Page 67 of A Perfect Match
“Like, from the hourglass or…in life?”Jackson asks just as a swell of cheers erupts from Asher and Bella to match the groans from Jett and Dane.
“Both, I guess.”
“Grampa lives in there,” Lia adds helpfully, reminding me she was still listening.
“Yes he does,” I confirm.
Griff, Jackson, Lia, and I provide moral support as the game goes on.Asher and Bella euchre my brotherstwice.Incredible.They pull off a ten to zero victory, looking especially smug as everyone throws the cards into the center of the table.
“Bella stacked the deck,” Jett grumbles.
“I only did it once in ninth grade,” she shoots back.“And never again.”
“Don’t be a sore loser,” Asher advises as his gaze shifts to me and Griff.“You guys next?”
“Fine.Griff, let’s show them what it looks like toreallywin.”I strut over to the seat that Jett had been sitting in and crack my knuckles.Griff slides into the seat across from me.
The game begins.Cards fly as Lia peppers Dane with questions about why the adults are laughing and groaning so much.Mom lies unresponsive and quietly beeping.It’s familiar at the same time it’s so strange.Still, we make the best of it.Griff and I don’t pull off the spotless victory that we imagined.
We’re tied seven-seven when Jett comments, “I swear I saw Mom’s hand twitch just now.”
We all swing our gazes to the bed.
“Maybe game night is good for her,” Griff says.
“We should do this around the clock then,” Asher says in hisI-mean-businessvoice.
“We could make it work,” Dane says.“I’ll do it if it means Mom wakes up quicker.”
“Piper, you’ve already got an employee, you can start giving her more hours,” Asher says, already planning things out.We went from game night to all of us living at the hospital in two seconds flat.My head is spinning.
“Or hire another one,” Jett offers.
In my head, I’m groaning.Here we go again.
“I’m not going to hire another employee just so we can have endless card games at the hospital,” I say.
“Even if it meant Mom woke up faster?”Griff asks, already agitated.
I can feel the boil of irritation building inside of me.Except I don’t think it ever fully goes away; it must be stuck at a low simmer, ready to kick into gear whenever my brothers think they can decide what I do or how I do it.
A lightning bolt of frustration strikes through me.They don’t understand my business, my profit and loss statement, or my strategy.
“I’d only hire another employee once I launch the next phase,” I snap.“There’s too much that goes into training and onboarding someone to get a new employee just for a few days or even a week.Comeon.”
I feel a few sets of eyes burning on me as I finish shuffling the cards.I ignore them all as I deal the next hand.
“What’s the next phase?”Asher finally asks.
Fuck.
“Can we just play the game?”I ask with a sigh.
“No, I wanna hear about the next phase,” Griffin says, pushing away the cards I just laid in front of him.
I dip my chin, sending him my best glare.
“When that look comes out, you know there’s something good she’s not telling us,” Jett says as he elbows Dane.
