Page 318 of As The Shifter World Turns

“I know. I was so relieved. Lewey would’ve had to go to a nursing home for sure.” Lewey being his grandfather. Lewey didn’t need a ton of care, but he had no income other than his social security leaving him with few options except for the community nursing home, if he qualified. “He really didn’t mean to be awful. He just was doing the best he could in a bad situation.”

Even without him spelling it out, I was aware Archer was helping Mike andhis grandfather, supporting them while Mike was behind bars for a short time until his appeal, and now while he did his community service.

“And that brings us to my idea. What if we started a foundation? We could call it Lewey’s Friends and help raise funds to pay the non-cancer related bills that come with cancer. Just because you’re sick doesn’t mean you should become homeless or lose your power or?—”

“Have your teen grandson feel the only option is to steal someone’s car to get to work?” Archer cut me off.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“And we could set up an app with resources for other groups that can help.” He took out his phone and opened a note and started typing away. “There is so much we could do with this. So much good. Sick people should focus on getting better. Full stop.”

We chatted for over an hour about all our ideas. There was still a lot to figure out. Ideally we wanted to create some apps that would help people, but also others that would make money to help with the main goal of the foundation, which was to make sure that the fiscal side effects of cancer weren’t worse than the cancer itself.

In the end we weren’t really even sure if it should be technically a foundation or whatever, but we had a vision with some very clear goals, goals we felt passionately about and it was a start.

147

TWO OLD FRIENDS

Daire

“This is nice.”

I nodded in agreement at my former school friend and started the car. Neil and I were going out for lunch. Just us two. The pregnant omegas—though he was further along than me— spending time together without our mates, and in Neil’s case, no kids either.

Nate and Martin were with Charlie while Tony was out LARPing with friends. He'd be gone all day.

After my friend’s scare with his appendix, both his and my pregnancies were textbook normal.

Neil shifted uncomfortably in the car seat as the seat belt stretched over his huge belly. “I can pull over and grab a cushion from the back,” I offered.

He brushed off my suggestion with a wave of his hand. “It’s not far to the restaurant.”

I almost envied Neil and his big bump. Even though my due date was some time away, my belly was small. Some acquaintances didn’t even realize I was pregnant. One person thought I’d put on a little weight. No one should point out anyone’s weight gain or loss but it was especially hard to hear when I wanted the world to notice. I wanted friends to congratulate me, not eye my barely-there belly and ponder whether I had a baby nestled in there.

Neil, on the other hand, had a bump very early in his pregnancy and now he was close to his due date. Everyone could see he was carrying a baby.

My friend loved Thai food. Everyone in the manor family was aware of that. But during his last trimester, he’d gone off it. Said the chili gave him heartburn. So, we were going to an Italian restaurant. It had opened a few weeks ago and was run by a couple and their two adult children. Ivor had recommended itand we were hoping for a delicious meal. Shame neither of us could enjoy wine to go with it, but great food and good company was more than enough for an enjoyable outing.

I helped Neil out of the car in the carpark and he took my arm as we meandered to the restaurant entrance. He gripped my arm and winced which had my head whipping to the side and studying his face. “We can get the food to go, if you prefer.” My human friend had spent a lot of time on the couch lately. He and Anthony had worked from Neil and Martin’s apartment rather than 2A so eating pasta or whatever he wanted to order today would be easy from his sofa.

“No. I’m looking forward to this. You and I used to share a meal regularly before we were mated.”

True, we were either in 2B or in 1A, chatting about our current lives or people we’d known at school. But as Neil still lived upstairs from me in our new place, we saw one another all the time.

“And after we mated,” I reminded him. During those long difficult months when he and Martin were having problems, Neil and I often had a meal together.

We were welcomed into the restaurant, seated, and given ice water along with the menus. We both ordered soda water as we perused the dishes listed on the menu and the specials board.

Neil closed the menu. “Mmmm. The mushroom risotto looks yummy. Maybe I can order a second one to take home.”

“For Martin or Toby?”

Pink spots dotted my friend’s cheeks. “Oops. I kinda forgot about them. It was for me. They can have pizza. That looks yummy, too.”

We both giggled.

“Spaghetti carbonara for me.” The waiter tapped his tablet and removed the menus.

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