Page 9 of Don’t Hook the Merman

But that was exactly why Luke needed to do it. He was very much a part of the real world, with a real-world son to care for, and he needed to get his head on straight before he made any other questionable decisions.

And Shauna was opinionated, a trait she’d passed on to her teenage daughter. Luke could probably call either one of them and get a talking-to, but Shauna was the least scary option of the two. Plus, calling a teenager for life advice seemed a little too much like a cry for help for Luke to handle at this moment.

He could still hear the shower running downstairs, and Syrus hadn’t called for him, so presumably everything was under control for the next few minutes.

Luke took a breath and pressed his sister’s contact info.

“Oh myyyyy,” Shauna drawled the second she answered the phone. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Luke scoffed. He didn’t call that rarely. They lived in the same small town was all. He didn’t need to pick up the phone to run into Shauna every other day. “Hey. How’s…crystals?”

“Crystals are the same as they were Friday night.”

Luke winced. Right. Shauna had babysat Colby so Luke could go to Seth’s book club. He’d meant to text an extra thank-you, but he’d been so spacey lately he’d forgotten.

“So what’s up?” Shauna asked. She sounded like she was moving around the house as she spoke, which wasn’t surprising. Shauna wasn’t stationary by nature, no matter how zen she was on the inside.

“I think I might have made a mistake.”

Shauna’s voice immediately sharpened. “Is Colby okay?”

“He’s fine!” Luke hastened to reassure her. “He’s at day care. It’s not him. Or…it could affect him, but⁠—”

Shauna made an exasperated noise. “Saints alive, Luke, spit it out or I’m putting Violet on the phone.”

“I picked someone up at the beach,” Luke said quickly.

“Oh.” Shauna said then, in a new, delighted tone, “Ohhh. Well, it’s about damn time.”

Luke shook his head furiously. Could this be going any worse? “No, I mean… He was sort of drowning. In the sand. And his feet are all cut up. And I took him home because he’s afraid of hospitals. He’s in my shower. He’s huge.”

There was a moment of silence as Shauna parsed that through. It even sounded like she’d stopped moving. Luke didn’t blame her for needing a second. None of that had come out even remotely coherent.

“Why don’t you go through it from the beginning?”

Luke did, slowly and a little more steadily recounting his morning. Although, for some reason, he omitted the part about the hand licking. It was probably relevant to his whole “what if I brought a psycho killer home?” freak-out, but it also didn’t feel fair. Syrus had been confused and delirious, and Luke didn’t want Shauna to hold a moment of weirdness against him.

When he was done, Luke kept quiet as Shauna hummed thoughtfully and then—from the sound of it—poured something out into a cup. Probably some kind of herbal tea or mushroom concoction. Shauna didn’t do coffee. “He sounds like a trip. You think he’s dangerous?”

Luke rubbed a hand over his scruff. “No, but what the hell do I know? He’s…odd. And I don’t know that he has anywhere else to go.”

“Well, it sounds like you have a conversation ahead of you. And a decision, if it turns out you’re right and he’s got no one.”

“Yeah,” Luke agreed. He let out a breath. He’d already known all that though.

“Luke, you did the right thing,” Shauna soothed. “A good thing. You’re acting like you brought home someone hitchhiking in front of a prison. But really, what were you gonna do? Leave him there?”

“What about Colby? I know nothing about this guy, and I brought him into our home.”

Shauna tsked. “I can pick Colby up from day care. I miss him after Friday anyway. He and I can hang while you get a better sense of this guy. And if you’re still worried by the end of the day, Colby can spend the night. I have his portable crib.”

“But—”

“Let me help, Luke,” Shauna said firmly. “You don’t always have to do it solo.”

Luke knew that. He did. But despite Shauna having babysat Friday, Luke didn’t ask for her help often. She had her own family, and her own business to run, and a husband who was often on the road for work. What right did Luke have to put all his baggage on her?

Not that Colby was baggage, only the circumstances around it all were a little…messy. People had opinions. Shauna had opinions.