The Word Game Read Free Page B

night?” Tricia could see the twinkle in her husband’s gaze and chuckled. “I’ll check in on the girls and see you upstairs.”
    When she opened the door downstairs, she was surprised to find a quiet room. The girls had a movie on, and everyone seemed to be watching it. She made her way across the room to where Katy and Keera sat on the sofa.
    “Having fun?” she said quietly to her daughter.
    “It’s okay. Just watching a movie, and then we’ll go to bed.” Katy whispered back.
    “Uh-huh. Just keep it down, okay? And no sneaking upstairs to the boys. Got it?” She gave Keera a look too.
    “ As if . Good night, Mom.” Katy nudged her mom off the couch and leaned her head close to Keera, whispering something to her.
    Tricia wove her way toward Lyla’s sleeping bag, where the little girl was lying on her belly watching the movie. Tricia hunched down and gave her niece a kiss on the top of her head.
    “Doing okay?” She asked.
    Lyla nodded.
    “If you need me, you know where I am.”
    “I’ll be okay, Aunt Tricia, but thank you. Is Grandma coming over tomorrow for breakfast?”
    Tricia smiled. She’d seen Ida hug Lyla hard earlier in the evening, and she must have told her.
    “You bet she is. She’s going to make her awesome pancakes just for us. Maybe you can help her?” Tricia figured if she gave Lyla something to look forward to in the morning, she might actually stay the whole night. Although, she didn’t think that would be a problem, not from the way Lyla was acting.
    “Good night.” Lyla whispered, obviously wanting to watch the movie.
    “Night, love.”
    This was working. It was actually working. She knew it would, had known from the moment she thought of it, but to actually have it working . . . She was good, if she did say so herself. Lyla’s first full sleepover was going to be a success, and from here on out, Alyson couldn’t say no to any future sleepovers. At least, she hoped she wouldn’t.
    She looked in on the boys, saying good night, and then headed upstairs to her bedroom. She kept the door open—that way they could hear if anyone was up and about.
    “Think they’ll all go to sleep like good little boys and girls?” Mark asked once they were settled in bed.
    “Are you kidding me? I got the little angel act from the girls. How were the boys?”
    He shrugged. “About the same. They swore they were going to watch one movie and then go to sleep.”
    “Right.” They both said at the same time.
    “I found our old baby monitor in the closet and set it up in the kitchen where the kids can’t see it.” He leaned over and picked up the monitor from the floor. “Still works, see?” He turned it on and dialed the volume up loud enough so they could hear in the background the movie the boys were watching. He turned it down to a low murmur and set it on his nightstand.
    “Good move.” She was very impressed. “Now, if you can keep from snoring, we might actually hear it if they try something.”
    “When,” Mark corrected her. “’Cause you know it’s a when and not an if .”
    Tricia sighed. “How late should we stay up then?”
    “Why don’t we watch our own movie and turn the volume up a bit. If they know we’re still awake, it might make them think twice.” Mark reached for the remote and turned on the television in their bedroom. “Although, from the looks I caught between Keera and Brandon . . .” He let his voice trail off.
    “Keera? No way. One of the other girls, maybe. But not our Keera.”
    “If you say so.” Mark turned off his bedside light and scrolled through the channels to find a movie.
    By the time their movie was over, everything in the house was quiet, so Tricia relaxed and attempted to fall asleep. Then she heard the creak of a door closing.
    “Did you hear that?” Mark asked, somewhat sleepily.
    “I did.” She groaned, not really wanting to get up. “It’s either the bathroom door or one of the boys’ rooms.”
    “Think one of