" Yes, Mom, we finally let poor Emery go to sleep, he was really tired," Katlin said and then went over to her mother and whispered in her ear.Her mom... looked up at my dad and said, "I guess these three want to know if we had a nice sleepover. Well, Brock?" Me, huh? Well, yes, it was quite nice, quite wonderful, actually," my dad told us, grinning from ear to ear as the three of us broke out in applause."Well, it looks like our children approve," the girl's mom told my dad. It was true, I was. “I hadn’t realized how cluttered and dusty this room has become.”“If you’d like to straighten it up, I’ll help you,” he said. “I think it would improve your mood.”“You’ve already improved my mood. All right, let’s clean this room.”“I’ll head over to that grocery near here for some supplies.”Chris stood beside Carmen with his arm around her waist and regarding her living room. “Much improved,” he remarked.“You were right -- my mood is better. Now the room looks happy, and that makes me. A second scream followed by more yelling, and then the ice around me began cracking.I struggled to move and speed up the breaking. When I was certain enough was gone, I dropped my armor and was able to step out of the remaining ice that tried to hold me to the floor.I looked around and found Walker standing over mom in a combat stance. The fog was gone, the lights were back on, and Maria was nowhere to be seen.I looked at Walker. He was breathing heavily as if he had just sprinted a mile. His. Maybe. Just maybe, God willing.I heard soft footsteps behind me. They had me at the table in the kitchen, facing the wall. I really couldn’t see anything but the table and the wall. There was a clock on it. It was nine-fifteen at night. It was way too late for me to be out Trick or Treating. I was too old for it, in the first place, but then, I was just out having fun. A little thought led me to realize it was a little late for what ifs and shouldn’t haves.The footsteps were falling softly on.