Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Thirteen

     It was close to dinner by the time Link had made it back home. He and Rhett dropped Terra off first, before Link drove Rhett home. But before he could part ways with Rhett, they had a conversation about the day, as if they didn't have a thousand on that topic already. Together they came up with an explanation for Link's car and his glasses, and they also vowed once again to keep the wolf attack under wraps unless absolutely necessary. Then after Link dropped Rhett off at his house, and watched him walk up to his wife who had opened the door to greet him, he went home himself.

     When he pulled up in the driveway, he stopped to gaze at his house. He could hear his children's giggles inside, and Jade's happy barks as the kids were presumably playing with her. The faint glow of the light from the living area along with the kitchen was warm and alluring, and he could even smell dinner as he opened the door to his car. He walked up to the door and opened it quietly, and he tiptoed inside. He paused in the entrance hall of his place, and eyed his surroundings briefly before he cupped his hands around his mouth. "Daddy's home!"

     Link gave it about three seconds and sure enough he heard what resembled a heard of elephants trampling through his house, and the faces of his three angels appeared before him. Before he had the chance to blink, he was in a tangled mess on the floor with his eldest daughter Lily; his second eldest Lincoln, and Lando, his youngest. They bombarded him with hugs, kisses, and questions. Lots of questions.

     "Hey Dad! How was work today?" Lincoln asked first. 

     Lily glowered at her brother because she wanted to ask him that first, but she thought of a better question as she looked his face over. Something looked different about him. "What happened to your glasses, Dad?" 

     Lincoln looked at his sister, then at his father. "Did Rhett get to beam you in the face with something and broke your glasses?" He laughed as he thought he had been funny. 

     "Daddy your glasses are broken," Lando pointed out as he literally pointed to Link's glasses. 

     Link chuckled as he struggled to sit up, and the kids fell off of him and onto the floor. They circled around him and he leaned back on the palms of his hands as he mentally prepared himself to feed them the first lie. He directed his look to his eldest son.

     "Actually yes, we had a boxing match on set using nothing but pieces of foam and duct tape. Turns out Rhett had hit me pretty hard, and he knocked my glasses off of my face." Link explained, and he had hoped that his tone had been kept level as he'd tried hard to. 

     The kids laughed and Lincoln gave his dad a playful punch on the arm. "You gotta get him back for that, ya know!" 

     Link grinned and ruffled his son's hair, and then he pulled Lando and Lily in for another hug. "Don't you worry about it, son. You know I will." He winked at Lincoln, and planted a kiss on Lily's head before he forced himself up to his feet. "You guys better get washed up for dinner before your mother has to ask. You know she'd be very pleased with you if you did." 

     Lincoln and Lily groaned, but Lando was the first to run toward the downstairs bathroom to wash up. When Lincoln and Lily disappeared behind him, Link let out a huge puff of air and he moved toward the kitchen where he found his wife, Christy. He greeted his wife next as he brushed her blond hair out of her face and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

     "How was work today?" She asked. 

     Link mustered up a fake smile, and he felt like such a demon for doing this. "Strange. Great, but strange."

     Christy turned her blue eyes on him and flashed him a little smile. "Oh? I know GMM is a strange show, but tell me what was so strange." 

     Link brought his hand up to the back of his head. "Well, it started off with us trying this technique for lucid dreaming, which actually worked. Then we took our usual break and went outside for some fresh air and I found—" Link paused and narrowed his eyes. 

     Lily was the first one done washing her hands, and she made her way out to the kitchen but caught wind of the last words Link had said. She pressed herself against the wall and turned her head so she could listen more closely.

     "You see I found this huge dent in our car and I have no idea how it happened. Police are looking into it, they think it could have been some act of vandalism—" 

     "What!" Christy shrieked as she dropped the knife she had been chopping tomatoes with. "We're going to have to call the insurance company tomorrow! I hope that whoever did that is happy about destroying a perfectly good man's car! What on earth is this world coming to!" Christy dragged on and as she did, Link lowered his eyes to his feet. 

     Lily's heart thundered in her chest as she continued to listen, an uncertain web of fear weaving a nasty web threatening to trap her curiosity. 

     "And what happened to your glasses?" Christy finally asked. 

     That forced Link to look up once again and subconsciously he fixed them. "I was so spooked by what happened that I tripped and fell." 

     Lily's eyes widened, and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep her gasp from escaping.