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“Like I would assume anything else,” Serenity said as she came out to join us. “It was a busy day today. Tell me that you have a cold beer waiting for your lovely daughter.”
“You know we do. And Ellie brought over some wine. Plus, you know, we always keep the bar stocked,” Drake said, waving her on.
She disappeared behind the bar, bending down before standing up with a frosty beer bottle in hand. They literally had it all out here, even a hidden drink fridge.
Serenity cracked it open and took a long pull before joining us. She stopped next to me and bumped my shoulder.
“Now that Ezra isn’t locking you away, I can’t wait for you guys to come over this summer. Their pool parties are the best.”
“Cops got called last year,” Drake supplied around his laughter. “We’ve got a few… reserved families around us.”
“Oh, just call them what they are. Assholes,” Valerie corrected. “They can’t stand that we have fun. We had to install these bushes to keep them from peeking back here and finding things to call us on.
Serenity snorted. “They are. But the cops always come steal a hot dog or whatever Dad’s grilling and make it look like they’re doing their jobs, but they never give us a hassle.”
“I love Lockwood,” I said. Having met the sheriff I could picture him coming back here, stern face in place, then joining in the fun for a few minutes.
Ezra led us to the table and I sat down, Serenity taking the seat on my other side.
She leaned in, giving Ezra a side eye. “So, have we gotten to the embarrassing part yet? Baby pictures, glaringly awkward teenage pictures, fun stories to make him blush?”
Ezra snapped his head to the side to glare at her. “One, I will kill you,” Ezra said, his voice deadly. “Two, you’re in most of them, this is a double-edged sword, my friend.”
“That’s okay, I grew out of mine,” Serenity taunted. She stood up abruptly and ran inside while Ezra cursed her existence. Definitely siblings at heart.
“Hey, hey, isn’t this my job?” Valerie protested as she helped her husband load the griddle with steaks and fried rice. It sizzled as it hit the hot surface, sending a mouthwatering aroma over to us. My stomach rumbled loudly in anticipation. I was now hungry all of the time. Thankfully, Serenity was already coming back with two albums in hand for a distraction while we waited.
“I’m just making sure you don’t forget, Mom,” Serenity said as she flipped open the album. The very first page was filled with baby pictures of both her and Ezra and another little girl who I knew had to be his sister.
“Oh my god, look at your little cowlick,” I said as I looked at tiny Ezra. The baby had a shock of black hair, grinning up at the camera. The front of his hair swirled slightly, sticking up at all angles. Just looking at it made me hope that our baby was just as adorable. My hand went to my stomach instinctively, something I noticed I was doing more and more.
“Serenity, look at you,” Ezra teased as he matched my tone, flipping the page to their childhood photos. She was standing in pink overalls and giant pigtails that were almost bigger than her head. I always knew she had wild black hair but seeing it this untamed had me cracking up. She really was adorable.
“Both my babies were adorable, weren’t they?” Valerie asked. She was so close that I almost jumped and she chuckled before flipping the page, skipping a few and stopping on pictures from what appeared to be a family vacation.
“This is my favorite memory of them. We were going on this road trip and I found a story about this cave at a diner. It was used for a smuggling chain. I wanted to go to it, but along the way, one of the locals shared a rumor about the caves being full of pirates and their ghosts. The entire time we went through they were holding hands and huddling together. To make it worse there was a man in the group who was a huge alpha with an accent and they convinced themselves he was a hidden pirate.”
“That’s amazing,” I said, grinning at them both. Of course, they now wore matching scowls.
They didn’t look the least bit scared in the picture, standing in front of the cave sign. Valerie was hugging Serenity while Drake hugged Ezra, holding them close together like one happy family.
This was exactly what I wanted growing up. What we would make sure that our kids would have. A family to spend time with, that loved the kids like we did. Previously, I was sad thinking our kids would only have Grant. Now that I met Drake and Valerie I knew that our family wasn’t as tiny as I thought. Especially if Bear’s parents were interested in meeting us all.
They were going to be the cool grandparents, rolling into the school pickup line, giving them the best kind of reputation with their classmates as they rode off on the back of a motorcycle.
“Wait, I think the prom pictures are in this one,” Serenity said, shoving the childhood album out of the way and pulling up the other, flipping through until she found what she was looking for.
They were both in their ‘moody teen’ era, glaring at the camera as Valerie and Drake got shots from every angle imaginable. The park in the background was full of more prom dresses and tuxes as if the whole town went to one spot to get pictures.
Serenity was wearing a surprisingly vibrant dress. The top was a light pink and it slowly got darker as it went, ending in a dark magenta. Her hair was down and curled, makeup done to perfection. She looked adorable, though she also seemed miserable.
Ezra was obviously annoyed, his perpetual scowl was evidence of that. His tux was tailored to fit and his dark hair was slicked back with gel. As far as prom pictures went, these were downright impressive.
“This is completely unfair. My prom pictures were terrible,” I laughed. “Mom made me wear Tori’s old dress and Tori and I werenotthe same size. We had to pin the top together so that it didn’t just fall down completely. It stuck me all night.”
Serenity’s mouth twisted with disgust. “I really hate your parents,” she said. “They were borderline neglectful and we both know that wasn’t the worst of it.”
“They’re assholes,” Ezra agreed without skipping a beat. Drake and Valerie shared a look, apparently, worried on my behalf.
