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I glare at him and back up. “Oh no, mister. You keep your hands to yourself. I’m not going to be responsible for scaring any of these kids.”
“Spoilsport.” He pouts, making me laugh.
“Poor baby. I promise I’ll make it up to you later.”
He grabs my hips and yanks me to him, kissing me hard. “You better.”
“Eww, Astrid’s kissing a boy.” A little voice breaks the mood, making Jagger laugh as I pull away from him.
I turn and look down at Emma, the six-going-on-sixty-year-old who just finished her physiotherapy on her legs after being in a car accident that took the lives of both her father and brother. Her mom clutches her hand tightly, smiling even though I can see the dark circles under her eyes. She’s a reminder that, though the body can heal quickly, there is no time limit on grief.
“You are absolutely right. Boys are gross. Quick, let’s get out of here before any more of them find us.” I offer her my hand and glance at her mom.
“Why don’t you go have a break? I hear they have the most amazing hot chocolates over there.” I point in the general direction of where the food and drinks are served.
“Are you sure?” she asks, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Absolutely. We’re going to see if we can reach the center of the maze before the boys.” I stick my tongue out at them, and Emma copies, making us all laugh.
“Okay, thank you. I pulled a double shift, and I’m drained, but I didn’t want her to miss this.”
“No worries. Go relax. We’ll come find you when we’re done.”
“Thank you so much. Be good for Astrid, baby.”
“I will,” Emma promises before running up and giving her mom a hug.
When she walks back over to us, we stand and wait for her mom to leave before Emma looks up at Slade. “You are very tall.”
“You’re very short.”
She rolls her eyes, full of sass. “Of course I am. I’m only six.”
Slade widens his eyes. “What? Really? I thought you were at least ten.”
Emma giggles and walks over to take his hand. His eyes whip up to mine, unsure, but I just nod and smile. The sight of her small hand in his makes me turn into a pile of goo.
“Astrid!”
I turn at the sound of my name being yelled and burst out laughing. Salem is walking toward us, dressed as a giant orange pumpkin. The guys around her are in identical soldier get-ups, but more like the soldiers in Toy Story than the ones most of them were in their former lives.
Salem smiles as I take in her costume, and I can see that she’s wearing black leggings and a long-sleeved black T-shirt underneath. That makes sense because I have no idea how she’d get in the car wearing that otherwise.
“This was not what I pictured,” I admit.
“I wanted to go for something sexy, but then I saw this, and I just couldn’t resist.”
“You’re still sexy.” Zig kisses her temple, making her sigh.
“Sorry we’re late. We hit traffic on the way here—some kind of accident. Plus, we dropped some things off at the hospital, too,” Oz admits.
“You guys didn’t have to do that.”
“We wanted to,” Ev pipes up, moving around Oz to give me a hug.
“I’m seriously loving this outfit. I think your next avatar should look like this.” Ev’s eyes drift down to Emma, and he grabs his chest.
“You didn’t tell me you knew Black Widow,” he whispers loudly, making Emma giggle.
