Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
“Zak. He’ll be in the car behind us, plus he’ll be with us the entire day,” I remind him.
“I know,” Zak says, whining like a ten-year-old himself. “I just… I don’t know. It just feels like Joey’s too busy for us these days. We don’t hang out as much…,” he says, trailing off.
“He’s busy with Miles a lot,” I remind Zak. “And Miles is busy with his mom Sheree,” I add, grinning and shaking my head.
Now that’s a match I would never have picked. But there you go.
Handing Zak baby Jessica, I also remind my darling husband that there’s at least one reason why maybe Joey doesn’t want to hang out with us boring old grown-ups so much these days.
“Joey loves Jess. Doesn’t he?” Zak asks, giving a quizzing look before he lifts Jess’s butt for the sniff test.
“I just changed her…,” I start. Then, catching a whiff of ‘oh really?’ as Zak makes a face of his own.
“I got it,” he tells me, pecking my cheek and pointing to the white circle on my outfit that our baby girl’s also left from when I burped her.
“You going to wear that out?” Zak grins, and we both end up laughing.
“I don’t know. It might be the next big thing,” I tease him, acting like I really might wear baby Jess’s puke as a fashion statement.
“I’ll go change.” I sigh, and following Zak to our bedroom, I slip out of one outfit and into another.
Never short of choices with all the shopping Zak insists we do together.
“Plus, I think Joey’s going to have a pretty swollen head after today, don’t you?” I ask Zak.
It’s launch day, meaning the game is officially available, and everyone who worked on it is flying in from all over the world as well as the state.
Phoenix wouldn’t have been my pick for a location, but Zak was firm on sticking with his original promise, giving Joey and me an all-expenses paid trip come game launch.
I don’t think we realized how different things would be now that the day is finally here.
“He can thank me when he’s banking all those royalty checks. Once he’s old enough, that is,” Zak says in a deep voice.
“I meant just in general, Zak. I mean, what ten-year-old kid wouldn’t want to be the center of attention on a game launch like this one? How much were the pre-sales figures?” I ask.
Knowing full well it’s a mouth-watering amount.
But Zak only shrugs. He’s not interested in the money. He’s more interested in making sure he gets the best game he can to the ones who’ll appreciate it most.
And it’s that attitude that’s got Zak’s little gaming company set to explode.
Giving the big guys a very real and literal run for their money, as well as giving them something to be actually afraid of for once.
Zak’s games, his planned tech; all of it’s gonna be way bigger than any of us thought.
I can see why Zak values Joey’s input so much. A kid’s eye view of the world is sometimes the best way to stay grounded.
And Zak’s doing a fine job of that.
“What forty-year-old gamer wouldn’t want that?” he jokes to himself before scooping baby Jess up and coming over to me.
Pulling all three of us close, even though I’m halfway through getting changed.
“See, mommy? All clean again,” Zak exclaims, making Jess laugh and gurgle, already kicking her legs against my chest.
Her trademark signal for ‘I’m filling my diaper, mom. Want to smell?’
“But I just…?” Zak trails off, but we both have to laugh again.
“You know, Jade,” Zak says, going to change Jess for the third time in as many minutes.
“I’d give it all away in a second if it meant I could stay with you,” he says, making my breath catch.
I love it when he gets like this.
He always says the sweetest things.
“But you get to have both,” I remind him, checking the time.
Realizing we’ve got a little more than I thought.
“I mean,” Zak murmurs, cradling baby Jess in his arms as he moves over to me again.
“I mean…this is all that matters, right? Us. You, Jess, and me. Family.”
“And Joey, Sheree…Mom,” I add, trying to laugh as I start to list everyone we consider family. But I know what he means.
This, between us. The tiny life we’ve made.
It’s more precious than any game or amount of money.
“I love you, Zak Templeton,” I sniff happily. Burrowing my face into my man’s chest.
Our daughter’s tiny hand wraps around my finger.
“I love you, Jade. Baby Jess,” Zak rasps.
The emotion in his voice is only the tip of the iceberg of love that’s shared between us.
The love of my man, my hero.
My husband.
We love you too.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
FIVE YEARS LATER
Zak
“Mom! Daaaad…!” Jess squeals from upstairs.
The sounds of her brother’s muffled laughter reach our ears too.
We glance at each other but silently agree to wait.