Page 115 of As The Shifter World Turns
115
HOMECOMING
Neil
This won’t be awkward having Martin at a manor family social gathering.
When he was living elsewhere, he didn’t come to Friday nights on the roof. He was always busy. And since he’d been living in 3B, he’d avoided it. Again, he was usually out because when we were on the roof, I would check to see if his car was there and it never was. Whether that was because he was working or he didn’t want to hear everyone having fun on the roof, I had no idea.
The phone beeped. The one person I was thinking of. My mate. We’d made little headway with working out our issues and as much as I missed him, the longer we were apart, the less I felt the need to make any changes. But it wasn’t just me in this relationship. I had to think of Toby and Charlie.
On the other hand, staying together for the kids wasn’t an option. Martin and I would be unhappy and that would ‘infect’ the entire family. Better that we were content and hopefully happy to be apart, but willing to act jointly as parents and be civil to one another when we were together as a family. Some separated couples managed it, others didn’t.
I can skip the housewarming if you want. My mate and I were thinking alike. My finger hovered over the phone wanting to type, OK . But our kids needed to see us in the same room. Toby, especially, would be disappointed if his dad wasn’t there.
The Sunshine Manor extended family had been invited to Archer and Micah’s housewarming. While they’d been gone from the manor for a while, their home was in the next street, but now they were back, living on the other side of the manor, we were living side-by-side. I loved it. A row of three houses .
No. Please come.
That was the grown-up response and as I hit send, I wished I could take it back. Perhaps I needed to schedule more sessions with my therapist. I’d been avoiding the therapist using Charlie and work as an excuse. But that was me putting off dealing with my issues until tomorrow. Always tomorrow.
As well as discussing my own problems, I should drag Martin to attend couples’ counseling. But that was a battle for another day.
“Hey, TD. Are you ready?” Toby was dressed and had Charlie by the hand. Both my boys were growing so fast and I hugged them as tears streamed over my cheeks.
“No need to cry,” Toby told me as Charlie leaned against my legs.
“Silly me. I cry when I'm happy and when I’m sad. Also when I’m excited.”
“And what are you today?”
“Happy of course.” I ruffled his hair and went to pick up Charlie but he tore himself out of my grasp and toddled toward the door. It’d take us ages to get downstairs if Charlie was walking rather than me carrying him.
Toby bent over so his face was almost level with his little brother’s. “Wanna see Dad and Patch, Charlie?” Charlie’s eyes lit up. “Let’s go.”
Charlie held his arms up and we were on our way. “Oh, the baby bag.”
“Got it,” Toby told me.
My older son was growing up into a fine young man. “Are you going to shift later with your dad?”
He shrugged. “We’ll see. I hope so.”
Archer told us not to bring a house-warming gift and I was grateful he said that. I was sure he had enough vases, candles and wine glasses. But I had a box of cupcakes from a local bakery where Archer, Ivor and I used to go before we had kids. We still went occasionally but it was harder to organize now.
“Need a hand,” Daire asked as we came down the stairs. Charlie dropped the toy he was holding and my grizzly shifter friend picked it up. And then he took Charlie.
“We’re going to my parents’ place this evening to shift. Want to come too, Toby?”
Toby hesitated and Nate must have picked up on why. “I know your dad’s probably busy so we thought you might like to come with us?”
“Thanks. Can I let you know later?”
Nate nodded.
When we reached Archer and Micah’s porch, Patch barreled out and I grabbed the box of cupcakes from Toby’s hand. “You’d think he hadn’t seen you in ages,” Daire noted. I wished my relationship with Martin was as easy as the one between our son and Archer’s dog.
“Come in,” Micah said. I scanned the room. Ivor, Ryder and Dyani were there, along with Elune and Archer. Jasper must have been asleep. Anthony was pouring champagne and he gave Toby a soda, but there was no sign of Martin. Ryder had juice, as did Elune and Dyani .
Ryder had lost weight—but not an enormous amount—and he was paler than normal but from what Ivor said, he was responding to the treatment. He took frequent naps but that was to be expected.
“Cupcakes,” Archer gushed as he owned the box and then gave me a hug.
“We were just reminiscing and talking about our first impressions of one another,” Micah explained. “Before I met Archer, I was thinking he’d leave stuff on the landing and have loud parties.”
“And I didn’t do either,” Archer observed.
“We met when I waved at you from the window,” I told Archer.
“That’s right. I remember. And you, Daire, you forgot I was arriving,” Archer said.
“True,” Daire agreed. “I was still at college.”
Ivor piped up. “That was a lifetime ago. I remember the day I was waiting for the bus and you were driving Archer to work, Micah. I suspected then that you two had a thing for one another.”
“I did,” Micah admitted. “Not sure about Archer.”
Archer’s face flushed an adorable shade of pink. “Of course, I did. How could I not?” He hugged his mate and everyone took another sip of their drinks.
Ryder had a squirrelly look on his face. “I know what you’re all thinking.” He squeezed Ivor’s hand. “It’s okay. You can say it. Archer arrived as Kellan was moving out and we were arguing.”
“Let’s move on, please,” Daire suggested.
While it wasn’t healthy to deny the past, none of us wanted to dwell on the Kellan incident.
“We’re just glad you’re here with your loved ones and your treatment is going well, Ryder.” Micah spoke for us all. “Raise your glasses to the extended Sunshine Manor family.”
“I wish Dad was here,” Toby whispered. I’d been worried that Toby wasn’t as close to his dad as he once was, but was pleased to be proved wrong.
While I’d been wanting to avoid awkward conversation with my mate, this wasn’t about me. But as I got my phone to text him, there were footsteps on the porch.
“Martin, we’re glad you came.”
Toby hugged his dad and a glass of champagne was placed in my mate’s hand. “We’re just talking about when we all lived in Sunshine Manor,” Daire said. “And the first time some of us met.”
“You and I have been friends for years,” my mate said to Daire. “That’s why I was here that day. To see you but I bumped into Neil.”
“And poor TD thought my dad was a serial killer or stalker or something.” Toby was grinning from ear to ear. Everyone studied their drinks and I glanced at Daire, silently begging him not to go into detail about how terrified I was. “But we met at soccer,” my son continued. “And I loved Neil, my TD, from that moment.”
I burst into tears and hugged him. He put an arm around Martin who took Charlie from Daire. No matter what happened between me and Martin, we’d always be a family. Other than my tears, and Elune and Dyani playing with toys, the room was silent.
“I love you, dad. Love you, TD. Love you, little bro.”
Micah cleared his throat. “I’d like to make another toast. To families.”
“To families.”
“Dad, are you free after this?” Toby asked my mate. He nodded. “Can we shift?”
“Sure. Do you want to go now?”
Toby and Martin looked at me.
“That’s fine. Go with your dad.”
“I was thinking, if you’d like, maybe you and Charlie could come too. You could stay in the car or go for a walk.” My older son was a master manipulator. And I was okay with being handled on this occasion.
“That okay with you?” I asked Martin.
“Absolutely. I’ll turn my phone off.”
“Maybe we can go for Thai food afterward, seeing as it’s TD’s favorite.”
“We can do that. Sorry to be party poopers,” I said to Archer. “But we’re going out to the lake house.”
“Go.” He steered us onto the porch. “You need time together as a family.” He gave me a hug. “Love you. Bring me back some green chicken curry?”
While Martin and I didn’t discuss anything of consequence during our outing, it showed me how we could continue to be a family, even if we weren’t together.