Page 241 of As The Shifter World Turns

SOMEWHERE TO LIVE

Neil

There was a crash and Micah yelled. “Dammit.”

Anthony and I shared a glance and went back to what we were working on in 2A. Archer and family were my family too, but having two adults, two children, and a dog living in 2B—my 2B—was driving me nuts.

Now Patch was barking. He was a dog and wanted attention, food, a walk or whatever.

“I’m going to Daire’s, love,” Micah muttered. “Sorry, but we have to go to the motel. I’ll take Jasper.” There were more mutterings as the unicorn shifter took the stroller downstairs. “We need one of these for the car and the other for the apartment.”

I put on my noise-canceling headphones and tried to concentrate on what I was doing. I wished they were living in the motel. But Daire and Micah were getting the place ready for the launch of the first episode on their channel and they couldn't have the family living there when they had the grand opening. For starters, someone would probably stand in Patch’s poop.

Not only was having the family in 2B a disruption, but there was nowhere for me to escape to at lunch time or when I needed a power nap. 3B was empty and I considered buying a bean bag and going up there, but there was so much noise from Elune and Jasper as well as the dog, I decided against it.

I couldn’t go home and try to work in our bedroom. Martin was having a hard time being out of work and making him be quiet so I could do my video sessions wasn’t fair.

My mate wasn’t coping well with not having a job. As an alpha, heexpected to be the family’s provider, and no matter how much I assured him I didn’t think that way, it was ingrained in his psyche and when Charlie took a nap, Martin crawled into bed. He had agreed to see my therapist and his first session with Joy was later this week.

I took off my headphones only to hear Archer say, “No, you can’t ride your tricycle in here.” His raised voice drifted through the door. I couldn't imagine having a toddler and a baby in a one-bed apartment, plus trying to work. And then there was Patch who had boundless energy.

When I discovered Archer had looked after Charlie for an hour while Martin went home and had time to himself, I was overcome with guilt. My friend had juggled three small kids and I had no idea Charlie was across the landing. That night I’d sat down with Martin after Toby went to bed and said Charlie could come to work with me. That’s what we’d done when Martin worked full time. Sure, it was nice to not have to feed, change and entertain the baby while I worked, but a parent’s life was all about doing two or three things at once.

But my mate had insisted that while he wasn’t earning money, he would be the child-minder. And that made sense but I was wary of pushing Martin too hard. He was now cooking the evening meal and doing all the food shopping as well as taking Toby to school and looking after Charlie. Most afternoons he and Toby took Patch and Charlie to the park. Getting fresh air and exercise was good for all of them.

And there was a bit of good news. Daire and Micah’s big premiere was coming up and they’d asked Martin to work for them on the day and the day after. From what I understood, it was grunt work such as moving things, getting people in the right place, and making sure Nate was able to film. But it was work and it got my mate out of the house. He was excited and had a haircut.

“Dad’s going to be on TV,” Toby informed me as we ate dinner.

“We all might be. There’ll be cameras everywhere.”

“Cool. If they shove a microphone in my face, I’m going to tell them about our next LARP.” I hope if anyone did interview my older son, they were prepared for a long discussion on the ins and outs of LARPing.

I was hoping to stay in a motel room with Charlie and the other manor kids. Having a flash going off in my face and people asking me what I thought of reality shows was too much. I’d convinced Anthony to come but I suspected he’d stay with me and the kids. We’d have our own little party.

Everyone else was looking forward to walking the red carpet, and Daire and Micah would be doing a lot of interviews.

“Maybe kids at school will ask me for my autograph.” Toby was definitelyexcited.

Daire

The red carpet was being rolled out and a huge marquee was set up for the guests. And tables had been set up for the food and drink. An area had been roped off for the fans and the general public. I hoped they wouldn't scream too much.

TV crews had their own section, and Nate would be filming interviews with us and other bigwigs.

The manor family was invited and everyone was bringing their kids, so we’d set up two of the original, unrenovated motel rooms with snacks and changing tables and a TV. The fridge was stocked with juice and yogurt for the kids and everyone would take turns to be with the children through the evening.

Our project had generated a huge amount of interest and while we were uploading the episodes to our own channel—with the first three free—companies wanted to sponsor us for when we decorated the remaining ten rooms and did a round 2 where contestants fixed the botched up rooms. We had sponsorships for everything from food and wine to paint, tiles, furniture, and bedding.

Nate had been right when he said it was a goldmine.

“Want to do a final walk through of the ten rooms?” Micah asked. What we both considered hideous had drawn a huge amount of attention on social media after we gave sneak peeks of the worst aspects of the designs.

We were half-way through our tour when we both stopped, an unmistakable aroma of cooking wafting from the window of one motel room. I grabbed Micah’s arm. “Surely the catering company for the event isn’t making food here.”

Micah shrugged. We peeked in through the window. This was the room with the hammocks and no beds. There were clothes thrown over a chair and toiletries on the coffee table. One trash can was overflowing with garbage.

“What the fuck?” Micah charged into the room.Rodney, who'd been one of the reality show participants, poked his head out of the bathroom.

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