Page 73 of Their Promise

Setting my phone on the bed beside me, I closed my eyes.

Two knocks on my door had me up and eyes open.

Tony stuck his head in and smiled. “Hey, Sis.” His body was tense, so I opened my arms and he immediately ran forward to hug me, resting his head on my shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yes and no,” I admitted with a humorless laugh.

“Mom told me what happened. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help you.”

Tsking, I said, “What could you have done, little bro? It all worked out in the end.”

Pushing me back he asked, “Do you want ice cream?”

Scoffing, I rolled my eyes, and said, “Well, I’m not here to fuck spiders.”

He sighed and shook his head, hating the saying I had picked up from a fiction novel I’d read. It basically meant, “duh, what else would I be here for?”

“Mom already has the ice cream and toppings out, so we better hurry or dads are going to eat it all.”

I gasped and pushed him towards the door. “Why didn’t you lead with that? They’re going to eat all the cherries!”

Laughing, we ran down the stairs and to the kitchen where everyone was making bowls of ice cream. This was a sort of family tradition. If something crazy or emotionally draining happened, we would have build-your-own-sundaes and only talk about fun or funny things.

“Don’t eat all the cherries!” I yelled as I ran into the kitchen, my socks sliding on the tile.

“I saved the last two for you,” Branson said.

“You’re the best, Bran Bran!” I shouted as I ran around to where he was and grabbed them from the little cup he’d put them in.

Once our sundaes were made, we made our way to the living room and I gasped when I saw one of my favorite board games on the table. “I didn’t know we still had this!”

“It was in the back of the cupboard,” Riddick said. “I had to dig it out.”

“Oh, you guys are going to get destroyed!” I said confidently.

“While you were at college, I became the reigning champion,” Tony said proudly.

“Yeah, while I was gone,” I scoffed. Pulling out the board and the pieces, I started assembling it.

Four hours later, I reclaimed my title as reigning champion by winning seven games in a row.

“How does she do it?” Tony asked, exasperated. “I swear she cheats somehow.”

“I don’t cheat. I’m just that good,” I taunted.

He jumped at me in his wolf form and I shifted into my snake form, coiling around him, but not squeezing tight enough to hurt him.

“Whoa, you are much bigger,” Caleb said.

Tony huffed and relaxed, his way of telling me that I won, so I uncoiled and shifted into my human form.

“Yeah, I haven’t measured myself, but I feel like I’ve grown at least a foot,” I said.

“Let’s measure you,” Triston said and stood immediately.

“You just don’t want to get beaten at the game again,” I teased.

He smiled, clicked his tongue, and pointed at me. “Right you are. Now, let’s go measure you.”

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