“I’m fine.” I smiled and opened my eyes to reassure him.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Positive.” I’m sure he was worried because I had my eyes closed, but it was so I could savor it.
“I’m going to get you metal sporks for Mother’s Day,” Chase said. “If I do, can we eat at the couch?”
“Chasion, come here, young man.”
Hollis and I grinned as Chase huffed over to their mom. We continued to put things on the table, but I could overhear the brief, quiet conversation between Chase and Kristin.
“Chase, please be considerate of Patrick. He hasn’t had the luxury you’ve had of sitting with a family without arguments.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I just thought his dad hit him lots.”
“That too. He enjoys sitting with everyone.”
“Okay.”
I kept my head down and busied myself with straightening the bottles of salad dressing and the pepper while Chase rejoined us.
“Why don’t you take Patrick to the game closet and pick out a game for all of us to play after dinner?” Kristin suggested.
“Patrick, want to help me pick out a game?” Chase called out to me.
“Yeah,” I replied and followed him upstairs to the loft.
Chase opened a door to a reach-in closet and stepped back beside me.
“As you can see, we have lots of games. Just about every board game you can think of and card games.”
“What do you recommend?” I asked him.
“I like Clue. Mom likes it too, but she also likes Scrabble. Monopoly is Morgan and Dad’s favorite. Hollis likes it too. I also like Life, but I chewed on the pegs to put in the cars. Oh, we have dominoes,” Chase announced and pointed to a tin box. “Do you like dominoes?” he asked.
“I’ve never played.”
“They’re pretty simple.”
“Okay, how about dominoes?”
“Yes! I like it because the games go pretty fast. So if you suck at one game, another isn’t far off. If you suck in Monopoly, it’s a long night. Are you able to reach them?”
“Yeah.” I stepped forward and winced when I raised my arm up to get the tin. I quickly clutched my side and frowned.
“Whoa! Are you okay?”
I nodded but kept holding my side as I willed the pain to pass.
“Want me to get Mom?”
I shook my head.
“Want me to get Hollis?”
“No. I’m okay.”
“Mmm, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a liar.” I laughed, even though it was killing me to do so. “Seriously, want me to get Hollis?”
