Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
You know, let kids be kids… that kind of thing.
Plus, little Olivia’s only just settled.
Until there’s a thud, and Jess cries out again. Then Jade and I are both on our feet, heading for the stairs before Olivia grizzles and then starts to bawl. Her mom scoops her up and comforts her before any further mishaps.
“I think we’ll both go,” I agree without Jade having to say a word.
Both of us prepare for whatever we might face, but mostly, just hope they’re all alright.
We get to the top of the landing, and there’s complete silence.
Always a bad sign.
Jade knows I’ve got her back, and with a little nod of agreement between us, we move in with standard mom-dad cover formation.
I know we tried doing things like regular parents at first, but hey.
Gamers for life, right? And even the most mundane aspects of child-rearing are made special with my wife by hamming it up a little.
Acting like heroes in our own game: The Love Game, or being married with kids to everyone else.
Something’s definitely not right, and by the time we open Jess’s bedroom door and find nobody there, we call out for her.
Nothing.
Silence.
“Jess?” I call out loudly and firmly. “Jake?” I call again, figuring he’ll answer. But nothing.
It’s a worried look Jade shoots me, but I’m wondering if she hasn’t put them up to this.
Jade’s always using me as an excuse to play pranks with the kids.
But she looks genuinely concerned. Sharing my own instinct that something just isn’t right.
We end up searching the entire floor before going up the next flight of stairs.
Opening the big double doors to the entertainment area makes sense in a second.
“Surprise!!!” Everybody cheers.
“Happy Anniversary!!” Cry out a few more.
Jade looks as though her heart’s stopped, and as much as I like some surprises, a houseful of people without me knowing isn’t one of them.
But the familiar faces, as well as those of our meddling kids, all beam smiles at us. All is forgiven in a second.
Joey’s first to step forward; at a glance, I know he’s the one behind all this.
His smiling face as he moves over to us relaxes once he sees me smiling back at him.
I let him have his gotcha! moment.
And just for the record, no. I hadn’t forgotten our anniversary either.
I was planning a little surprise of my own, but once all the kids had gone to bed.
“Surprise!” Joey says again, his voice deep and resonant now.
He’s not a ten-year-old kid anymore. He’s our unofficial fifteen-year-old kid who visits and stays as often as he can but never as often as we’d like.
His self-imposed work commitments take up a lot of his time these days.
He and Miles pretty much run the development side of things. My own priorities changed for the better, starting when little Jess was born.
But whenever he can, Joey makes sure to make the trip out. Sometimes with his mom, Sheree, but most times with Jade’s mom.
And everyone’s here today—even everyone who couldn’t make it to our wedding day.
I have no idea how they got all these people in here without us knowing. And a bigger part of me doesn’t want to know either.
But geez, it’s great to see everyone.
The game development team, all of Jade’s family, and extended family.
A curious side effect of having the fastest growing and certainly wealthiest gaming company that’s privately held…all kinds of relatives just seem to come out of the woodwork.
But it’s okay. They’re all family, and they’re all welcome.
Assuming the role of host of whatever the hell kind of surprise anniversary party he’s arranged, Joey announces that the gifting of wood represents the fifth year of wedlock.
Wood, I planned to give my wife later anyway, once the kids are asleep. Anniversary or not.
His fun fact raises a few eyebrows; even Jade admits she didn’t know that. But Joey’s only warming up.
Motioning everybody over to the balcony.
“Now, I know you guys have probably got your own gifts planned. But I just wanted to show you my appreciation and wish my best friends congratulations on their fifth year together,” he says proudly.
Sounding and looking every bit as confident as any self-made man I’ve ever met.
Knowing his way around our place as well as his own, Joey slides open the drapes and opens the folding glass doors that lead out to the balcony.
The manicured yard beyond stretching out to the edge of the woods.
The shadow of the looming mountains on either side of the valley, silver with moonlight.
There’s a hush from the group, and Joey checks his watch, giving a nervous little chuckle.
“I just wanted to show everyone here who doesn’t know already that the fireworks between these two have been nonstop for five years,” he says, sounding like he’s stalling for time.
But the sudden and unmistakable boom and then pop of real fireworks outside explains everything.