Page 201 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Learned today that re is a prefix and it means again. And I was not sponsible with my work yesterday so doing it again isn’t an option.”

I will not laugh. I will not laugh, even if it is the most amusing thing I’ve heard all day.

“Pretty sure re is not the prefix here. We could look it up though.” His teacher was all about looking things up this year and Toby ran to his tablet.

I slid the map back into the huge envelope I’d gotten to keep it safe as he typed away on his device.

“Not a prefix.” He sighed. “No wonder I never heard anyone say sponsible before.”

“That’s a bummer.”

“It is. It so is.” He grabbed his backpack. “I guess I can go to Neil’s and be REsponsible.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let me call him and let him know we are on our way.” I phoned, not wanting to text.

“Hey Martin.” He picked up on the first ring, sounding much better than the last time I talked to him earlier in the day.

“I thought maybe Toby and I could come over. He has homework and I—I know it’s silly but I thought maybe you could help me with the map?”

“I’d love that. And thanks… for calling. I know it’s silly, but it’s better than you turning up at my door.” His confession warmed my heart at the same time it angered me to my core. I hated that someone made him feel that way, but was happy that he trusted me with his emotions.

“We’ll be right over.”

Toby settled down with his homework. He was excited about some writing assignment and I didn’t have to refocus him even once. For all his pretending he wasn’t consistently responsible, with school he kinda was, at least for a kid his age.

“Let’s see what you got.” Neil had the entire table cleared for us. I wanted to kiss him so badly, but the kiss I had in mind was far from appropriate with my son in the same apartment.

I wanted to kiss Neil until his knees gave out and he was begging for more.

That would definitely need to wait.

“We don’t know where this starts, that is the problem,” he said after walking around it a few times. “Once we figure out one of these locations, the rest will be easier.”

“But first we have to find the one.”

“Therein lies the rub.” He tapped his nose, circled the table again, and then took out his phone.

“Hey, Ivor, do you remember the name of that hardware store that closed on Fifth?”

I had no idea why he was asking but listened as the two chatted back and forth and finally hung up.

“Toby, what do you think about doing your work at Ivor’s?”

“Do you think I can hold the baby? I love babies.” I had to give it to Toby, on some things he was really flexible.

“I could only hear halfthat conversation.”

Neil picked up my envelope. “We are going to Ivor’s and I’m going to watch the baby and Toby and he can help you with the first clue.”

I bit my tongue, wanting to tell Neil that he was the one I wanted to help me. But that was pushing him past his comfort levels, at least for right now.

“Okay.”

Only it ended up not being the plan. When we arrived at Ivor’s, Archer was there dropping off Elune. Poor Neil had somehow ended up as the town babysitter. Not that he seemed to mind. If anything, he looked like he enjoyed it.

And that had me picturing him as a father… not a father,thefather… the father of my baby. I squashed that thought down so quickly. We hadn’t even managed to get to the moving-in stage, the baby stage was many light years away.

“Dad, can I come with you?” Toby looked up at me pleadingly as we settled on what we were doing.

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