A/N - Hey, better late than never right? I'm not even sure "late" applies here though given how long it's been since I last updated this story. Although given how long it's been, it will maybe encourage everyone to start at the beginning and get lots of fluffy Evie content all over again because a 2+ year hiatus is so so sad! Here's hoping to another chapter before Evie ships off to college herself!
And thanks yet again to Bondopoulos for finding the time to beta this and pestering me every month or so to finish it! Hopefully someday I will actually finish it!
Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas - although he no longer deserves them! (couldn't help myself and hate seeing the original disclaimer now on all my old stuff)
Even though it had been over three years since he'd left Neptune, making his way to the Sunset Cliff Apartments felt just as familiar as it always had to Logan. He'd initially been worried that being back in Neptune would stir up too many bad memories, but maybe the reassuring warmth radiating from where Veronica had her hand resting on his leg was helping to keep all those negative thoughts at bay. And contrary to several recurring nightmares he'd had over the past few years, nothing catastrophic had happened as they'd driven past the sign that marked the edge of Neptune. If he were really being honest about how he'd felt before, it may have just been the thought of returning with her not being a part of his life that he had never wanted to face—and thankfully he didn't have to now that they'd found their way back to each other. He still wasn't ready to come back to Neptune permanently but felt more confident that he could easily survive this short stay they were about to embark on.
"I thought we were going to Ver-ronica's house?" Evie asked from the backseat as Logan pulled into an empty spot at the front of the apartment complex.
"This iswhere Veronica lives, sweetie," Logan explained as he turned and glanced over his shoulder at Evie who had a puzzled look on her face.
"At a hotel?" Evie asked next, confusion evident in her tone.
Veronica chuckled and shook her head as she also turned around in her seat to look back at Evie.
"It would be silly to live at a hotel, wouldn't it?" Veronica teased as she quickly shot a mischievous wink in Logan's direction, drawing a small chuckle from Kathleen.
Logan fought the urge to jump into a defiant rebuttal and turned his attention back to Evie instead. "Veronica and her dad live in an apartment. It just sort of looks like some of the hotels you've been to from the outside, but it's bigger on the inside."
Evie scrunched up her face as she peered out the window again, a slight frown forming on her brow. "But where does her doggy get to play?"
"We take him out to the beach a lot to run and play," Veronica shared, appearing to be amused by Evie's questions at least and not offended. "We do have a swimming pool, so that sort of makes up for no yard to play in. Although Backup isn't allowed to swim in it with us, but he's totally fine with just swimming in the ocean when he wants to."
Evie turned back to look at Veronica, her eyes starting to light up with excitement. "Can we go swimming in your pool now?"
"I think we'll save that for later," Logan quickly interjected. "We're just dropping Veronica off for a little while so she can do a few things here while we go and get checked into the hotel we'll be staying at."
It was easy to tell that Evie was about to protest, so Logan quickly undid his seatbelt.
"I'm going to help Veronica take her suitcase inside while you wait here with Nana," Logan continued, shooting a glance in Kathleen's direction as well. "I'll just be gone for a few minutes and then we can head over to the Regency."
"But I want to come too," Evie blurted out as she reached down to unbuckle her car seat. "I want to see her house and her doggy and her pool."
"Daddy will just be gone a few minutes," Kathleen assured Evie as she reached over to stop her from getting free of her restraints. "Let's look at the new book you picked out earlier with Veronica again, okay?" Kathleen continued, pulling the book up from the bag at the edge of her seat.
Evie let out a loud sigh but seemed to at least reluctantly agree. Logan thought he heard a small 'fine' from Evie as he opened his door and started climbing out of the vehicle. The smirk from moments before reappeared on Veronica's face as she met him at the back of the SUV.
"Silly, huh?" he asked as he quirked an eyebrow at her. "I don't recall you ever complaining about my living situation all the nights you stayed over. Room service at any time of the day. Never running out of hot water during showers. Top of the line air conditioning for those sweltering hot summer days. And I noticed the chocolate mints housekeeping would leave on my pillow always seemed to go missing on the nights that you were there. Never was silly mentioned then."
Veronica smiled coyly as she slid her hands onto his sides. "It just wasn't the most financially responsible place to live is all. Of course I'm not going to even try to argue that I didn't love all the perks."
Logan couldn't help but let a loud laugh escape, causing Veronica to raise her eyebrows in what appeared to be a slightly perplexed expression. After all of these years, he suddenly realized he'd never let her in on a little secret he was keeping back then. "I never told you, did I? I was never actually paying for the penthouse."
