It was after two in the morning, and Faith, Bella and Nathan were still up and having a grand old time. Nathan’s sisters and brother-in-law had taken to her immediately. Bella couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so much. All had taken turns regaling her with stories from Nathan’s childhood.
But Tony and Jandy had to cut their visit short. Tony’s work as a paramedic up in Denton meant extra shifts this time of year. By now, Jandy was probably asleep, and Tony would be on duty. Lauren and Jordan, their kids, had both had to work and hadn’t been able to come at all.
Bella smiled to herself as she listened to Faith and Nathan go back and forth good naturedly about his last Yahtzee roll and whether he’d rolled three times or four.
“Whatever, dude, it was four,” Faith stated, teas
