Page 60 of Wild Nights

I shook my head. "It's the most fun I've had in forever too. I get so wrapped up in work and everything I should be doing that I can't relax and enjoy these moments with him. Sometimes it feels so hard doing everything myself, especially when he's sick, or he's having trouble with kids at school. It feels like there should be someone else there, but there isn't."

"That's a lot of pressure."

"But I have my brothers and my parents when they're not traveling. I should let them help more."

"I bet they'd love that. And so would Joey."

"I'm seeing everything differently lately."

She raised a brow. "Oh?"

Marcus ducked his head inside the doorway. "I think we need two more people to make this work."

"What are we playing?" Carolina asked as she stood and picked up her mug.

"Monopoly. But not the one we played as kids. It's some new superhero one. Joey assures me that this one is more fun."

"Anything would be more fun than the original Monopoly when you have brothers," I said, following them into the great room. A fire was burning in the hearth, but Arthur had disappeared.

Joey sat on his knees in one of the upholstered red chairs surrounding the dark wood table. "Who do you want to be?"

Carolina slipped into the chair next to Joey. "Oh. I don't even know who these guys are. Can you choose for me?"

Tina would never play a game with Joey. I wasn't even sure he'd ask her to at this point. She'd disappointed him so many times before.

I sat between Joey and Marcus.

As the youngest, Joey went first, quickly buying up all the property he landed on. In no time, he was collecting rent money from the rest of us. There was a lot of good-natured teasing about what a mogul Joey was, and he was basking in the attention. This is what I wanted for my son, to feel part of a family, whether it was by blood or the people we surrounded ourselves with.

Finally, Marcus stretched. "I need to prepare lunch.”

"You don't have to cook for us."

Marcus chuckled. "I'm just throwing sandwiches together."

Carolina rose too. "We can all help."

In the kitchen, Marcus got out everything we needed for sandwiches, and we made our own. Then we took our food and chips into the dining room area. The snow was still falling.

When Arthur came down, Marcus disappeared into the kitchen to make him a sandwich.

"It's so beautiful," Carolina said.

"I want to go outside again," Joey said.

"Let me digest my food first." My phone buzzed. "It's Eli. Excuse me."

I headed into the hallway outside the dining room. "Hello."

"I've been watching the weather channel. How are things there?"

"It's snowing hard. I tried to clear the sidewalks this morning, but it was coming down harder than I could clear it."

"You can wait for the service to do it. I know you have Joey."

"The generators are running. Marcus is keeping us fed, and Joey's having a good time."

"That's all that matters." Eli worried about the lodge, but family came first. "How are the guests? It looks like you only have a handful."

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