eventually he drew himself away from his horse to check the water and found it still cool and plentiful. They’d have enough to last them through the humid night.

Slowly he made his way to the house, glancing towards the driveway in hopes of hearing Nathan’s car. It was about time for him to come back, but there was no sign of him. He might have decided to stop somewhere on his way home, that was a very real possibility, he decided and let it go.

Inside the house he found Venerra drawing at the kitchen table. Smiling softly he approached her, looking at the paper before her. She pushed it out and turned it towards him so he could see it better.

“Epona?” he asked, studying the chestnut colored mare with white hair and stripe.

“She’s pretty.” Venerra replied, glancing up to him for approval. “And she’s strong.”

“I’ll give you that.” Varian agreed, turning from the table towards the fridge. “What do we want for dinner?”

“Dessert.”

Chuckling quietly, he turned to look over his shoulder at his sister.

“You can’t have dessert for dinner.”

“Yes you can. Dinner can come after.”

“Regressive dinner, huh? Alright. What do we want for dessert then?”

She didn’t even pause to mull that over before a grin spread on her face and she set her colored pencil down. “Pie. Can we have pie? Please?”

It’d been a while since he’d last made pie. What kind of ingredients did he have as a filling for one? Turning to the fridge again, he opened it and rifled through. There were apples. Mixed berries. He supposed he could make a fruit pie.

“Apple or berry?” he asked, counting the number of both.

“Apple.”

Nodding, he closed the fridge and glanced to his sister. “Apple pie for dessert it is. Why don’t you pick dinner while I go take a shower? It’ll be a bit yet before we’ll want to eat.”

“Sure.” Venerra agreed, getting up from her chair and going to the cupboards to look for what she wanted.

Varian disappeared down the hall to his room to shower, gathering fresh clothes that wouldn’t chafe his skin any further and got in. It wasn’t a particularly long shower, but when he was done and making his way back to the kitchen he was still baffled by the absence of his mate.

Even when he got to peeling the apples and preparing the crust, there was still no sign of Nathan. Venerra offered to help him with the pie and he let her mix the apples with the sweetened cinnamon butter mixture before showing her how to fill the inside crust.

She was really absorbed in how to do it, and by the time they’d finished the pie and popped it in the oven, Varian found himself glancing to the front door more often than not, searching for some sign of Nathan’s return.

It was starting to get dark now, and while he made Venerra’s choice of dinner, which wound up being mac and cheese, he couldn’t bring himself to really enjoy the meal. The lack of Nathan was bothering him.