i would love that! and it's flexible enough that we could hopefully make it work! i assume that they would be cousins through valerie's dad's side of the family, since you're using kelsey (?) and also valerie's mom's family is mostly based in connecticut, which is okay by me - valerie's dad and parts of his family emigrated to the us/redwood specifically in the late 70s. it'd be up to you what you wanted to make your girl's family like, but all i was thinking was that since valerie was an only child, that they would have grown up close / at one point when she was really shy as a kid was her only friend / things like that. but i'd be up for brainstorming other details and figuring things out!