"What?" Veronica asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.
Logan nodded his head as a smug grin spread across his face. "Kane Software had set up an automatic payment to the hotel when Duncan first moved into the suite and apparently no one ever got around to stopping it when he fled the country, so all those buffalo burgers… you can send Jake Kane a thank you card some time. Or maybe you should address it to some slacker in his accounting department."
Veronica tossed her head back as she laughed loudly as well. "If I'd only known back then I would have ordered a side of caviar every night and just flushed it out of spite."
"Well I'm guessing if the bill suddenly doubled, they maybe would have noticed, so good thing I didn't tell you back then."
Veronica snickered a bit more as she nodded in agreement.
As Logan opened the back of the SUV to grab Veronica's suitcase he could see Evie trying to turn in her car seat to look at him. "I love you, sweetie. I'll be back in a few minutes," Logan reiterated as he grabbed Veronica's bag, hoping the momentary distraction wouldn't cause Evie to protest being left in the car again. He was relieved when Evie just replied with a quick 'Love you too, Daddy' right before he closed the door. He was once again very grateful that Kathleen was a master at redirecting Evie's attention at moments like these.
"Few minutes, huh?" Veronica asked with a salacious grin. "Doesn't leave us much time for fooling around, but I'm sure we can make it work."
Logan chuckled and shook his head slightly. "Sorry we haven't had much alone time the last couple of days. But soon it will be just us—for a couple of nights at least." He was determined to at least try to focus on their drive up to Palo Alto and not let himself dwell on the fact that before they knew it, he'd have to head back to Oregon without her.
"It's okay," Veronica reassured him as she reached out and squeezed his free hand. "I was just teasing. I know you were still pretty sore from the procedure and Evie missed you so much the night you were stuck at the hospital. I wouldn't have changed a thing the past few days."
Logan leaned down so he could place a quick kiss on her temple. "Thanks for being so understanding."
"Of course," she responded with a tender smile as she started leading him toward her apartment. "So, what are you thinking for the rest of the day? I'm fine here on my own doing some packing and other stuff for a few hours if you want to meet up later for dinner." She paused and gave him a slightly anxious look as she reached her door, which had him worried for a second. "Were you… umm… going to try to connect with Dick while you're in town?"
Logan grimaced slightly at the question. He hadn't really given that a lot of consideration, but suddenly the thought of explaining Evie to Dick… or Dick to Evie… seemed more than he was ready to deal with this trip. "I think I'll hold off on that. I'm sure he'd rather not hang out with me and Evie and, given we'll only be in town for a couple of days before we start driving up to Palo Alto, I'd rather not worry about trying to track him down."
"Well if you change your mind, let me know. I do actually know where he lives since I stopped by to see if he knew where you were before I found you in Yachats. I'd be happy to entertain Evie and Kathleen for a couple of hours if you just wanted to go and grab a bite to eat with him before we leave."
"Thanks, I'll think about it, but sort of doubt that I'll change my mind," Logan replied, watching Veronica unlock and open the door to the apartment. "Speaking of friends… did you set up some time for you to see Mac and Wallace before we leave?"
Veronica shook her head in reply before speaking. "Hm… the 'you' in that statement sounded a bit solitary… I'd really like for you to join us when I do set something up. I'd love for them to see you and meet Kathleen and Evie too."
Logan involuntarily cringed a bit at the prospect. "I'm not so sure your friends would agree, particularly Wallace. Our last interaction before I left Neptune wasn't that great."
Logan followed Veronica into the apartment and set her suitcase down near the door. As if on cue, he heard a fairly loud thump followed by the sound of dog feet coming from the direction of Veronica's bedroom. Seconds later, a very excited Backup emerged. Ignoring Logan completely he trotted happily to Veronica's side and looked up at her expectantly, his little stump of a tail wagging enthusiastically.
"Hey, Buddy," Veronica said softly as she reached down and scratched him behind the ears. "I missed you, too," she said to the pooch, before turning her attention back to Logan. "Well, that was a long time ago," Veronica countered, clearly still on the topic of him seeing her friends.
Before Logan had a chance to respond, Backup seemed to have decided he needed to check out who had come in with his beloved mistress and gave a small growl as he started to stare up at Logan. "Hey buddy, remember me," Logan said softly as he held his hand out for the dog to sniff. Thankfully it only took a few seconds for Backup to relax and start wagging his tail again. Logan patted his head a couple of times as Veronica walked over and grabbed a chew treat from a box on the counter.
