Stockings and Sugarplums (Hearts of Snow Lake) by Cade Ashton

Author:Cade, Ashton [Cade, Ashton]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Liam

“Dinner was amazing, Mom, thanks so much for taking care of all that,” I say, leaning down to give her a kiss on the top of her head on my way to the sink with the dishes.

“My pleasure. You know I like taking care of my people,” she says, smiling around the table. No doubt she’s counting Brandon and Phineas in among with “her people.” I hope Phineas is okay with that. He kind of got adopted without consent.

“Brandon, do you like board games?” I ask. “There are a few in the linen closet if you want to pick something out. You’ll stay to play, won’t you, Phineas?” I ask, arching a brow, wondering if I should temper my hope. He’s had a lot piled on him today between Brandon and my mom, and I know it’s probably a lot more than he bargained for when he started getting involved with me.

I wouldn’t blame him for deciding it’s too much now.

I’d be disappointed, but I couldn’t blame him.

“Yeah, of course,” Phineas answers brightly, erasing my worries.

By the time I’m done with the dishes, they’ve all got a game of Monopoly set up.

“I want to be the thimble,” I say, drying my hands before rejoining them.

Phineas snorts. “Who wants to be the thimble?”

“Me,” I say, matter-of-fact. “It’s the only token that’s a working model of what it is,” I say, balancing the thimble on the tip of my pinkie finger. “Your car can’t do that.”

“I don’t want my car to do that,” he teases back, sticking his tongue out.

Brandon takes the dog, Mom’s the wheelbarrow, and it’s pretty obvious within one trip around the board that I don’t have a prayer of winning. I managed to buy two things on my whole go-round, and everyone else has stacks of properties already. Brandon’s managed three railroads somehow, and it seems pretty likely he’s going to run away with the whole thing.

An hour into the game, I’m in big trouble. Phineas’s Pennsylvania Avenue with four houses is going to bankrupt me, and I rolled doubles to get here.

“Eleven-fifty… five, uh… sixty… I don’t think I have twelve-hundred.”

“You’ll have to mortgage your utility,” Mom says gleefully. It’s the only property I’ve got that’s not mortgaged—though I only ever managed to get four to begin with.

“Yeah, fine, okay. I’ll mortgage that, here’s your twelve-hundred dollars, and I’ve got a whopping thirty dollars left. Come on, Go!” I say, picking up the dice. I need six or more to get my two-hundred dollars and have a fighting chance. In between me and freedom are Mom’s Boardwalk and Park Place.

I drop the dice, holding my breath. There’s a three and a two.

Crap.

“Well, that’s it for me. I’m going to go make up my room so you don’t have to sleep on the couch again,” I tell Brandon, pushing back from the table.

He frowns. “Where will you sleep?”

I shrug. “I’ll take the couch. We’ll hit up the thrift shop tomorrow and see if we can find a bed and some clothes for you, okay?”

He’s still frowning.

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