Page 227 of As The Shifter World Turns

“And Daire, put your handyman skills to the test. I want deadbolts on all the apartment doors today and one on the front door. And I want cameras put at the front and back of the manor. And we’ll all have access to the app so we can check who's outside.”

I was taking charge here. And after Anthony had gone to bed, I was googling that Len guy because Daire was going to give me his full name. I was on a mission.

He made a face. “That’s a lot, Neil. Not sure I can get it done by this evening.”

“In that case, it’s going to be a late night.” His shoulders slumped and I guessed he was resigned to doing the work. “And don’t ever leave Charlie alone with a stranger again.”

“I know but he was right outside your door and I thought it’d be okay.” His voice trailed away. ‘I guess it wasn’t and I fucked up.”

“Never again, Daire.”

100

MOVING SUCKS—AND NOT IN A FUN WAY

Martin

“Is that necessary?” Neil asked for the third time as I was putting motion detectors on the windows of our new house. Heck yeah, it was necessary.

That creep might not have been there for Neil, but that didn’t make Neil safe… or Charlie for that matter. Charlie was our weakness, and if Len was up to no good he’d use that to his advantage.

Andifwas a big old question mark, but that didn’t mean I was going to risk it. Neil and Charlie meant too much for me to gamble with their safety. And then there was Toby. He might not have been seen by the guy but that didn’t mean Len hadn’t come back or potentially been there earlier.

And maybe I was just paranoid, but I’d rather be overly cautious than to have someone I loved hurt.

“It will help me sleep at night.” And I didn’t want it not set up before we moved.

It was move-in day and in another hour the guys were going to show up and help us get everything where it needed to be. Archer and Ivor offered to watch the kids, which was great. Sure, Toby could be a helper with lugging things over, but I was a nervous parent today.

“The guys are gonna be here soon. How can I help?” Neil got me and my nerves. Goodness, when we first met he thought I was a potential threat. I can look back on it now and chuckle, but at the time it had to have been horrible for Neil and it was for sure confusing as heck for me.

“Maybe use the flashlight on your phone tolight up where I’m screwing?”

He did and we were able to get some of the shelves up before Daire, Micah, Ryder, and Anthony showed up to help.

We had everything packed and had all of the furniture in by lunch time. We ordered pizza and went to Archer and Micah’s place to eat. It was great to spend some time with the kids and take a rest. Once upon a time this amount of manual labor would’ve been nothing, but today it had me lagging. Of course, the added stress wasn’t helping.

Daire did add all the security measures Neil asked him to at Sunshine Manor, but I think even he thought we were being over the top. But after his behavior when it came to Charlie, he wasn’t going to argue. I hated that he did that, but I was confident he wouldn’t be that thoughtless again.

“Dad, can I go and unpack my room?” Toby asked, sauce on his chin. I wanted to reach over with a napkin and wipe it up. It was a dad thing to do. But Toby was getting to that age where he didn’t want dad helicoptering over him, so instead I pointed it out and let him fix it. It wasn’t a big thing. Not a huge milestone, anyway, but it felt like I was giving him a little more responsibility as silly as that sounded.

“I think it’s best if you wait here.”

“Or I could help carry my boxes and then stay there and unpack,” he insisted.

This was another thing that I needed to let go. There would always be someone in the house, most likely. And for a few seconds if there was a moving backlog, he’d be fine.

Still I was nervous.

“Want some help?” Ivor said. “I love arranging things.”

I wasn’t sure how true that was, but I appreciated it.

“Really? My new room is soooo big. And there are even built-in shelves.” I wanted to ask about the kids. It wasn’t fair that Archer had to watch all of them. But then Ryder swooped in about needing to check something on his phone for work and offering to watch the children.

“If you don’t mind losing a helper?” he tacked on at the end.

“I don’t. Thank you.” I suspected he was making an excuse about work and wanted to babysit. For so much more than his help moving, I’d have to touch base with him later and let him know how much it meant. It was difficult letting go and allowingToby to grow up. And really, I was dragging my feet. But I was trying and I had to hope that was good enough, for now anyways.

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