The fire from the meteor thankfully didn't touch the plants.
Evan's no green thumb, but the routine of garden-tending set by his dad is hard to break.
Then a not-so-easy breakfast with Vincent.
"No! Don't wanna!" he tries to smack the bowl away.
"Vince, come on, it's carrots! You like carrots!"
Vincent cries. Evan massages his temples.
Evan finally gets Vincent to eat his pureed carrot. A little after 11, he finally has a hot, nice bowl of macaroni prepared for himself...
But his phone is ringing. Unknown number, Riverview area code. Better not be any of the Broke-Bagleys, he thinks sourly. With the exception of his aunt Sadie, who's too far off in her own fantasy worlds to notice the town gossip, almost his entire family on his father's side have reached out to express their sympathies for Evan being stuck with a child that isn't his. He supposes it might be out of genuine concern, but the implication that Vincent doesn't belong irritates him, so he refuses their offers of help any time they call.
"Deliah I said no-"
"Oh? The observatory. Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
"Really? Sounds interesting. I'll bring it over."
Finally, a use for this thing!
Evan goes to the observatory as agreed. A woman with a scifi inspired bob meets him outside.
"The meteorite?" she gets straight to the point.
He shows her the videos and pictures he's taken. "All here."
"Amazing. Your house is still standing? It should have been flattened."
Evan nods somberly, "Even small meteorites have an enormous blast radius."
She smiles at him politely. "So where is this meteorite?"
"In my front yard. But since it is my property according to local laws, I wondered if maybe I could trade it for something?"
She arches her eyebrow. "It's government property according to federal laws, we will take it one way or the other."
"Sure, sure, but it would look pretty bad to the locals if you tore it out of my hands, wouldn't it? My mother's the vice-president, I'm sure she'd be...unhappy...if you antagonised me unnecessarily."
She narrows her eyes at him. "What is it that you want?"
Evan feels a little dirty for using his mother's position this way, but the government gets its meteor...
And he gets a job!
He has to start out from the bottom as a janitor, but there's potential for advancement. If he plays his cards right, he could become an astrophysicist someday. With his bad grades from school, he needed some way to convince them to overlook his education. At least my aptitude scores were good... he passed their entrance exam with flying colours!
"So nice to see a new face!" the driver greets him, "The staff in the observatory is still so small... but it is a pretty recent project. I was surprised when construction of the place finally went through a few years ago..."
The observatory is a product of his mother's rallying for an expansion of the sciences in Riverview when she was mayor, so Evan has her to thank for his job in more ways than one. "Yeah, me too..."
His first day goes well. He spends most of it quietly cleaning the labs and not talking to anyone.
His salary isn't great, but at least he won't have to dip into the savings his parents left behind. He breathes a sigh of relief as he pays the bills.
A post card tumbles out, a photo of the Eiffel Tower on the front of it. He picks it up.
France is beautiful. I wish you could see it too. Me and Natasha are thinking of buying a small villa here-
Evan tears up his father's message without a second thought.
He tries to put his wayward parents out of his mind. He goes around the house tending to the plants his father left behind...
But Evan eventually has to let himself cry. The plants weren't all Calvin left in Riverview...
After he feels better, Evan calls Olivia. With the new job and taking care of Vincent, they haven't seen each other much for the past few days.
"I miss you too, Olive" he sighs, "When things are less busy, we'll go somewhere nice, I swear. I can't wait to see you tomorrow at your birthday!"
"Dada!" Vincent cheers.
Evan's heart feels heavy in his chest. "...hi Vince."
"Dada! Sleepy time story!"
He can't bring himself to correct Vincent. One day, he'll have to tell him the truth... but for now, he is, in all the ways that matter, Vincent's father.
***
Evan's alarm blares the next morning.
Naturally, he forgot to set it for an hour earlier. It's still set to 7, when he used to get ready for school. He barely has the time to get ready before the carpool is honking outside.
He pays the babysitter to look after Vincent for the evening.
Today's Olivia's birthday and he wouldn't miss it for anything!
