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Samantha bit her lip and tugged at her long black hair, nerves getting the better of her. It was a good thing Jack had been able to convince Samantha to hire a company to handle the release of the game. That way, Sam could be as nervous and anxious as she wanted and not let those nerves affect hitting the go button when the time was right.
Jennie looked up to see Jack leading Kelly through the crowd toward them, but since everyone they passed stopped them to look down into the car seat he was carrying, Jennie knew it would take a while for them to make it to them.
Still, they waited and when the couple made it to them, there was another round of hugs all around.
Jennie looked down into the car seat at Maddy, who somehow slept through all the noise around her. Tiny bubbles of spit formed one her little pink lips as she breathed and Jennie put her hand down to her stomach, still not able to really believe she would have her own baby in a matter of months.
She looked up at Chad, who was hugging Jack and smiled. He was going to be such a good dad. Neither one of them had a clue what they were doing in the parenting department, but she knew he would be a steady rock to her in the coming years of turmoil and chaos.
Inside, the people in front of computers started a countdown chant, letting them all know the time for the game to go live was coming near.
“Ten…nine…eight…”
“Oh God,” Sam said.
Jennie wrapped her good arm around Samantha while Chad wrapped his arm around her from the other side.
They all joined the count. “Seven…six…five…four…”
Samantha closed her eyes.
“Three…two…one!”
There was silence as the group waited.
Inside, a cheer went up from the people waiting for the game to go live.
And then there were shouts as the game started and they called out about the sick graphics and the avatars they were all choosing. There was something called the Vessel they all needed to find in the first quest, but Jennie knew from playing the game herself during the beta stage that they’d have to bond with a dragon first before they could hunt down the vessel.
Bonding with a dragon meant killing whatever threatened the dragon first, and that often meant battling the twisted fairies and noir gnomes.
Jennie watched Samantha’s face as they continued to listen to their coworkers playing the game in the other room.
“Sam, this is epic!”
“Did you see that?”
“My dragon is so beautiful!”
She saw the moment Sam started to realize what was happening.
Kelly grinned and pushed the tablet toward Sam. “Look at those numbers, Samantha.”
They were watching the people signing onto the game in real time and the number was climbing fast. Ten thousand, twelve, fifteen, twenty-five thousand.
Chad hugged Samantha. “You did it, Sam. They love it.”
It was a good feeling seeing their friend succeed at something she’d been working so hard at for such a long time. Sam and computers was a natural thing but Jennie knew Samantha had been worried about the more creative aspects of building the world for her game.
Coming up with the magical rules and quests the players would go on wasn’t easy. So far, there were seventeen levels to the game and Sam was working on adding more.
Jennie hugged Samantha tight and let herself revel in the feel of all the good things she’d found in this world. She had Chad and his love, but she also had good friends she loved. She had a job she was looking forward to getting back to soon. She had her family.
She blinked back tears as she thought about all the blessings in her world. Yes, she’d lived through tragedy and heartache, but she was on the other side of it now, and she couldn’t be more grateful.
Chad squeezed her hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“You alright, Jen?”
