Page 18 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

Kreed nodded. “You get used to it.”

“Makes me wonder if maybe the house in Calgary sort of hated me.”

“Ozzy says that can be a thing. Unhappy buildings. I hear this place was a real pill before I came along. Some of the stories are… surreal.”

“Because talking about a house like it’s alive is completely normal.”

“Meh.” Kreed shrugged and set a plate of bread next to the bowl of stew. “You get used to that, too.”

Myles sat and picked up his spoon to stir his stew a few times. “Looks good.”

Kreed grinned. “Tris might be ahead in the dessert arena, but he can’t keep up with my stews.”

“Heh.” A relaxed smile found its way onto Myles’s face. It felt odd. Rusty. “Everyone seems to like him.”

“He is hard not to like, once you get past the spiky bits.” Kreed pulled a wooden stool up to his side of the counter and a set two coffee cups on the surface. “Got tea or something cold, if you prefer.”

“This is good. Thanks.” Myles sipped the brew and sighed in appreciation. “Good stuff.”

“We aim to please.”

“So I guess Lucky must have told you all about me?”

“He did. Eventually.”

Myles grimaced. “Yeah. He told me about that. Sorry. I didn’t mean for him to keep it from you. I just didn’t want…” He sighed.

“Didn’t want Ozzy to know you were struggling.”

“He had his own shit storm going on. He didn’t have to know I was…”

“I get it. But he’s good now. As good as maybe anyone can be who’s gone through what you guys have.”

“Tris is good for him?” Myles looked up, needing to see the truth of Kreed’s answer on his face.

“Tris is good for him. They’re good for each other.”

“Good. I’m glad. I’m not here to mess up anyone’s life.”

“No one thinks that. And we all agreed you should come. Family is family.”

Myles almost snickered but held it back at the last minute. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know Lucky. And Ozzy. And he and I had our moments, at the beginning, trust me. We had enough bullshit between us to choke a horse, but we talked it through. So I trust him to be real with me, and if he says tell you to come, he means it.”

“He always was a good talker.”

“I’ve never known him to be anything other than honest.”

“To a fault. Sometimes, that’s the problem. Or at least it was with us.”

Kreed sipped his coffee without speaking.

“Guess back then, I wasn’t ready to hear the truth.”

“We all have those moments.”

“I had a lot of them. I was not a nice person. Especially to Ozzy.”