“How are things?” Naomi asked, code that Michael picked up on instantly.
“Quiet so far.” He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “I can hardly believe how smoothly it’s gone. By tomorrow this time, we should be golden.”
A sigh gusted out of her. “Thank God.” The sound of children’s voices carried from other areas of the house and she craned her neck to peer down the hall. “Lot of kids come in for the night?”
“It’s early yet so only four, but the rest will be rolling in later.”
“And Penny,” Naomi prompted, eagerness and relief in her voice. “I’m so glad to hear she’s come back.”
Michael nodded. “Me too. Apparently, her mom’s back in town from Reno. Brought another loser boyfriend with her. Penny wanted to give her a chance, but things got bad again.”
Naomi’s face pinched in sympathy. “Drugs?”
“Yep, the usual.”
“Poor kid.”
“Shitty parent,” Michael said. “But Penny’s got a good head on her shoulders. And she knows she’ll always have a place to stay with us.” He rolled toward the adjacent kitchen. “You two gonna hang here for a while?”
She glanced at Asher. “Yeah, for a while, I guess.”
“Great,” Michael said. “We all just had dinner and I sprang for that new superhero movie on cable, so everyone’s getting cleaned up before we settle in for that. Meanwhile, I’m on popcorn duty. Now that you’re here, you can help.”
Asher watched their easy communication, a bitter pang of jealousy welling up inside him. He knew Naomi and Michael were just friends, but their obvious affection toward each other made him feel like an outsider, like the intruder he was.
There was a time, not long ago at all, that his discomfort wouldn’t even have registered. Nor now, if the woman in question had been anyone but this one, that is.
While the friends discussed some of the other kids and speculated on who had yet to report in for the night, he glanced around at the comfortable, if modest, house. The large sectional had seen better days, but it was clean and tidy, like the rest of the cozy living room. A flat-screen TV was the obvious focal point of the space, but there were also bookshelves filled with easily hundreds of novels and non-fiction books, along with a small study desk with a computer on it.
Everything in the place had a sense of home and family—things Asher wouldn’t have been able to recognize or appreciate if he hadn’t met Ned Freeman all those years ago.
Things the kids who came to stay with Naomi and Michael probably wouldn’t experience if not for the generosity of both of them.
And the love.
Asher felt it as he listened to the pair talk. And then he saw that care in action a moment later, when the sound of lightly padding feet came up from the hallway.
“Penny!” Naomi’s face lit up with unabashed joy as the lanky blonde girl dressed in a long nightgown raced into her open arms.
Penny hugged Naomi close. “Michael said you were away for a while and he wasn’t sure when you were gonna be here.” The girl glanced at Asher and grew quiet, a wary curiosity stealing into her sky-blue gaze. “Who’re you?”
Naomi gave him an awkward glance. “Asher is . . . a friend of mine.”
“Hi,” the girl said, her arms still wrapped around Naomi.
Asher nodded briefly, and at the same moment several more kids strayed in from the hallway. Four boys, two of them dark-eyed identical twins, the others a short, chubby kid with a crown of bright red hair and a sullen, round-faced Latino boy. The kids stopped in their tracks and gaped at Asher.
“Who let the giant in?” This from one of the twins.
Michael smiled. “Guys, this is Asher.” He shot Asher a wry look. “Allow me to introduce the rest of the welcoming committee this evening. We’ve already heard from Max, and that’s his better-looking brother, Billy.” A joke, considering there was virtually no difference between them, but the other boy snickered even as Max playfully cuffed his shoulder. “The strong, silent one here is Juan, and that other little rascal is Tyler.”
“Are those tattoos on your arms?” Tyler blurted, pointing at Asher.
The spokesman for the twins, Max, gave the kid an eyeroll. “He’s Breed, genius. Those aredermaglyphs. A whole lot of them.”
Asher nodded at the boy. “I’m Gen One. That’s why I have so manyglyphs.”
Juan perked up, a guarded curiosity in the glance that met Asher’s gaze. “So, you’re, like, an actual vampire?”
