A few of them snorted at his cheesy joke.
He shook my hand.“Yeah, man.That’s me.But I’m retired now.Working on a podcast with my producer here.”He gave the young man with the patchy mustache over his top lip a friendly shake on the shoulder.“This here is Damon, Gabrielle’s son.He helps me withMan Advantage.”
Damon had the moody teenager thing down to a T.I could tell he was out here with the family because hehadto be.Not because he wanted to.His brown hair hung in his face, and he wore an oversized, dark hoodie.Obviously with the hopes of hiding him from extra attention, or anybody remotely uncool.
“Nice to meet you, Damon,” I said.
Mabel joined us in the living room, and Damon’s eyes filled with curiosity.His high cheekbones also developed some color.“Dad, where’s my pizza?”she asked.
“Over here, honey,” Naomi said, stepping away from me.“I left your box closed.”
“That’s my daughter, Mabel.She’s thirteen,” I said.“But she won’t be at your high school.She’s homeschooled.”
Maverick elbowed Damon.“Something you two have in common.”
“You’re homeschooled too?”I asked.
He nodded, but then his gaze flicked back to Mabel where she was putting two slices of her pizza on a plate.“Yeah.Only since February though.”When Mabel rejoined us, he tossed his head in a way to move his hair from his forehead and eyes.
Mabel seemed oblivious to his interest and just sat down on the floor in the living room, crossed her legs, and ate her pizza.
Poor guy.
“And you know Austin, my daughter Honor, Raina’s son Marco, and Gabrielle’s daughter Laurel,” Naomi finished, rejoining us, two slices of pizza on her plate.
I said a brief hello and gave a nod to the rest.
“Thank you for allowing us to crash your family game and pizza night,” I said.“This will be a first for us.”
“First time having pizza, or first time playing games?”Marco asked, swirling his crust in a big puddle of ranch.
“Doing the two things together,” I confirmed.“We’ve had pizza.We’ve played games.Never done them at the same time.”
Marco’s disbelief was adorable.He glanced at Jagger, his mouth open a little.“How?”he mouthed.“I live for these nights.”
Jagger gave the kid a little hair tousle.“Every family is different, kiddo.Yours is big.Theirs might be smaller.”
“Yeah, it’s just Mabes and me,” I said.“But we’re okay with that.”
“Here,” Gabrielle said, handing me a plate with two slices of my pizza on it.
I thanked her, then found a spot on the floor next to my daughter.
“So, what have we decided?”Raina asked.“CraniumorPictionary?Or charades?”
“Well, we getPictionaryand charades if we playCranium,” Jagger said.“I vote for that.”
“All in favor ofCranium?”Raina asked, picking up the box for the game.
Most people tossed their hands in the air.Except, of course, for Damon, Mabel, and Austin.They were obviously too cool to be anything but indifferent.
“Majority wins,” Jagger said.
“Could I please see the instructions for the game?”Mabel asked.“I’m not familiar with this game.”She held out her hand and waited for Raina to open the box and pass her the instructions.
“It’s pretty simple actually,” Jagger started.“We split into teams.Then we pull cards, and it’s either something like trivia, or a creative likePictionary, or active like charades.We can explain it to you as we go along.”
“I’d like to read the instructions first, please,” Mabel said, still holding out her hand.