"Who wants a treat?" she asked in a playful sing-song tone as she held it out to Backup. She giggled as Backup swiftly jumped away from Logan to grab the treat and then ran over to his dog bed in the corner of the room.
"I'll take a treat as well," Logan teased as he reached out and pulled her in for a kiss. He let out a deep sigh as she dodged his lips and pulled her head back slightly.
"So I can count you all in when I set-up something with Mac and Wallace?" she asked, raising her eyebrows quizzically.
"I still think they'd rather spend a little quality time with just you," Logan tried again. He really had no idea how judgmental they both might be regarding the choices he'd made since he'd last been in Neptune. While he wouldn't change a thing, he wasn't so sure her friends would see things the same way. Keith certainly hadn't been an easy sell. He didn't want to cause any new issues given they were not going to be in town very long. "I'd expected that you'd want to do some things without me in Neptune and I'm totally cool with that. As long as we get to enjoy the drive from LAX up to Palo Alto alone together after we drop off Kathleen and Evie for their flight, I'm more than happy to just relax at the hotel with Evie and Kathleen and let you do your thing. It sounded like your dad really wanted to spend some quality time with you too."
"Yeah," Veronica replied a little reluctantly.. "We did just spend time with him in San Diego, but I guess maybe you're right." She paused for a second before a sultry grin spread across her face. "And I'm really looking forward to our drive up north too. That place you found in Carmel looks amazing."
Logan leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He was relieved when she didn't pull away this time. He doubted that she'd completely drop the topic of him seeing her friends while they were in town, but for the moment at least he was hoping they could stop discussing it. He kissed her more fervently, wanting to take full advantage of the limited time alone that they did have. Without giving it much thought, Logan picked Veronica up and sat her on the edge of the counter as they continued to kiss. While it made it much easier to kiss her, it also made it too easy for her to wrap her legs around his and pull him up against her.
He let out a deep sigh as he pulled his head back slightly. While he really didn't want to stop, he knew exactly where they were headed. "I um… I'd better get back to the car before Evie gets too unruly," he tried, clearly not sounding very confident about wanting to stop. "I'll um… I'll give you a call after we get settled in at the hotel to make plans for later."
Veronica chuckled softly and nodded before leaning in and giving him one last chaste kiss. "Carmel can't come soon enough," she teased with a small wink.
Logan carefully slipped out of the master suite, leaving the door open a crack to be able to hear Evie if she woke up early from her nap.
"Thanks for the call. Sorry to hear the flight was a bit bumpy. I know you've never enjoyed those... Mm hmm..." Kathleen muttered into her phone as she glanced up at Logan. He could tell by the expression on her face that she was a little surprised to see him come out of the bedroom. "Okay, talk to you soon. Love you too," she added before disconnecting the call. "I'm surprised you're up. I thought maybe you'd be taking a nap too," Kathleen commented, laying her cell phone down on the table next to the chair she was sitting in.
Logan shook his head and made his way over to grab a bottle of water from the in-suite fridge. The layout of the two-bedroom suite they were staying in at the Regency Hotel was very similar to the penthouse at the Grand with a large living area that had a very limited kitchenette type area off to one side. Given that their stay in Neptune was going to be fairly brief, Logan hadn't worried about finding something larger for them. The Regency was under construction when he'd left Neptune so it still had that very new and fresh feel to it.
"Shocking as it may sound, I think all the resting and naps from the past few days finally re-energized me," Logan shared as he leaned against the counter and screwed the cap off the water bottle.
"Well, I bet Veronica would appreciate some of that energy to help her pack," Kathleen suggested, giving him a slightly mischievous grin.
Logan chuckled as he shrugged in response. He wondered if Kathleen was intentionally trying to shift his focus to Veronica versus the call he'd just caught the tail end of. "So Katy made it safely back to Corpus Christi?"
Kathleen's smile faltered slightly as she nodded in reply.
"Is she still upset I decided not to let her see Evie before she left San Diego?"
"I'm sure she's still a little disappointed, but she didn't mention it again today," Kathleen replied, her expression shifting more to the one he'd seen many times in the last three years when Kathleen was either about to lecture Sara or himself. "You made the right decision, Logan. When I spoke to her last night, she said she'd talk with Dalton's mom when they got back and plan a time to fly up to see us in the next month or two. And she did appreciate that you let her talk to Evie on the phone for a little while as a compromise. That seemed to go pretty well, I thought."
