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“Love you, Casey,” Macey calls. Casey waves.
“Love you too,” she retorts, blowing her a kiss. Valen drives out and back onto the highway, and Casey leans forward in her seat.
“Look, Uncle Valen, I brought ‘Trolls’. Auntie Macey said I could because it’s your favorite,” she says, holding up the DVD to show him.
“Uncle Valen?” I ask her.
“Hmm, Auntie Macey said he’s your boyfriend and will marry you one day.”
“Did she now?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.
“Yep, so that makes him my uncle. But if he’s my uncle, how will I marry Valarian? Wouldn't that make him my cousin? But Taylor said she’s marrying him and that I have to marry Uncle Fester from the Addams Family, but I told her nuh-uh, I am,” Casey says. I snicker, catching Valen's smile as he looks out the window.
“My boy is a lady's man.”
I smack his thigh, and he grabs my hand before I can pull it away. Lifting it to his lips, he kisses the back of it, keeping hold of it on his lap when he lowers it again.
“So, can we watch ‘Trolls’ when we get to your place?” Casey asks hopefully.
“Yes, we can watch it on repeat, if you like,” I say.
“Yay! Valarian will be so excited about our sleepover.”
“Casey, you live with Valarian. Every night is a sleepover,” I chuckle.
“Oh, right. I guess it is,” she says, bouncing happily in the back of the car.
The drive is short, and I’m looking forward to lying down. Yawning, I step out of the elevator and follow Valen to his apartment. He unlocks the door, and the first thing I can smell is pancakes. My brows furrow, and I follow Valen in with Casey, who runs ahead.
“Ugh, not ‘Trolls’,” I hear Valarian whine.
“Oh, where did you come from, little one?” I hear Kalen’s voice. Casey points to us down the hall, and Kalen walks over, looking at us.
“I’m Casey, and I came with them.”
“Oh, you're back. We’re making pancakes,” Kalen says, before rushing back to the kitchen as he plates up.
“Pancakes and ice cream for dinner, Dad? Really?” asks Valen disapprovingly.
“You never complained when you were a kid. Want some? I made mountains,” he says, pulling a huge tray off the stove. Valen shakes his head with a chuckle.
“Sure, why not? Pancakes for dinner it is, then,” Valen laughs.
Kalen is dressed in a suit with a white apron on and a chef hat. He looks like an alien standing in the kitchen.
“And some for Miss Casey,” Kalen says, handing her a plate. Both kids race excitedly toward the table with their plates. Just then, Kalen shocks me as I walk to the sink to get a glass of water. He actually hugs me and pecks me on the cheek.
I freeze up, stiff as a statue. “Everly, dear, so happy to see you again,” he chirps. I look at Valen, who shrugs and tries to steal a pancake from the tray. His father smacks his hand with the spatula.
“Let me plate it up the way you used to like,” he scolds, and I chuckle while Valen seems to pout before stealing one anyway. “You rotten little brat!” Kalen barks at him.
“Has no manners, Everly. Anyone would think a Neanderthal raised him,” Kalen says, shaking his head while making a chocolate chip smiley face on Valen's pancakes with two blobs of ice-cream for ears.
ChapterFifty-Eight
Everly
We ate dinner—or should I say breakfast for dinner, though Kalen seemed reluctant to leave. He was very hands-on, playing with the kids, but we needed to get them showered and dressed for bed, so Kalen said his goodbyes and left, stating he would see us at the Alpha meeting.
