Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 125936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
She smiled at him, lighting up his whole world. “Make sure you get pancakes and syrup.”
He winked down at her. “Will do.”
When he and Van walked out, he didn’t even look back at the jail cell that held the man who might have been his brother.
He had a family who loved him. It was all he could ever ask for.
Epilogue
Two weeks later
Elisa looked around the town hall all decorated for the holidays.
Including the beautiful beet garlands her father had made.
“Our new dad is very talented.” Sabrina stood beside her, inspecting the intricately carved garland. “How are his hands not purple?”
The minute Mel and Cassidy had figured out Sabrina’s father wasn’t in the picture, they adopted her, too. Almost a week into her visit, Sabrina was soaking up all that weird, magnificent love they could give.
“He says something the aliens did to him made it so beets can’t permeate his skin. That’s why he has to drink so much juice.” It was odd how easy it was to accept her dad’s eccentricities. Or maybe it should be normal to accept that not everyone was normal and reality could be different for other people.
Her reality was kind of awesome.
“You know he’s a legend in my business,” a now familiar voice said.
She’d spent a lot of time with Jacob Dean and his family over the last few weeks, including an amazing Christmas day with a feast she still dreamed about. Adam Miles was a fancy fucker, and she appreciated him for it. But Jake was the one she clicked with. “In the missing persons business?”
Jake took a sip of the apple cider Nell Flanders had assured everyone harmed neither environment nor human labor force workers. “No. I was talking about intelligence. My friends and I worked on a special ops team for a long time and then we helped out the Agency on occasion. Your dad has one of the highest security clearances I’ve ever seen. I think the man has actually met with the president.”
“Seriously?” Sabrina asked. “Why would he advise the president?”
There was another explanation for her dad’s eccentricities. They could be true. “He’s an expert alien hunter.”
Sabrina’s lips kicked up. “Come on.”
Jake’s big shoulders shrugged. “There are more things in heaven and earth…”
There were definitely more things in Bliss than she’d ever dreamed. She glanced over as Sabrina and Jake began to discuss the possibility that her dad had saved the world on more than one occasion, but Elisa’s eyes found Van. He was talking to Stefan Talbot near the kid’s play station, which was completely devoid of children. The kids seemed to be having way more fun climbing on things. Van was speaking with an animation she’d come to realize meant he was talking about taxes or spreadsheets or some other numbers geek thing. Since he’d made the decision to change his major, his freak flag had been flying high. He was no longer pretending to be the cool dude. He was a full on mathalete. And he talked about statistics a lot.
She loved him so much.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Her other man walked up carrying two mugs of apple cider, one of which he held out for her. “It’s only got a nip of your dad’s whiskey in it. I’m taking that slow, allowing my body to acclimate to the special alien deterrent properties.”
It was a good idea. Her dad’s whiskey had apparently brought low many a Bliss citizen who imbibed too much. She took the mug and said hello to Max Harper, who had walked up with Hale. “I’ve been told I’m genetically protected since I was conceived after Dad’s first couple of alien encounters. His DNA was changed so he could survive in alien climates, so I don’t have the same trouble with the whiskey.”
Oddly, she didn’t. It tasted good to her. The first night they’d sat around her dad’s fire pit and made smores and drank while he told the craziest stories, both of her men had passed out. She’d stayed up until early morning laughing with her dad and stepmom.
She loved it here so much. Loved having parents again. She loved it so much she’d even started thinking fondly of her mother. Life had been hard for her, and she hadn’t had a Sabrina to take some of the burden. She hadn’t found a person who loved her. Her mother’s life could have been different if she’d found the courage to take another path.
Being angry with her mother no longer seemed helpful, and she was getting rid of everything that didn’t bring her some sense of peace.
“Max, she’s looking at me.” Hale breathed the words as though he didn’t want anyone outside their small circle to hear.
“I told you. Laser eyes.” Max had leaned in, whispering as well. “She knows what you did.”
Elisa followed their line of sight and ended at Nell Flanders, who was wearing flowy pants and a sweater and had her baby strapped to her chest. Poppy Flanders was an adorable moppet of a kid who always seemed to be smiling and embracing the world around her. Except now she was frowning and staring their way. “Are you talking about Poppy?”