By the time we dragged the last of the pillows from her SUV into the living room, it looked like a department store had exploded in my house.
The living room was chaos. Pillows everywhere, blankets draped over chairs, Val buzzing around like she was about to host a royal coronation instead of build a pillow fort.
She had that look again—eyes lit up, smile a little too wide. The kind of look that always spelled trouble for me.
"Okay, the big pillows go here," she said, dragging a heavy one across the floor.
I reached out and grabbed it before she could wedge it against the side. "No, that's gonna make it lean. You need the heavier ones at the bottom."
"Lean?" she repeated, like the word was offensive. "It's not a skyscraper, Kai. It's a fort."
"Forts still need structure." I slid the pillow into place against the others, testing the balance. It wasn't great, but it was better.