Olivia doesn't have much to wish for that she doesn't have already. The only thing she can think of is "a nice garden".
And so Olivia Nocturne enters adulthood.
"I can't believe your mom really just left like that!" Olivia is shocked to hear about recent developments. She knew that Evan's parents moved to Bridgeport, she didn't know about the...extenuating circumstances.
"My dad's not any better," he sighs, putting his fork down, "He tried to invite me to see him in France where he's been honeymooning with his new girlfriend! Unbelievable..."
"Well, he has the right to move on, doesn't he?"
"He started seeing her a few years ago," he's barely able to choke it out, "When we were in high school."
"Oh, Evan, I'm so sorry." There's not much else she can think of saying.
Evan tries to shrug, but the pain is all to clear on his face. "There's nothing I can do about it now..."
He changes the subject to Olivia's plans.
"Are you going to stay here with your parents?"
"I'm not sure. I love my family, of course, but it's so cramped here now."
"Well, if you ever need a place to get away, my house is your house." It's hard for Evan to restrain himself from offering her to move in, to make their relationship more serious, but they're both barely 18 and he has a toddler at home...not the most enticing living situation.
"That's sweet of you to offer. I'll definitely drop by soon, for some...alone time." She places a bold hand on his thigh.
She giggles at how bright red his face turns. "I'm looking forward to that..."
His blush deepens when Isaac looks at him disapprovingly.
"Ew. I'm going somewhere else so I can age up in peace."
"I have to go, the sitter's supposed to leave soon. Happy birthday, Olive."
He quickly kisses her goodbye before he leaves.
***
Things settle into a routine. Evan goes to work...
Vincent spends his time with educational gizmos and babysitters...
And then Evan comes home and spends quality time with Vincent. Picture-books seem to be his favourite- Vincent demands to see the pretty colours over and over again.
Then he puts Vincent down for bed...
Takes care of some household chores...
And he squeezes in about an hour for alone time before he has to go to bed.
He sighs. Frankly, he's exhausted.
But he forces himself to power through with the help of some caffeine.
Finally the weekend rolls around. He invites Olivia over for some much needed couples time.
"Oh, I didn't realise the full moon was coming," Evan notes her transformation.
"It's not," Olivia has finally mastered speaking clearly through her fangs, "But whenever I'm stressed I change."
"What's wrong?" he drapes an arm over her.
"My house... I thought it would get easier since the twins are in high school... but Stephanie's a slob and always blowing up at us, and she and Isaac are always fighting!" she throws up her hands. "Me and Noelle just try to keep out of their way. It's been exhausting."
That's all the excuse Evan needs to invite her to live with him. "Let me help you, as much as your family has already helped me... I love you, Olivia. I don't want to see you unhappy."
The invitation catches her off-guard. "Let me think about it..."
Evan tries to seal the conversation with a passionate kiss...
...but he's never kissed her in her werewolf form before.
"Ouch!" he pulls back, "Sorry..."
"Oh...it's fine..." Olivia says, trying to hide her embarrassment. She didn't realise how sharp her teeth must be.
"If you decide to move in, it'll be so nice," he sighs happily, "We can go on picnics, have nice dates..."
She can't help but be drawn in by his enthusiasm. "I'm looking forward to spending more time with you, too. And Vincent, of course."
She stands up, not wanting to overstay her welcome.
"You could stay the night, you know..."
She doesn't need to be told twice!
It's a bit clumsy, but they both have fun.
"I love you," Evan says afterwards, holding her hands tightly.
"I love you, too."
--------------------------------------
AN: Olivia has moved in! The roll for this generation is couple.
Evan's career is Astronomer (astrophysicist branch). Olivia's job should be introduced next chapter.
Her traits (that I can remember) are:
-Kleptomaniac
-Green thumb
-Loves the outdoors
-Natural born performer
I think the fifth one is computer whiz or bookworm, but I'll have to check.
I was so happy that I could work the meteor into the story! I couldn't think of any other way that Evan could get a job at an observatory with his mediocre grades.
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