“Since I’m the odd one out, I’m picking the teams.” Mom says. “No offense, but I don’t trust any of you to not accidentally knock me down.”
She’s a smart woman. It wouldn’t be intentional, but we have a habit of getting rowdy when we’re trying to win. It’s the competitive nature all of us share. I’m almost certain it’s a trait we got from Dad.
“Tristan, Piper, Peter and Paul. The four of you are on a team.”
“Wait,” I blurt out. “Dad’s playing?”
“How could I miss out on this?” He laughs at me. “Y’all are going down.”
“Oh my God, Dad. Don’t ever say that again.” Parker groans. “You sound like you’re trying to be young and cool.”
“I am young and cool. You can’t deny it.”
Well, at least we know where Parker gets being full of himself from.
“Y’all take a few minutes to get ready.” She points at Tristan’s jacket and asks, “Is it okay if I sit here?”
Tristan rushes over to her. “Yes, ma’am. Do you want me to shake some of the sand off?”
“It’s fine. It’s not like there won’t be more.” She sits down and crosses her legs in front of her. I’ve never seen her sit like that in my adult years. It’s weird and she looks childlike.
As stressful as this trip has been on me mentally, I’m glad we’re all coming together like this, even if I am on a team with Pierce. This is where it’ll get interesting.
I motion for my brothers to gather around. “Okay, who are we targeting?”
“My money is on Piper. You know she sucks at sports,” Parker says.
“Oh, I was going to say Dad. I’ve never once in my life seen him play anything.”
“Don’t discount him too easily,” Pierce replies. “He does a lot of the heavy lifting at the winery.”
I didn’t know that. “Why? Shouldn’t one of y’all be doing it?”
“Because he’s as stubborn as a damn mule.” Parker states. “We tell him we’ll get it and he sends off to do something else so he can handle it. It’s no wonder all of us are the way we are.”
He’s not wrong on that aspect. I thought for a second Pierce was going to add some bullshit about me coming back to work there, but he didn’t. He let it go for now.
“Okay, so Dad’s out. I’m not sure how Tristan is with sports. I know he was in theatre in high school. He alsolifts and moves around the equipment for Crooked Halo. So, he might have braun, but I don’t know if he has speed.”
Pierce lifts his head to see what the other team is doing and then comes back to us. “Okay, we’re going to need some man-on-man defense. Parker, you need to stick with Piper. She doesn’t think you’ll take her flag since you’re the next youngest.”
“She should know better.” Parker grins and claps his hands together. He’s about to make her life hell.
“Phillip, you’ve got Dad. I’ve got Peter in case he forgets we’re playing flag football. Paula, you’re on your boyfriend.” He puts his hand in the middle and waits for all of us to join him. “Remember, we go for the win. No emotions”
“Got it.” We lift our hands in the air and take our positions in front of the rest of our family.
Tristan thought we got excited when we play cards. He has no head what’s about to happen. He should be lucky he got me. I know Pierce said no emotions, but I can’t throw him into this without some sort of warm up.
Mom cups her hands over her mouth. “Are y’all ready?” After we all nod, she grins. “Let the game begin.”
We don’t bother flipping a coin to see who gets the ball first because we know Peter isn’t going to let go of it until he snaps it to one of his players. He bends over and calls out some ridiculous sounding play and hikes it to Dad.
Piper runs toward the outside with Parker on her heels. Pierce is trying to keep Peter from getting the ballagain. Apparently, they picked the same line up as we did because Tristan is waiting to see where the ball goes. Dad over throws it to him and it’s my time to shine.
I rush to get it, but Tristan is right there in front of me, reaching for the ball. I lose my footing and fall backward. He continues running with the ball. I guess he got the no emotions memo.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
