4. Tomás

Tomás

" S hould we help him?" Juan asked, sledgehammer slung over his shoulder. "He did come in two hours early."

"Hmm, I'm not sure." Carter grabbed Tomás's thermos of coffee from where it sat on the hood of his truck. "He's the one that promised to build a chicken coop during mud season."

Tomás ignored them and slowly trudged through the mud to bring another load of rough lumber to the old woodshed behind Henry's farmhouse. It was the closest outbuilding to the house and Tomás figured Henry would want Sophie's coop as close as possible. The walls were rotted in areas and there wasn't a floor, but Henry had some good ideas on how to make it look good.

"He won't even walk through the grass because he doesn't want it to turn into a mud pit."

Carter drank Tomás's coffee. "We can't interfere. We wouldn't want to upset his mating dance."

"Huh?" Juan tilted his head.

"You haven't met Henry yet," Carter said. "He's young and handsome."

"Tomás wouldn't just fall for a nice face." Juan huffed. "Give the kid some credit."

"You're right." Carter took another drink. "Well, Henry also loves animals."

"That's better, but still," Juan shook his head, "I'm not convinced."

"Why else would he do this?" Carter waved toward him. "Look at him. He's gonna lose a boot in that shit."

Tomás trudged back to the truck for another load. "Will you two shut up? Either come help me or get back to knocking down walls. And leave my coffee alone, Carter. Zoe makes that special for me."

"Is he the boss now?" Juan asked, brow raised.

Carter laughed. "Don't worry. He knows I'm in charge."

"Wait, you're in charge?" Juan looked surprised.

"I'm the one who started the company, so of course I'm in charge."

"No way. I bring more to the company, so I'm obviously the boss," Juan countered.

Tomás came to a stop in the mud and glared at the two men. "Listen, assholes. I want at least a third of the walls on the first floor down before lunch. Don't make me call Gramps."

"Do you hear this?" Juan asked, giving Carter a disbelieving look.

Carter shrugged. "I told you. It's his mating dance. He's meeting Henry for lunch and wants to impress him."

"Threatening to call Gramps," Juan grumbled, shaking his head. "The nerve of some people."

Carter set Tomás's thermos down and pulled a few boards from the back of Tomás's truck. "Seriously. Like we'd be afraid of Gramps."

"There's one of him, but two of us." Juan grabbed some boards as well and followed Carter through the mud. "What's there to be afraid of?"

Tomás smirked. They could bitch all they wanted, but they were properly motivated now.

A few hours later, Tomás had patched the walls of the shed and had almost finished framing the floor. He'd need to pick up some plywood in town after lunch, but he had some spare vinyl flooring he'd squirreled away from a previous job. It'd make clean-up in Sophie's coop easy and keep pests out.

He checked his phone for the time, then hiked back through the muddy yard to the house.

Juan danced in place to the music blasting from his Bluetooth speaker, and swung his sledgehammer, breaking apart another piece of the wall in front of him.

Carter grinned when he saw Tomás and tugged his earbuds out. "Plaster on lathing is a bitch, but the walls are coming down."

He could picture what the house would look like pass the mess in front of them and hoped Henry would too. They'd made good progress for their first day, and Tomás thought he'd have the coop ready by the time he needed to start on the electrical.

"Wow, this looks so different already."

Tomás spun around. Henry stood at the front door, looking crisp and clean cut in tight jeans, a gray sweater, and a navy overcoat. A gray beanie was pulled low over his ears, covering most of his hair.

Journey watched them from the navy pooch pouch hanging from Henry's chest, a matching grey beanie pulled over his furry head. His tiny ears poked out of slits on the top of the hat.

"You're here," Tomás said, suddenly a little breathless.

Henry grinned and waved a thick folder at him. "I have ideas for Columbo."

"Great." Tomás cleared his throat. "Uh, you know Carter, but this is my other friend, Juan."

Henry's bright smiled, dimmed, turning shy. "Hello. It's nice to see you both. Thank you for working so hard. I can already envision what this place will look like."

Juan paused his music and set the sledgehammer down. "It's going to be nice. What's this about Columbo?"

Tomás let Henry's voice flow over him as he explained to Juan and Carter about the new addition at the sanctuary. He studied Henry's boots, noting the new wear on the heel and the splatters of mud at the bottom of his designer jeans. He wanted to know how Henry spent his days, what made him smile so brightly.

"What do you think about adding a picture window right here where you want to put his cage?" Carter asked, waving toward the back wall. "It could take place of these two smaller windows."

"I love that idea." Henry patted Journey's side. "That will make it a little more entertaining for Columbo and Journey both."

"Where are you going for lunch?" Juan asked, giving Tomás an innocent look. "Maybe Carter and I can come."