"Yeah," Logan agreed nodding a bit as he fidgeted with the cap from the water bottle he'd opened. "I think Evie was a little anxious about it, but knowing it was just going to be talking on the phone and not seeing her again in person seemed to help."
"I think Evie will do better when she's back home where she feels safe and comfortable," Kathleen assured him with a warm smile. "And if they are able to talk on the phone a few more times before then, I'm sure that will help. I do feel like she's doing better than the last time she was home, so I'm trying to stay optimistic about everything."
Logan nodded. "I hope you're right. Not just for Evie's sake, but for Katy's as well."
Kathleen's motherly expression shifted back to the slightly mischievous smirk before she spoke again. "So are you going to hang around here and spend the next two hours or so second guessing your decision, or are you going to see if Veronica wants some help packing?"
Logan couldn't help but laugh a bit at her persistence. There was clearly no doubt where Evie's single-mindedness had come from. The two of them were like peas in a pod when they had their mind set on something. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask, now would it?" he replied as he pulled his phone from his back pocket. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay here with you and Evie, though? I know she wanted to go swimming when she wakes up since that was all she talked about after we dropped Veronica off."
"Well I can either take her down to the hotel pool when she wakes up, or we could join you over at Veronica's."
"Yeah, I guess I could get a car to drop me off over at Veronica's and leave you the SUV then," Logan suggested as he sat his water bottle down and clicked on Veronica's contact name on his phone.
"Is someone skipping nap time?" Veronica teased through the line.
"Yeah, I'm being rebellious since my personal nurse isn't around to keep me in line," Logan countered, unable to keep a smile from forming on his lips. "I thought I'd see if I could offer my services to help you pack while Evie sleeps. I could save you the trouble of pulling out the step stool to reach the top shelf in your closet."
"That stool is awfully heavy," Veronica humorously pondered in reply. "Hey, did you want a ride over? I'm actually at the office picking up some more boxes for packing so I'm only a couple blocks from you. I could be there in about ten minutes."
"Perfect. See you soon," Logan replied, saying a quick goodbye before ending the call.
"You're sure your dad won't come home unexpectedly?" Logan asked, cringing internally as he realized how much he sounded like a nervous teen boy all over again.
Veronica laughed and shook her head, leaning up to nip at his jaw. "He shouldn't—but if he does, I'll just explain how I was rewarding you for reaching all those boxes from the top shelf of my closet," she teased before shifting so she could suck on his ear lobe.
Logan let out a low groan; it was definitely a mixture of frustration from her answer and the sensation Veronica caused as she pressed her hips up against his. She'd insisted on a quick rest on her bed after he'd gotten the boxes all down for her which promptly led to kissing and before he knew it, she'd shifted them so he was hovering above her.
"You definitely deserve a reward for all that hard work," Veronica continued in a sultry tone, slipping a hand between them to stroke him through his jeans.
Logan sucked in a deep breath. At least her bedroom door was closed and a few of the boxes he'd pulled down were sitting partially in front of it. As his mouth made contact with her collar bone she let out a satisfied sigh and moved her hands to grip his ass while grinding up against him again. They really hadn't found many opportunities to be alone in the past couple of days, so he willed himself not to worry about Keith coming home and catching them so he could just enjoy the moment.
"Too many clothes," Veronica moaned, tugging on his shirt.
Logan leaned up so he could remove his shirt right as Backup barked loudly from the front room.
"Definitely not, Dad," Veronica reassured him as she continued to try to help him with the shirt.
It took his brain a few seconds to shift from worrying it might be Keith to a completely new concern as Backup barked a couple more times. "Shit… where's my phone?" Logan blurted out, rolling to his side as his eyes scanned the room. He'd given Kathleen the address to Veronica's apartment in case they decided to head over after Evie's nap. He hadn't expected it to be this soon, but Evie's naps had been getting shorter and shorter.
"I think you set it down on the kitchen counter when you grabbed a soda for me out of the fridge," Veronica replied, looking toward her bedroom door with a slight frown forming on her face. "Do you think…" she continued looking back up at him with a bit more concern as Backup continued barking from the other room.
Logan let out a deep sigh and placed a quick kiss on her lips. "Sorry… I'll just… I'll see if it's them and if not I'll be right back," he explained as he scooted toward the end of the bed and started straightening his clothes.
Veronica bit on her lower lip and nodded. "I'll just…" she paused and waved at the bed. "Holler if it's them."
