Page 121 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“Forget it.” Myles stood and handed him back the tape measure as he headed for the door. “I’ll figure it out.”

Ozzy stopped him at the door. “If you need him, maybe you have to look at that. Ask yourself why. Because you’re right. If he’s a crutch, then he’s just another addiction, and that isn’t good for either of you.”

Myles closed his eyes against the truth, but it was still there in the dark and misery of his own heart. “You never could just tell me what I wanted to hear, could you, Oz?”

A hand on his arm startled him, and he opened his eyes to find Tris standing in front of him looking both sad and sympathetic. “That’s not who he is,” Tris said. He smiled a soft smile. “Annoying, isn’t it?”

Myles knew his own smile was more of a grimace. “Better you than me, my friend.”

Both Tris’s bleached eyebrows went up. “Yes. Yes it is, thank you very much. I’ll take it.”

Myles grunted, but Tris didn’t move out of his way. “What?”

“As annoying as he is, he’s also right, you know.”

“About?”

“Not going back. Why would you when your whole family is here?”

“Because the kids’ lives are there.”

Tris tugged his arm and brought him back to the window where he pointed outside. In the shared yards of the Cabin and the Oaks, Jet and Wyatt were kicking a soccer ball back and forth while Shelly chased MJ around the yard, trying to get the dog to give up his tennis ball.

The peals of her laughter carried through the glass right into Myles’s darkness, leaving a little of her light behind.

“Nat said he hasn’t kicked a soccer ball in literally years,” Myles said.

“So don’t ignore that he’s doing it now,” Tris suggested. “And maybe figure out what it means.”

Myles scowled at him, but it was about as fake an expression as he’d ever managed. “You two are made for each other,” he muttered as he watched his kids.

Which of course only made Tris grin and agree with him.

They watched the kids and animals, joined after a few minutes by Scratch, who, despite his ability to knock a grown-ass man to the ground, was decidedly gentle around Shelly, and agile enough to never come close to knocking her down.

“Oh, thank God,” Tris muttered.

“What?”

“Rod’s here.”

“Which means?”

“A, that he’s staying on track and taking this seriously still, which is reassuringly unlike me at his age, and b, that I don’t have to rush back to the kitchen.”

“I thought you loved that job.”

“Oh, I do. But the truth is, Kreed is a teacher, not a co-worker, when it comes to his kitchen. We are much less compatible now that I don’t need his guidance, and that’s fine. It’s time for me to move on. He’ll be much happier with Rod under his wing than me underfoot.”

“You have your own resident to cook for now, too.”

“Truth told, I’m perfectly happy to start out small. Just me, Ozzy, and Wyatt to start with is plenty. We’ll have a house full soon enough, sadly.”

“Sadly?”

“Sad that there will be so many kids needing our help.”

“But happily, you’ll be there to offer it.”