Tomás glared at his friend. "You said you were meeting Jackson for lunch. Remember? Henry and I should go." He ignored Carter completely and took Henry's hand. "Have you been to Zoe's bakery, Honey Buns?"

"No, but Sam brought back some cinnamon rolls from there once. They were so good."

"She has a soup and sandwich special that I think you'll like." Tomás opened the truck door for Henry and shut it once he was seated. He really hoped the omega couldn't see the two idiots standing at the window staring at them with grins.

A short time later, they sat across from one another at Honey Buns, coffees in hand as they waited for their food. It was odd watching the people around him react to Henry. Normally, they would say hello to Tomás or at least nod at him when passing. With Henry there, most seemed reluctant to approach them. Henry seemed oblivious to the curious stares aimed toward him.

"Journey and I stayed with Columbo last night," Henry said, yawning. "I thought he might get scared, but all he did was sleep."

"Does he mind Journey?"

Henry shook his head, smiling softly. "Not at all. Journey doesn't bark much and is gentle with other animals. He just watched Columbo and woofed when the parrot talked."

"That's good."

"Do you think you can bring Mitzy by one day and see how he does with her?"

Tomás nodded. "Absolutely. She mostly sleeps all day while I'm gone, but I'm sure she could use the company."

Henry's phone vibrated on the table and the omega winced. "That's my sister again. She's convinced I need to add on to the house. She says I need a foyer, a coat room, and a formal dining room at the very least."

Tomás snorted. "Carter gets a lot of emails from her, but he keeps telling her that we can't change the plans unless you tell us too."

Henry sighed. "I love her, but I don't want a mini mansion. I just want my Victorian farmhouse."

"It can be hard telling family, no." Tomás winced, understanding his frustration. "My little sister, Tali, is convinced I need to do something, but I really don't want to. I tell her no, but she thinks she knows better than me."

"What does she want you to do?"

"Did Gramps tell you I was adopted?" Tomás couldn't believe he was having this conversation on a first maybe-date, but Henry was easy to talk to.

"He said your parents, Marco and Bennett, adopted you a few years ago, right before you graduated high school."

"Yeah." Tomás laughed, shaking his head. "It surprised the hell of me, but I'm glad they're my parents. My biological dad is doing a life sentence at Riverbend in Nashville, Tennessee. My biological mom was in prison too, but she was released early about a month ago. She reached out and wants to meet up."

"Tali thinks you should?" Henry asked, reaching across the table to hold his hand.

Tomás nodded. "Yeah, but I don't want to. When I was growing up, I knew I was missing something other kids had, but I didn't really understand it. My life had always been solitary. It was just how it was, so I dealt with it. Maybe, if she had reached out then, I would have wanted to talk with her."

"What changed?"

"Marco and Bennett Wilson." Tomás smiled softly. "My dads showed me what family means. It's not conditional, and it doesn't end when you're a legal adult. It's about love and loyalty. Family are people who stand with you during life. Who will listen to you and care about you. It's like there's this invisible thread that connects us all together. Threads that they helped create. They're a part of who I am – my memories, my personality and values, all of that. My biological mom and I don't have that bond. We never did."

"That's beautiful," Henry whispered, looking thoughtful.

Tomás flushed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to get all philosophical."

"Never apologize for knowing what family means." Henry's laugh hurt Tomás's heart. "I can name my ancestors through fourteen generations on Papa's side and sixteen generations on Dad's side. To me, family has always been the Powell name. This huge boulder of expectation that hangs around my neck. I like your definition much better than mine."

Tomás squeezed Henry's hand, not knowing the right words to comfort the omega.

"Cinnamon rolls on the house." Zoe set a plate of the bakery's specialty between them, then leaned over to kiss the top of Tomás's head. "For my sweet, little cousin."

Tomás kept staring at Henry, silently begging the omega to ignore the woman cooing over him like a damn dove.

Henry snickered, betraying him.

"By the way, it's nice to finally meet you, Henry." Zoe plopped onto the seat beside him. "Sam talks about you all the time, and we've all seen you from a distance. Please come visit us more. I'll give you all the sweets you can eat."

Henry bit his lip, eying the rolls. "These smell delicious. Papa would disapprove, but I don't care. I'm going to eat two."

"Well now, that just makes me want to feed you more." Zoe stood and pressed a kiss to Henry's forehead, making him startle. "You boys enjoy your date and remember that I'm a goddess for pretending not to notice the dog zipped up in your coat despite our no pets policy."

"Date?" Henry squeaked, mouth full of cinnamon roll. He absently patted the lump that was Journey.

Tomás glared at his cousin as she walked away, hips swinging. "Ignore her. It's only a date if you want it to be a date. Otherwise, this is just two friends having lunch."

Henry turned an interesting shade of red. "I haven't been on a date in a while. Is it going alright?"

Tomás let the omega's words sink in and shivered. "It's definitely going well."