Page 261 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Yeah, you do. It’s to get well. And that means resting.”

He sighed. “That’s harder than any job I’ve ever had.”

“Trust me to do what you asked me to. And you go home and take a nap with your daughter.” Dyani’s eyes were closing as she gripped her father’s shoulder.

“Sorry. I’ve been interfering.”

“It’s your baby, Ryder. And it will always be. But for now, be selfish. Think only of yourself, your recovery, and your family. That’s your job.”

“Okay. I’ll try.”

After giving him a kiss, I went inside and the phone beeped. What now?

Thankswas all it said.

118

GOT ANY BAIL?

Martin

When Neil first brought up couples’ counseling, my gut reaction was that he was trying to set me up—to make me sit down with someone so that they could tell me I was wrong and he was right and that was that.

Which was dumb. Of course that wasn’t what it was like, not with a decent therapist anyway. And even if we got there and they told me it was all my fault, they’d be right because it was. Deep down I knew this. I also knew Neil wouldn’t set me up. He wasn’t like that. He’d gone to therapy and it helped and now he wanted that for us.

I did too. But also I was scared. Scared they’d say we were too broken, too wrong for each other.

I stared at my phone a full minute and finally hit the call button.

“Hello?” At least he picked up.

“Hi, Neil, I was wondering if maybe Charlie could come with Toby and me today?” I was taking him to one of those places with food and games andFun for all. It had been Toby’s idea and he’d asked me on the way to school yesterday if his brother could come. I didn’t see any reason why not, but I gave him no promises, instead saying TD and I would discuss it. I wasn’t going to make things worse by doing the “I’m the cool dad” competition where there were no winners.

“Thank gods.” He let out a long sigh. “Toby mentioned it, but when you didn’t ask I was… never mind. Of course he can come.”

It hurt hearing his doubt, thinking I wouldn’t give Charlie all he needed because we weren’t together. Or maybe I was reading too much into that. Iknew one thing, I wasn’t going to start anything by asking. Not now, not when every little thing seemed to lead us into a fight.

“I’ll be by in an hour.”

“Or you could come earlier and help me get Charlie ready.”

It felt like I’d just won the lottery.

We hung up and I got dressed as quickly as I could and went on over. It wasn’t the same as living there, but there was a sense of normalcy as I packed the diaper bag and folded a load of warm towels. I missed this—so much. But like the chicken that I was, I didn’t say anything to Neil, instead just savoring the moment.

Toby was thrilled that Charlie was coming with us and spent the entire car ride telling his brother about all the cool things there, including prizes and the coin fall machine. I wasn’t sure what that even was, but to hear the animation in Toby’s voice had me wanting to race there first. Apparently at a birthday party he saw someone win a tower of quarters. Given a roll of quarters was ten dollars, I could only imagine how much a tower was worth.

“It looks empty,” Toby said as I turned into the lot. “Are you sure it’s open?”

Shit. It better be.

“Yeah, pretty sure.” Another car pulled into the lot as we parked and another after them. “I think we’re just earlier than most people eat lunch.”

We got Charlie out of his seat and walked inside.

“Lunch or play?” the hostess asked with a fake smile plastered across her face.

“We’re here for the Grand Combo,” Toby announced proudly.

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