Page 35 of Take Me to the Valley

It turns out Judy's niece is hosting the sleeping over with her daughter. They are good people, and have watched Skye a few times when I was in a jam.

“Do you think you’re ready for a sleepover?” You haven't spent time away from me other than at Nana's house,” I say.

“I think so. They have games planned and movies, and we will be doing face masks,” Skye says, excitedly.

Even though I want to let her go, I'm worried she isn't ready to be away from me for that long.

“She can always call, and I can pick her up if it's too much.” Calista says, as if reading my mind.

“I guess it would be okay so long as you finish your project before then and stay on your best behavior.”

“I prom-iseDaddy!” Skye hugs me before running off to her room, hopefully to work on her project she is halfway through.

“That will be a perfect time to see if Emelie and the girls want to get together. I know Dad has been wanting some time with you, too,” Calista says as Cody walks back in.

“Yeah, he has. I was supposed to talk to you about that while I was here,” Cody says.

“Friday,” Calista points her finger at him.

“Shoot Emelie a message and see if that works for her. It might take her a while to get back to you if she isn't in town,” I tell her.

While Cody starts putting the food away, she pulls out her phone. Her phone dings before she can even put it down.

“I guess they are in town,” Calista says, looking at her phone. “She says Friday at two p.m.”

“Dad will be here,” Cody says.

I smile at the fact that Calista is making friends with Axel's wife. He's become a good friend after he forgave me for bringing him in for questioning on possibly kidnapping his now wife. Her ex had filed false police reports. Due to a few other charges that were brought up, he served almost a year in jail for it all.

Now if I can just forget the fact that we will be all alone that night with Skye not here. It is the ideal time to spend some time together and see if this has the possibility of going anywhere.

Chapter 18

Calista

Iroped Kaylee into coming with me to meet Emelie and the other girls. They seemed nice in the few short minutes I’ve known them, but you just never know. When you get people into a group like this, their personalities can change quickly.

With Dad hanging out with Evan, I don’t even have the excuse to duck out early if it goes south. So I didn’t give her a choice, especially since I knew she was off work today. My plans are to go to my apartment an hour before we were to meet the girls at the bakery, as I wanted to fill Kaylee in on the new developments.

“You know,” Kaylee says, with Skye at a sleepover tonight, I think it’s the perfect time for you to figure out if this is going anywhere.”

“I don’t think so,” I say. But in reality, my gut was telling me exactly what I should do: find out if there’s magic between us.

“Think about it. No Skye busting in and disrupting anything or overhearing anything. This way you can figure out if this is something you two want to pursue. If not, then you can go back to normal when Skye gets home. If it is, then you go from there,” she says, pulling her hair up in some fancy twist.

I hate to admit she makes sense because that means I have to act like an adult instead of burying my head in the sand and ignoring my problems, hoping they will go away.

“Well, for now, I can put that aside and worry about it later after meeting the girls. What do you know about them?” I ask.

“What little times I’ve run into them, they are super sweet. They mostly keep to themselves with their men on the mountain. But they have brought Jack and Evan into their circle, though the guys spend more time in town than the women. From what I can tell, loyalty means everything to them,” she says. “Oh, before I forget to tell you, do not pass up the huckleberry bear claws at the bakery. They are extremely yummy.”

I am a sucker for sweets, as my thicker thighs, and not-so-flat tummy can attest. So there isn’t a chance in hell that I will be giving them up any time soon.

“Well, I guess we can’t stall any longer,” I look at the clock.

“Since all we have to do is walk across the street, I don’t think we can,” Kaylee smiles. Then, looping her arm in mine, she pulls me toward the door.

As we cross the street to the bakery, we take our time. My nerves are jangling and I’m nervous. This is why I turned down drinks with coworkers all the time back in Chicago. Getting a group of people together just isn’t my idea of fun.

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