Page 81 of Ransom

"Course not." Blair winks at Max when Maggie turns away.

It's like watching a perfectly balanced system. Maggie keeps them grounded, while Blair and Max bounce off each other like pinballs. They're a family, in their own weird way.

Just like me and my brothers.

"Do you have any kids?" Max asks me, licking casserole sauce off his spoon.

"Nope. But I've got the cutest niece and nephew on the planet." I pull out my phone. "Want to see?"

"Yeah! What're their names?"

"Mia and Noah. Noah’s one, and Mia's almost five."

"What grade is she in?"

"She's going into kindergarten this fall."

Max sighs and pops his chin into his hand. "Kindergarten was good. We had snacks and naps. And a great big dress-up box. I like dressing up."

"Dressing up is fun. It's fun to pretend. That's why even grown-ups love Halloween."

"I was Spider-Man at Halloween!" Max bounces in his chair. "What'd she dress up as?"

"A Minion. Actually, we all dressed up as minions."

Max's eyes go huge. "No way! The yellow guys from that movie?"

"Yep. Complete with goggles and overalls."

"I wanna see!" Max scrambles around the table and climbs right into my lap without hesitation. I adjust to make room for him, pulling up the Halloween photos.

"That's my brother Colton," I point to the screen. "And that's Nick and Maverick..."

"Why's that one screaming?" Max points at a photo of Colton mid-freakout. Of course I took pictures.

"There were fake rats on the lawn of that house. He's scared of small furry things."

"But he's huge!" Max giggles. "He looks like a giant yellow banana!"

"Right? That's what I told him.”

I'm aware of Blair and Maggie watching us, can feel their eyes as Max and I scroll through more pictures. He asks about every single person, wanting to know their names, their favorite foods, if they like Spider-Man.

"Who's the baby?" He points at Noah.

"That's Noah, my nephew. He's just about walking now. He's still pretty wobbly."

"He's tiny." Max zooms in with his sticky fingers. "But his head is huge! He tips over, huh?"

I drop my forehead on the top of Max's smelly head and laugh. "He does. A lot. But that's all part of learning to walk. I bet you fell over a lot when you were learning."

He scoffs and flicks to the next picture. "Ohh. That's a big tree."

"It is. Fifteen feet."

"That's all your family?"

"Yeah, it is."

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