Page 72 of Angels Are Falling

“How about I read you guys a bedtime story instead?” I offered.

“Pictionary,” Bella repeated, entirely unmoved.

“Just one game,” Jamie begged.

Pictionary was their favorite. Before moving to this house, we played it every Friday.

“We can play tomorrow night,” I told them, and looked to Kai for backup but found none. He had disappeared into the hallway, reappearing twenty seconds later with the board game in hand.

Bella’s eyes lit up.

“Kai!” I chided.

He gave me a guilty half smile. “They’re already up.” He watched Bella wrestle the box onto the coffee table with great amusement.

“One round,” I relented.

“Unlimited rounds,” Bella said without looking up.

“One round.”

“Two.”

“One!”

Bella looked at me, considering my offer with great seriousness. “Deal.”

We ended up on the living room rug. Kai sat with his back against the couch, long legs stretched out, and Bella installed herself directly beside him in the proprietorial manner she had developed over the past few weeks. The twins took the other side of the board. I pulled the blanket off the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders.

It was me and August versus Kai, Bella, and Jamie.

Jamie drew first. He was given the word elephant and produced something that looked like a potato with ambitions.

“Horse,” Bella guessed.

“Mountain,” she tried again.

“Elephant,” Kai said, five seconds in.

Jamie pointed at him. “Yes.”

“That looked nothing like an elephant,” August protested.

“I saw a trunk,” Kai said.

“That was the tail.”

“It had trunk energy,” Kai said.

Jamie, who had been awarded the point, was trying not to look smug and failing entirely.

August drew next. He was given umbrella and drew what appeared to be a mushroom wearing a hat. I guessed it right before the timer ran out, and only because Kai had murmured “Umbrella” into my ear.

He was deliberately letting the kids win points, which only made them even more obsessed with him.

“If you keep letting them cheat, this game will never end,” I whispered to him during the break between turns.

“I’m not cheating. Just giving them an unfair edge,” Kai said.