Logan nodded before scooting a couple boxes out of the way so he could open the bedroom door. Backup was still barking and his gaze was firmly locked on the front door. Logan could tell someone was standing at the door, but wasn't able to tell who it was as he made his way down the hall. Whoever it was knocked, likely not for the first time based on Backup's reaction.
He gave Backup the command to chill as he'd heard Veronica do so many times in the past, as he made his way to the door. He was thrilled that Backup readily obeyed him by taking a step back and sitting, but the dog's gaze was still trained on the door. Logan murmured a soft 'good boy', scratching Backup's head as he reached for the door handle. Logan was pretty sure the surprise on the two pairs of eyes staring at him likely matched his own as he swung the door open. The two guys standing in front of him were definitely the last two people he expected to see—well one of them, anyway.
"Hey… umm... Logan?" Wallace stuttered out before Logan had a chance to speak. "Is umm... Veronica here?"
"Woah, Logan! It's been a long time," Piz chimed in, a look of bewilderment on his face. At least Logan though it was bewilderment but with Piz he found it really hard to tell.
"Yeah," Logan replied, nodding in answer to both of their comments as he looked back and forth between the two men in front of him. "Uh… wait here a second and I'll let her know you're here," he added, not quite sure if he should just invite them in or leave them standing outside the door. Backup must have recognized the visitors and lost interest because he had already retreated to his dog bed in the corner of the living room. Logan decided he'd at least leave the door open because it felt a bit odd to close it in their faces, although the thought did cross his mind.
After Veronica had picked Logan up from the hotel, he'd avoided asking about whether she'd finalized any plans to see Mac and Wallace given their earlier discussion on the topic. At no point in the last two weeks had Piz's name come up, so Logan was completely caught off guard to see him at the door with Wallace. Logan certainly hadn't wanted to revisit anything at all related to Piz after she'd arrived in Yachats, and since only Mac and Wallace had been mentioned before, he really hadn't given Piz too much thought.
Veronica was still stretched out on her bed as he poked his head in her bedroom door. He noticed she'd unbuttoned her jeans in his absence but hadn't slipped out of them yet. "You, uh, have two gentlemen callers at the door for you," he informed her. Based on her furrowed brow, she must have been just as surprised as he had been. With a shrug, she swung her feet off the bed and started to button her jeans.
"Friends or foes?" she asked when he didn't elaborate on who exactly was at the door.
"Of you or me?" he couldn't help but quip in reply, drawing a slight frown from Veronica.
"Dos?" she asked next, holding up two fingers. Her pitch was higher than usual as she made her way toward the bedroom door.
"Sí, dos caballeros," he couldn't help tease back in reply, glad he actually remembered the Spanish word for gentlemen since it had been quite some time since he'd spoken anything other than English.
She quirked an eyebrow before heading past him into the hall. After a few steps, she looked back over her shoulder at him, seemingly surprised that he wasn't following right behind her. She jerked her head slightly in the direction of the front door, drawing a sigh from him before he started moving along as well.
"Surprise!" Wallace and Piz half-heartedly called out as Veronica reached the edge of the kitchen.
Logan could see Veronica take in a deep breath from his position behind her, so he closed the distance to be able to lean close enough to speak softly in her ear. "Like I said, dos caballeros."
He heard a slight chuckle from her as she shook her head slightly. "Surprise, indeed. I definitely wasn't expecting to have the two of you drop by this afternoon," she directed at Wallace and Piz.
"Yeah, I know you texted and said to call when I got the chance, but I was picking Piz up at the airport. When I mentioned to him that you'd just got back into town as well, he suggested we should stop by." Wallace paused and glanced at Logan before he continued. "I didn't realize Logan was back in Neptune. What a crazy coincidence."
"The craziest," Logan blurted out a bit sarcastically before he could stop himself.
"Yeah," Veronica started, shooting a reassuring smile at Logan before continuing, her tone taking on a hint of annoyance. "That was one of the things I was planning to fill you in on when you called me back. We've got a lot to catch up on."
"Yeah, I just flew in from visiting my dad the night before last," Wallace shared, nodding in agreement with what Veronica had just said and starting to look a bit like he'd regretted the unplanned drop in.
