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Cassidy stared at her hand for a moment as though trying to make a decision.
Was she not a hand shaker?
Before she had the chance to take back the super-awkward offer, Cassidy was invading her space, opening her arms and pulling her into a hug.
There was a collective breath of relief.
Okay, so she had a weird woman in her arms, and she was going to go with the flow. That was what she did now. It wasn’t that she didn’t like hugs. She just hadn’t had that many of them. So she didn’t know if she liked them. Her sister hugged her. With her ex-husband, a hug usually was actually a request for sex.
So what did this hug mean?
“I’m so happy to meet you, sweetheart. I’m so happy to have you in my family.”
This woman didn’t know her at all. Elisa slowly moved her arms, hugging her stepmother. “Well, I hope you feel that way after you get to know me.”
Her stepmom leaned back. “I’m sure I will. Why don’t we sit down and have a nice talk? I’m so happy we don’t have to stay in the bunker. I didn’t want to miss the festival.”
Her brand-new stepmom started to lead her away, and she glanced back to where Hale and Van stood.
Her crazy sex life was going to have to wait.
Thirty minutes later Elisa sat back and wondered exactly what was going on.
Her father had greeted her with seeming kindness, but then he’d let his wife take over completely.
Cassidy was beyond welcoming. She’d led Elisa over to the corner booth where they’d been joined by Max and Rye Harper, who’d come into town with Mel. From what she could tell they lived close to her father and had since they were kids.
She was glad the brothers had joined them because they were turning out to be excellent translators.
“Now, I have two sons,” Cassidy Meyer was saying. “And I don’t want you to be afraid of them.”
“Why would I be afraid?” Sometimes she didn’t completely understand what Cassidy was saying. Or her dad. When he did talk, it was usually to add something to whatever Cassidy had said. They seemed to have their own language.
“Because Leo’s a therapist in Dallas, and he works with all kinds of weirdos,” Max explained.
Rye’s eyes rolled. “I think she’s talking about the fact that she believes Leo and Wolf are the product of her time spent with aliens.”
“Well, I think the fact that Leo is writing a book about all my mental health issues is way scarier than him having alien DNA,” Max pointed out.
“That book is going to set a record for length,” Rye said under his breath.
“They’re good boys.” Her father did what he seemed to do and brought it back to the topic of aliens. “Nothing to be afraid of at all, and their wife turned out to be completely human, too. All that fretting and she’s just a nice human lady.”
Cassidy frowned. “Well, she wouldn’t take the beet.”
Rye was sitting next to Elisa and leaned in as he had many times over the course of the last half an hour. “Aliens can’t process whatever is in beets. So a way to tell if a person is or isn’t one is to take a shot of beet juice. It’s fine. If you do it quick, you don’t even taste it.”
Yep, this was what she was dealing with.
Max shook his head. “She was getting married, Cassidy. I know the beet shows us many miracles, but it’s also hell on your teeth.”
Cassidy grinned. “I like to think of it as my version of hair dye, but for my teeth. And it’s good for you. Not only does it keep the aliens away, my blood pressure is perfect. Doc says I’m in peak condition for a woman my age.”
She wasn’t sure if they were being serious. Was this some weird version of punk the new chick? Her father hadn’t said much. If he was her father.
Was this some way to get her to leave?
There it was. Suspicion.
Suspect everyone. Everything. It’s the only way to keep yourself safe.
But lately she’d been wondering if her mother’s version of safe was more about locking the world away and not having to ever risk her heart for anything or anyone. She wondered if her mother’s version of safety would inevitably lead to loneliness and despair. “So let me see if I understand. You had some kind of relationship with an alien and you had a couple of kids by… Do aliens have genders?”
“Yes,” her father said. And that was all. He was back to staring at her as if she might turn into one of the aliens he apparently hunted.
This wasn’t going the way she’d planned. For a moment out there on the dance floor, it had felt like he wanted to know her. Now she was starting to wonder. He’d let his wife do all the talking. She knew what Cassidy wanted her to know, and it was mostly alien stuff and the fact that the bunker wasn’t as comfortable as the cabin they shared.
