Page 106 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

“Let’s do it.”

It took longer than Vaughn wanted to get the house back in order, but then again, since it had been a total disaster an hour before, he considered it a win. And luckily, Sam pulled up not ten minutes after they finished. He honked the horn and everyone went outside to greet him.

“Papa, I accidentally made a tornado in the house, but we cleaned it up,” Henry said.

Sam dropped the bag he had in his hand and hurried to Henry’s side. “You’re okay?”

Henry nodded. “Yeah.”

“Papa! I did up! But it didn’t work.”

Teague had tried to rescue the balloons from the tree, but it had been a lost cause.

“Dad said we were having pizza and movie night,” Ben said.

“My favorite,” Sam said with a smile. “Did you finish your reading?”

Ben nodded. “Everybody did. I made sure.”

“Awesome. I’m missing a kid.”

“Nat’s upstairs. She had some allergy issues today. She’s resting.”

Sam frowned and started for the house.

“You guys help me unload Papa’s car. You know he needs to fuss over your sister for a few minutes.”

“Yeah,” Ollie said. “Papa doesn’t like it when we’re sick.”

“I know he doesn’t, little man. Can you carry this bag?”

“’Course, Daddy. I’m a big boy.”

They got the bags carried into the living room. Teague carried in a half dozen pizza boxes a few minutes later. Vaughn had given him cash and asked him to meet the delivery guy by the edge of the wards. No way was he letting a stranger inside. Not after the day he’d had. He’d tempted fate enough as it was.

All wasn’t lost, however. He’d come up with something else. Something even better. Sam deserved nothing less.