Grace jingles the bingo cage with dramatic flair while simultaneously snapping photos of everyone with her phone.“Winner gets first pick from the Crap Mountain!” she declares.
Penny throws a wadded napkin at her.“It’sart.”
“It’s trash,” Jude mutters, but even he’s smirking as he crosses his arms.
I can’t stop watching Summer.
Jace holds the mic to his mouth like he’s announcing bulls out of the chute.
“FIRST NUMBER OF THE NIGHT…GIVE IT UP FOR…SEEEEVENNN!”
Grace groans.“Jace, I swear…”
“That’s how they do it at the rodeo,” he insists.
Mia turns to Summer.“Do I have it, Mommy?”
Summer checks her card and nods.
Mia punches the air.“I have it! I have it!”
Summer helps her dab the square, and the two of them bump shoulders, giggling.
My chest tightens.
Yeah. I want this forever.
Jace wins the first round, of course he does, and tears into the prize. Duct tape flies everywhere.
“It’s a tiara!” he yells triumphantly, placing it on his head without flinching.“FINALLY, SOMEONE GETS MY ROYAL WORTH.”
Grace nearly drops her phone laughing.
Cas and Penny win next, earning a pair of sparkly Christmas-themed sunglasses shaped like Santa’s butt. Penny wears them proudly; Cas pretends he doesn’t love her for it but he absolutely does. Grace takes ten photos of them, cackling through all of it.
Summer snorts so hard she covers her mouth with both hands. I swear I fall even harder right there.
Grace and Mama win matching novelty socks with“If You Can Read This, Bring Me Cookies” written across the soles. Mama slips hers on immediately, stretching her legs across Dad’s lap as he chuckles.
Jace leans toward the mic.
“Next number… oh, this is aspicyone… SIXTY-NIIIINE!”
The room groans.
Jude wins a whoopee cushion and, of course, hands it straight to Mia.
Bad idea.
She tests it on everyone’s lap until Dex ends up flinging himself off the couch like he sat on a grenade.
The room is chaos. Pure, loud, perfect chaos.
And then I win a prize. I peel through Dex’s apocalypse-level duct tape and pull out…
“Christmas toilet paper rolls?” I deadpan.
The whole room erupts. Grace snaps a picture.
