Page 65 of The Hang Up

“Something I’m no longer allowed to do in the house,” Sean said.

“Rap? Sing? Dance?”

“No.” Sean started to wave his hand and then realized that was against the rules he just laid out. He dropped his hand. “It’s disgusting.”

“Smoke cigars!”

“Yes,” Sean said, grabbing the next card. “Brock is the only one allowed to do this.”

“Cook.”

“Yes.”

Brock’s hand slipped under my shirt, and he pinched my skin, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. I had a longer list of things only Brock was allowed to do. Although cooking was on that list.

They did well, ending up with eighteen out of twenty.

“Okay, Dad. You guys are up.”

I nodded and turned to Brock. “You ready?”

“Not in the least,” he said, dragging himself to the chairs set up.

“Perfect.”

Everyone cheered as we took our seats. Brock waved to our fans, who were sure to be disappointed. Although, except for Regina and Mitch, they were probably expecting us to fail.

Brock decided to be the receiver, and I tried to hold in my smirk. But since he accidentally kicked me, I think he could see it in my eyes. I pulled up the cards, which showed a word and then a list of other words I couldn’t say. Sean nodded at me to go.

I picked up the first card. “I have a red one.”

“Corvette? Car?”

“Car. Correct.” I said, turning over the next card. “Bagheera.”

“Cat? Monster?”

“Yes, cat.” I gave him a mock glare and looked at the next one. “My refrigerator.”

He sighed dreamily. “Bella.”

“Really?” I asked, giving him a what-the-hell look.

He giggled. “Subzero? No, wait. Wolf!”

I nodded and went on to the next one, enjoying the satisfied smile on his face. I didn’t want to think about Sean’s face.

As we got word after word correct, with Brock barely stumbling, I realized how in tune we actually were. I didn’t dare look at Sean. So far, Brock could just be a good guesser. I wasn’t sure how close we were to Sean and Ben’s score, but we couldn’t be far off. I pulled up the next card:skiing. Until that moment, the game had felt fun and relaxing, but now… My mouth went dry, and I tried to swallow. “People do this on vacation.”

“Relax? Swim? Camp?”

“No. It involves—” But I couldn’t say those words:snow, mountains, cross-country.They were forbidden. And I realized I wanted to win. More than that, I realized I could win everything. I caught Brock’s eye. “When you leave Crystal’s coffee shop and you look up, what do you see?”

“A sign. Welcome to Point Pleasant.”

“In the background,” I prompted.

“Mountains. The ski lift.”

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