hapter 0583

Julian immediately took another step backwards, adding more space between him and me. We both nervously glanced at Nicholas who mostly seemed confused by his own reaction. He cut off his growl with a sharp grunt.

"Sorry," he said.

"Don't worry," I replied.

"It's my fault," Julian said.

"No," Nicholas quickly corrected. "I don't know what came over me."

"I knew this game was a bad idea," Bridget says, rising from the couch. "I tried to warn everyone, but no one takes me seriously."

I distinctly remembered Bridget championing the idea for charades so much that she took to mostly organizing it herself. Now, suddenly, when something had gone wrong, she didn't want anything to do with the idea?

"We should definitely stop," Bridget continued, "I, for one, am out totally." She looked around at everyone, expecting them to agree.

Maybe she wasn't wrong in this instance. The joyful mood I had been attempting to cultivate seemed utterly at waste now, with only thick tension in the air.

Jessica worried her bottom lip. Veronica looked down at her lap. Julian apologized. Nicholas said, "I'm the one at fault."

Everything really did seem like it was falling apart.

Then Elva raised her head, looking up from her coloring books. She spotted the empty spot between Nicholas and Jessica on the couch.

"Can I be on Nick-lass's team?" she asked.

And just like that, the entire mood shifted. The tension broke and everything brightened. Jessica laughed. Veronica's lips twitched in an almost smile. Julian smiled outright. So did Nicholas.

"Of course you can," Nicholas said. He glanced at me. "If it's okay with your mom."

Elva turned her doe eyes on me. It would have been fine with me anyway, but having her look at me like that would have melted even my coldest moods.

"You can," I told her, and she cheered. Cóntent belongs to NovélDráma. Org

a minute," Bridget said. She placed her hands on her hips. "This unbalances

her eyes. "With Elva on my team, we now have four, compared to your team's three." "My team' she says,"

take your

had thought we were quitting

child," Julian told her. "Just sit this one out

looking at her that way. Elva was innocent in all this. If Bridget wanted to be mad at someone, let her

me.

moment she forfeited any right to my feelings. I should have stopped caring what she thought long ago. When she left

lack of empathy for a long time. It was

she turned at stormed off towards

she was gone, the fun

to her feet and rushed to the bowl to pick out her word. I decided to stay with her, while Julian returned

think, was rooting for

paper with a word and looked at it. Then she

to try to act out. But Elva seemed confident about what she had to do.

team. I stood nearby, ready to

"Timer!" she called.

down from

my eyes at once, but I blinked them back. I dropped down

called. "Daughter?

me, with her noodle arms around my neck, then she let me go. Turning, she rushed across the room to Nicholas, where she threw

to the edge of the seat, in time to

"Family," Nicholas said.

shook her head

Nicholas considered.

slightly

to click within Nicholas. An understanding flashed

"Home," he said.

I said. My heart hammered in my chest. How

"You got it,

fondly at Elva that I thought I might melt into a puddle right there in

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