"We wanted to invite you over to our place tonight," Piz interjected excitedly. Logan thought it was unlikely he had noticed that Veronica seemed a little irritated that Wallace had stopped by instead of calling. "We know you're heading up to Palo Alto soon, and since I just got back from visiting my parents in Oregon too, we thought a welcome home, slash, bon voyage, slash, apartment warming party sounded like a blast." He paused and glanced at Logan. His smile faltered for only a second before he started talking again. "And of course Logan is welcome to come too, right Wallace?"
"Uh, sure," Wallace answered, nodding as he glanced at Veronica, likely to gauge her reaction to it all.
As awkward as this little impromptu meeting had been, Logan couldn't even begin to imagine how uncomfortable an entire evening might feel with all of them. "Thanks, but I think I'll take a raincheck. But you should go, Veronica," he suggested giving her what he hoped was an encouraging smile.
Veronica furrowed her brows a bit and looked like she was about to say something when the sound of small feet running quickly interrupted her.
"Daddy!" Evie yelled out as she weaved her way between Wallace and Piz and beelined straight toward Logan. "The swimming pool is broken!"
An exasperated Kathleen appeared a second later in the doorway stopping just behind Wallace and Piz. She let out a deep sigh and shrugged apologetically when she spotted Logan.
Logan glanced at Wallace and Piz for a second before looking down at an obviously irritated Evie wearing only her swimsuit and a pair of flip flops. The expressions on Piz and Wallace's faces were about as bewildered as when he'd been the one to answer the door.
"The pool at the hotel had to be closed due to an… incident," Kathleen explained, wrinkling up her nose slightly. "We'd just headed down there and so I suggested that we could come over here to swim instead. I did text you," she added, perhaps sensing that he was a little surprised to see them, or more likely worried because he hadn't responded to her message yet.
Kathleen's explanation seemed to have caught Evie's attention because she stopped moving toward Logan and spun back to look at Kathleen, but then her attention must have shifted to Piz and Wallace. "Who are they?" she asked, apparently realizing for the first time that there were people in the apartment that she didn't know.
"That's Wallace," Veronica explained pointing toward Wallace as she spoke. "He's one of my best friends from high school. And his roomate Piz."
Logan was pretty sure he caught a slight flicker of disappointment flash across Piz's face at her less than fond description of him. Even if it bothered Piz, it made Logan feel better that she hadn't given him a higher status in her life than just being someone Wallace lived with.
"This is Logan's daughter, Evie and her grandmother, Kathleen," Veronica continued, gesturing at Evie first and then Kathleen. "They all live in Oregon with Logan. They're just here for a couple days while I pack up for Stanford. More of what I'd planned to explain when you'd called me back, Wallace."
"Oh, well…. They're welcome to come to our place tonight too if they'd like," Wallace tossed out, sounding even more sheepish than he had previously.
"Thanks for the offer, man," Logan started, still not having any desire to spend an evening with them.
"We'll talk it over and let you know," Veronica interjected before Logan could turn Wallace down again. Given their earlier discussion when he dropped her off, he was sure she wasn't ready to let him off the hook. He certainly didn't want to spend time at that moment arguing about it though, so gave a curt nod instead. And maybe with a little more time he could actually come up with a sound justification for not attending this impromptu little soiree.
"Well, I hope you can all make it. Any dietary restrictions?" Wallace asked glancing at Evie and then up at Logan. "We're headed to the grocery store next. I texted Mac too and plan to pick up some veggie burgers for her and regular patties for the rest of us."
Logan sighed and shook his head. He was still hoping he could get out of going, but wondered how big of a battle that might end up being now.
"Alrighty then," Wallace continued nudging Piz toward the door. "We were thinking around seven, but if that doesn't work just let us know later."
"Thanks for stopping by," Veronica offered with a slight hint of sarcasm in her tone as she gave them a little wave before they disappeared out the door.
"Well, they seemed nice," Kathleen mused as she finished walking all the way in and closed the door behind her.
"Doggy!" Evie announced loudly, evidently spotting Backup for the first time since she'd come in.
"Yeah, some guard dog, isn't he?" Veronica replied with a scoff.
"Hey, he did warn us about the other dangerous intruders," Logan pointed out with a chuckle.
Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly before addressing Evie. "I'm sure he'd love to go for a walk on the beach and since you're all suited up, you could play a little in the ocean before we check out my pool. I'll just run in and put on my suit so I can go in with you too," she suggested as she started walking toward her bedroom again. "And we'll talk about our plans for later, after we have some fun," she added, shooting a knowing look at Logan.
"I'm sure we will," Logan replied, already imagining exactly what the outcome of that conversation was going to be. Welcome back to Neptune, Logan.