*Media pic of Eddie

Not able to process this new development, Meadow turned her attention back to the shattered plate. "Mom can you hand me the broom?"

"Yes, dear," her mother said as she fetched the broom and a box for the broken pieces.

Meadow swept the floor slowly as she kept a close watch on Eddie. She was shocked, and that was putting it mildly, to see a lycanthrope in her parent's house, sitting quite casually at the dinning table, have a friendly conversation with her mom about the problematic tractor.

How on earth did this lycanthrope make her father's acquaintance? And, more importantly, how did he win her father over to such a degree that he was invited to eat meals with them in the family home? Meadow thought she would never see the day her father would willingly work with a lycanthrope, let alone let alone dine with one.

After a lull in in his conversation between her mother and Eddie, Meadow jumped in and asked in a friendly voice, "Been working with my Dad long?"

"Just a few weeks," he supplied as he pointed to some pieces she'd missed.

"Have you known my parent's long?" Meadow continued with her inquiry. 

But her mother intervened, reprimanding her gently saying, "Oh Darling, don't hound Eddie. He's our guest." Then she smiled apologetically at Eddie.

Meadow laughed easily but gave her mother a strange look. "Two questions is hardly hounding him," she replied in her defence.

"I don't mind Noora," he cut in. "I've known your parents for a few years," he kindly offered Meadow.

Meadow looked him over. He appeared very comfortable in the dining room and with her mother. She decided that he must get along very well with both her parents to be sitting there as if he were a long time family friend.

"Well, I'm sorry for delaying your dinner, Eddie," she told him when she'd finished sweeping up the last of the mess she'd made. "I hope you wont hold it against me."

He returned her smile, "You mother's cooking is always worth the wait."

"Do you serve yourself, Eddie?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Sweetie," her mother chimed in. "I'll take care of all of that. You just wash up and come back here. It'll all be ready in ten minutes."

Meadow gave a nod and left the kitchen for her old room upstairs. There she changed out of her travel clothes and then washed up in the hall bathroom. Downstairs she could hear her father talking with Eddie and her mother busying herself around the kitchen.

Taffy slunk up the stairs, without her master's knowledge and came with a wagging tail to watch Meadow. "Oh, you are going to be in big trouble if he finds you up here," Meadow said in a whisper. Taffy didn't seem to care. She just wanted to be petted. Meadow gave into the sweet dog and then hoped the two of them could make it back down the stairs without her father hearing the telltale click, click, click of Taffy's claws on the hardwood stairs.

When Meadow stepped back into the kitchen and dining area, which were open to each other, she saw her dad sitting across from Eddie and enjoying a meal with him. His body language was very relaxed. They must have shared a number of meals like this before, she reasoned. And, as she watched them, while getting her own plate and taking a seat at the table, she realized that her dad spoke to him the same way he spoke to River and Forrest, her older brothers.

Eddie appeared to be a few years older than Forrest, the oldest, and he reminded her a lot of him - his mannerisms and conversation. Consequently, it was no wonder, after watching and listening to him interact with her parents for 20 minutes over dinner, that they took so well to him.

Too curious to stay silent any longer, Meadow asked, "Did you go to school with my older brothers by any chance, Eddie?"

"No," came his quiet reply.

"Oh," Meadow said with some disappointment, "You sort of remind me of them," she told him with a big smile. "I thought maybe you had all hung out when you were younger."

Like her, her brothers had always been open to lycanthrope friendships. So, it wasn't a stretch to think they might have been friends in school at some point.

He just gave her a nod and finished off the food on his plate.

Meadow continued with her train of thought saying conversationally, "I'm sure Mom and Dad must have mentioned that to you by now - how similar you are to Forrest in particular."

She smiled warmly at Eddie hoping to convey to him that this was definitely a compliment. But whatever he might have said in response was never heard because Meadow's father banged his fist on the table catching everyone's attention.

"Enough, Meadow," he barked at her.

Meadow, who had been very careful not to look too often at her Dad during the dinner, knowing that he was easily set off whenever she was around, shot him a surprised look now. She wasn't startled by the outburst. He had a very short fuse around her and she didn't have to do much to trigger it. It'd been that way since she was about twelve. She was just astonished that he was so protective of a lycanthrope.

For a moment, Taffy flashed through her mind. Something in his tone and his look reminded her of all the times he thought she was getting too friendly with his dog. Was her dad feeling possessive over this lycanthrope? It was just too shocking to even consider.

So then, was he mad that she was comparing him to his precious boys? That certainly sounded more like him. In his mind his boys were the best and could do no wrong. How could a lycanthrope possibly compare to either of them? Meadow realized, in hindsight, she probably shouldn't have mentioned Forrest or River at all.

A heavy and uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Eddie broke the silence by pushing back his chair and saying, "I'll get going. Dawn will be here before we know it."

Meadow watched him pick up his plate, take it to the sink, rinse it and stick it in the dishwasher. It was the sort of thing a family member or a really familiar family friend did - clean up their own dinner dishes. It was not the sort of thing a guest did.

He was so comfortable and familiar with the space that he never once asked what he should do with the dishes, or whether to rinse them or not before putting them in the dishwasher. It was just more evidence that he was right at home with her father and mother. Meadow was more curious than ever about him. She couldn't wait to find out what Forrest and River knew about him.

"Dinner was great Noora," Eddie told Meadow's mother as he reached the sliding glass doors and pushed it open. "Nice meeting you Meadow," he said with a small smile. To her father he gave a little nod and then slipped out the door. He was gone before Meadow could even get out a polite 'nice to meet you too, Eddie.'

And just like that he was gone and the room fell deafeningly quiet once again. No one moved or even absently scraped a utensil across their plate. Meadow was bursting to know who this guy was but she knew if she asked another question about him her dad would flip. She could see by the black look in his eyes that he was now in a foul mood. She'd ruined dinner by trying to get to know Eddie.

The silence continued for all of a minute. Long enough for Eddie to get off the deck and be half-way across the yard heading for his vehicle. Then, her parents, simultaneously got up and left the table. Meadow was left sitting there to wondered how she'd managed to offend everyone.

As she watched her mother quickly busy herself around the kitchen, she heard the door to her father' study shut tight. She knew he wouldn't be coming back out. Whenever he was displeased with her or couldn't stand being in the same room with her, which happened a lot after once she became a teen, he went to his little office sanctuary and would shut himself up there for hours.

Meadow sighed deeply. She hadn't even been back a full evening and she had already set her father off. What would the next two weeks at home be like? Would he spend them giving her the cold shoulder and locking himself away? Coming home suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.

"I'm sorry, Mom, " Meadow said when her mother came over to the table to clear it off. "I didn't mean to set dad off."

Her mother was quiet. Quieter than usual, but managed to say after a while, "Don't worry about it." But that was all she said for the rest of the night. Meadow wasn't convinced and she didn't think her mother was either.

It looked like, to keep the peace, she'd have to find an excuse to skip dinners with them for a few days just until her dad got accustomed to her being around. Her dad liked routine. He thrived on it, and she felt like maybe she had ruined his new routine with Eddie. It was so frustrating always being on the periphery of her father's life and watching other people, even a lycanthrope now, come and go from his bubble without setting him off. Why was she the odd man out in this picture?

Tomorrow she would get up early and get out of the house. The less she was around, the happier she felt her dad might be.