The Word Game Read Free

She’d already talked with Rachel, who promised to keep her out as late as possible.
    To say Alyson tended to be controlling was being generous. Aly was not just a control freak but a helicopter-style mother who wore the pants in her family and organized everyone and everything around her. She needed to be 100 percent in control of every facet of her life.
    Tonight was the first time Aly had ever allowed her daughter to join a sleepover at someone else’s home. It was a big deal. Tricia had been asking for more than a few years now to let Lyla stay over, but it never happened—until now. This recital-party sleepover came about not because she felt it important for the kids to celebrate like this but because she knew Lyla would be so excited that Alyson couldn’t say no. Not to this. Not to a sleepover that included every single one of the girls from the class. Tricia had worked her magic on her sister, even to the point of letting Aly think this whole sleepover business was her idea.
    “Doesn’t it seem like Myah is taking a while?” Mark gave her a look, and she knew he thought she should check and see. First, she called the dogs and sent them into the back room where she’d arranged their dog beds for the night, and then closed the door. The last thing she needed was to have them underfoot when the pizza arrived.
    When she went outside, Myah was sitting on the wicker chair on her front porch, a large box at her feet. She was hissing words into her phone.
    Tricia debated whether to let her friend know she was there or just head back into the house.
    “I’m beginning to hate you. You know that, right?” Myah said into the phone.
    “Myah?” Tricia spoke her name softly, so as not to startle her. Myah waved her hand.
    “Okay, Eddie, give me thirty minutes,” Myah said before she hung up.
    Tricia leaned against the wood railing and waited for Myah to regain her composure.
    “I should have listened to you. Next time, make me listen to you,” Myah muttered.
    “You fell in love. You wouldn’t listen to any of us,” Tricia reminded her.
    Myah and Eddie had been dance partners for years and got married just under two years ago. Tricia had never liked the man, felt he was an oily-tongued snake, but Myah wouldn’t listen. She’d fallen under his spell, thinking she could help him change his ways.
    “Next time, really make me listen.” Myah picked up the box at her feet. “Help me hand these out? I need to meet with Eddie in half an hour.”
    Tricia held the door open for her. “Are you sure you want to do that tonight?”
    “I need to.” Myah said, her face downcast. “I just need to get it done, you know?”
    “I know. Now, no frowns. Let’s go give the girls these gift bags before the pizza arrives.”
    The basement buzzed with noise as they walked down the stairs, but it wasn’t until Tricia opened the door that the full blast of having all these girls in one room hit her.
    Myah whistled to grab their attention, and within moments, everyone had quieted down.
    Tricia glanced around and noticed the girls had already rolled out their sleeping bags on the floor. Lyla was unobtrusively moving her sleeping bag closer to the wall.
    Tricia couldn’t help but smile. Like mother, like daughter.
    While Myah talked to the girls about the amazing job they’d all done that night, the doorbell rang and Tricia made her way back upstairs. As Mark paid the delivery driver, Tricia set out the boxes of pizza along with plastic plates and napkins and let the boys get their slices first.
    “How’s the game going?” she asked David, her oldest.
    “Good. Brandon and I are winning.”
    “Are you being nice to your brothers? Making sure they’re having a good time too?” She’d taken him aside earlier and asked him to help keep things running smoothly among all the boys.
    “Yes, Mom.”
    “And you remember what we said earlier, right? About leaving the girls alone?”
    “You going to tell them the same thing?” He