Page 64 of Mastering the Minotaur

Kalli beams at us. “I guess I might finally have to stop calling him New Guy and come up with a better name.” She taps her chin. “Maybe Kristoff. Or Sven.”

“Kalli!” I scold. “Don’t encourage them.”

The kids are already bouncing in their seats, chanting, “Sven, Sven, Sven!”

I can’t help laughing, though, when Kalli asks the driver to take us to Jarra’s apartment. For the first time in forever, I feel like nothing’s in my way.

Yeah, I definitely watched that movie way too many times.

TWENTY SEVEN

Mel

“Again, again!” Damian and Elsa are both shrieking when Zyphius bends so they can each take hold of one of his horns.

“You’ll put your back out again.” Sarah rolls her eyes. She leans in and mutters to me. “And then you don’t want to know how many hours I’ll have to spend massaging him.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I—Ah!” He breaks off and grabs at his back.

Jarra retrieves the kids, and Sarah and I help Zyphius sit down. “See,” she tells him.

He only rolls his eyes and gives me a wink. “You can’t beat her massages. Twenty five years I’ve been saying this. I swear to God she’s got the hands of a blacksmith.”

“I heard that!” Jarra’s mom swats his dad over the head playfully.

I love the dynamic between the two of them, and I can definitely see where Jarra got his playful nature.

“We’re going now, Mom,” Jarra says, putting his arm around me. “You sure you’ve got this?”

She scoffs and gives us a little wave of her hand. “I’m all over this. These two are going to be good as gold, aren’t you, kids?”

My two little ratbags do their very best angel impersonations. I fix them with a firm glare that lets them know they’re not fooling anyone.

“In bed by seven thirty and lights out fifteen minutes later,” I scold.

Jarra nudges me. “Come on, eight. It’s a special night. Let them stay up a bit later.”

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