Page 65 of As The Shifter World Turns

“I bet it will work.” Ryder stuck up for Ivor. They needed to work their shit out.

Daire came up on the roof with some guy. What was he thinking? This was our weekly thing. This wasn’t a date thing. Or was it the hedgehog? Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen hide nor prickle of him yet. Either way I was grumpy about him being here.

Snap out of your funk already.

“Hey guys, this is Martin.” Daire announced.

This was the Martin who’d scared Neil. “The new guy in Archer’s old place?” I asked. Daire started shaking his head back and forth. “Not the new guy?”

“No. The new guy found a different place,” Daire explained.

“Keep his deposit,” Archer said adamantly.

“He never gave one and he probably doesn’t have any money in… jail.” And there I thought for half a second that Daire's parents were actually trying to be nice. Nope. Of course they weren’t, they were setting their son up for failure. What jerks. “Just drug dealing. Not like murder or anything,” he quickly added. Because “just drug dealing” wouldn’t pose any danger here at Sunshine Manor.

“This is my friend. We were supposed to hang out tomorrow, but his late wife’s parents needed to switch the sleepover with Toby, his son, so I invited him to join us.”

Martin was just a father doing the best he could. He was a widower and single father. My heart broke for him. Here I was having a pity party for one because Archer wasn’t moving quickly enough for me and I felt rejected when this man had lost so much.

And none of that negated how Neil felt. I didn’t know, nor was it my business, all the trauma Neil had faced before I met him. But it had impacted his life something fierce.

“We’re having pizza on the grill.” Ivor was back with two large bags. Good. We needed the distraction from the awkward silence that had settled over the area.

“I’ll help you set up.” Archer got up and left.

No. Not left, but he wasn’t by my side anymore which left room for Martin. I indicated the spot. Archer wouldn’t mind. He was better about making people feel welcome than I was. It was part of the reason he was so good at what he did.

“Hello Coach.” That was Martin addressing Neil. I tried not to eavesdrop. But the whole train wreck in slow motion had me unable to stop myself.

Daire must’ve felt the same, taking a seat and just watching the two.

“Neil. My name’s Neil,” he corrected, his eyes to the ground.

“Hello, Neil.” Martin started to put out his hand and snapped it back, probably reading the room. “I saw you here the day I came to talk to Daire about an apartment. I don’t think you saw me.”

From the way Neil told the story, he very much did. Martin was giving him a way out.

“I had to get back to work,” Neil shrugged.

“Oh, what else do you do for work besides coaching?” This wasn’t the time to point out the coaching was volunteer work.

“I’m an independent contractor online.” Neil stood up. “I gotta cook.”

Neil never cooked on the roof though he was good at it based on what Archer told me, but off he went to do whatever it was.

“I better help with that,” Ryder added. And suddenly it was Daire, the new guy and me.

“The pizza thing might not work out, but we have beer. Can I get you one?” There. That was me being nice and pleasant.

“Thanks?” He didn’t sound so sure but I took it as an excuse to get out of there. I was going where the pizza was. That would be happy and less awkward.

“Maybe if you hadn’t called out Kellan in your sleep.” And that was the sentence I had to walk into. Because of course it was.

“It was a nightmare.” Ryder’s voice lowered with each word. “A nightmare.”

Everyone went silent, including Ivor.

I grabbed a beer from the cooler, not sure what else to say or do and brought it back to Martin.

---