Page 14 of Holding You
Declan chuckles, and Max gives me a high five.
It’s so dumb and no one knows it but me, but I beat Declan at something and I am elated.
“Way to start strong, Mom.”
We set up, draw our characters, and Max rubs his hands together and laughs when he sees who we have.
I have no idea where he gets his competitiveness from.
Max and Susie battle back and forth, knocking down people with glasses or hats or white hair, leaving us with just a few possible candidates.
“Okay, the last question is for the parents,” Max says, and Susie giggles.
“Dad, you’re up.”
After what feels like ages, Declan asks, “Does your person have a mustache?”
That answer is going to reveal our person. I won’t even get a chance to ask a question myself.
I glance at the card, then at the kids, then at Declan.
A smug smile appears on his lips. “You’re Max, aren’t you?”
I don’t reply, and he grabs my card.
“I knew it.” He chuckles, and Susie leaps onto him to give him a hug. “How does second place feel?”
Talk about triggers.
I open my mouth, praying that the 90 percent comes out, but Susie is faster.
“Dad, no. We do not talk like that. Poor sportsmanship is not welcome in our house.”
I’m suddenly filled with pure joy at watching his daughter scold him.
“I … this isn’t our house,” he argues, then has the audacity to look at me and wink.
“Same rules apply,” I grin and cross my arms.
“Yeah,” Max adds.
“Yeah,” Susie also adds.
We all quickly agree that, from here on out, we will not tease each other for losing. We play two more games, and Max and I lose those, too.
Soon after, Declan and Susie go home, and Max and I prepare for bed.
Once he’s fast asleep, I slip into my pajamas, wash my face, and grab my laptop before crawling into bed to work for a couple more hours.
Business has been good for me, which is saying a lot now that AI can do almost anything I can.
But that also means I need to work harder now more than ever to ensure I continue to find new clients and don’t lose my current ones.
I can’t afford to.
Not when the final piece to having full control over my life again is paying off the money I accepted from Colter's family to send me to college. I’d wanted to believe they were good people so badly that I agreed to a personal loan from Colter’s dad instead of using an actual bank.
God, I was so naive to trust them.
