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wife. Her forced stern look quickly relaxed into a smile as they laughed. Even Austin could not help but join in.
    It was getting late; the frequency of the jokes was enough to tell Ethan that, and he had a phone date with Kate. He shuffled in his chair and decided it was time to head out.
    “Well it’s been good, but I need to get going. Kate is going to be expecting a call in a little bit,” Ethan explained as he got up. “I’m going to go tell Kallie bye and then I’ll be off,” he said, patting Jason on the shoulders.
    Ethan pushed in his chair and exchanged goodbyes with his friends. These guys, and gal, were as good as any family to Ethan. Even with all the teasing that came along with them.

CHAPTER 5
    January 26 at 9:05 p.m. EST
    Virginia Beach, Virginia
     
    The living room was littered with shredded wrapping paper, bows and boxes in a vast assortment of colors, often overtaken by shades of pink. A heap of new toys rose up in the corner of the room. Jason wondered how long it would be until they ended up broken or lost in the depths of Kallie’s toy trunk.
    Jason surveyed the room. It looked like a tornado had swept through as his daughter and her friends had been playing and left its trail all over the place. He had expected no less.  Still, cleaning up the mess of a bunch of rowdy little girls after a birthday party was inevitably daunting. Luckily, the blue window drapes and Amanda’s pale yellow walls had survived unscathed. The floor, however, had not made it.
    Shutting the door behind him as he waved goodbye to the last of Kallie’s friends and their parents, Jason let out a deep breath. Absently, he slid a hand through his thick brown hair. The cleanup would have to wait until Kallie was in bed.
    Gently guiding Kallie down the hall, Jason bent down to his knees. He met her generous green eyes, her mother’s eyes.
    “So did you have a good birthday?” he asked.
    “Yes daddy, it was great!” Kallie said between tiny giggles, fidgeting a curly lock of nearly black hair.
    “I’m glad,” Jason said, pushing her hair away from her eyes, uncovering another gorgeous emerald. “I’m so proud of you. You’re growing up to be a fine young lady.”
    Kallie smiled and cocked her head to the side. Jason pulled her in and hugged her.
    “Now it’s time for the birthday girl to go to bed though.”
    Kallie’s demeanor quickly dimmed to a distraught frown.
    “I wanna stay up late tonight. We can watch a movie or something,” she begged, her voice’s pitch heightening.
    “Well we could, but you have school tomorrow morning. If you don’t go to bed now you won’t want to get up when your mom tells you to,” Jason reminded her. “So how about we just go to bed and you can play or watch movies tomorrow after school.”
    Still not pleased with the single option, Kallie gave in, her head hung low. Jason knew this is how every kid acted when faced with the dreaded prospect of sleep, but her sad face about melted him. Jason knew he could not give in every time she cried or whined, but he wanted to keep her smiling so badly. Yet, he held his ground.
    “Alright now, I’ll see you in the morning Kallie. I love you.”
    Kallie finally gave in. “Love you too daddy, goodnight.” A slight smile broke on her lips with the last few words. Relieved to have her smiling again, Jason kissed her on the forehead and urged her up the stairs. As she jogged up the stairs she hollered her “I love you” and “goodnight” to them once more, and disappeared down the hallway.
    A smirk on his face, Jason stood back up and looked at his wife, “Kids.”
    “Well, it’s time to clean up,” Amanda began, dropping the grin she had worn the whole afternoon. “It’s amazing how much of a mess a few little girls with some presents can make of a place.”
    Jason huffed, taking in the scene again. It really was a disaster. “Yeah, just be glad we didn’t let them bring their food in here.” The thought was daunting,