“Hi, baby, everything okay in here?”
“Yes. Kyle is just being a baby because I’m winning at Uno.”
“You’renotwinning at Uno because you’re cheating.”
“I’mnotcheating,” Sierra shot back.
“Okay, well, at least you’re having fun,” Julia said.
“That’s debatable,” Kyle said as he stared at the dozens of cards in his hand.
“Don’t listen to him. The pain meds are making him cranky.”
“They are not.”
Sierra lifted a shoulder. “They are so. You didn’t laugh once when we watched the rom-com.”
“It wasn’t funny.”
“Daddy, Julia, do you want to join us?” Sierra asked.
Grant winced as he stared at the cards. “Uhhh, I don’t want to–”
Sierra shot him a pointed look, and he tugged a chair closer. “Sure. Julia…”
The pleading glance he gave her as he eased into the chair almost made her laugh out loud. She climbed onto the bed next to Sierra. “I’d love to play.”
“You won’t once you get a load Sierra’s tactics.”
“Oh, I think Julia can hold her own,” Grant said as Sierra collected the cards. “She’s quite the corporate shark.”
“What’s that mean?” Kyle asked as he shifted with a wince.
Grant collected the cards Sierra passed to him as he leaned back in the chair. “I mean, your mother’s attempt to replace me as CEO has been blocked.”
Sierra snapped her gaze to him. “Really? You got the votes? How much stock did you get? Did someone switch votes? Veronica?”
Grant shook his head. “Julia convinced Alex Stone to buy twenty-five percent of HG’s stock. That combined with the nineteen we got in the buy back made it an easy win.”
“Wow, I bet Lydia was really mad. She’s losing on every front.”
“Finally,” Julia said. “Let’s hope it continues.”
They played several rounds of cards, laughter and jokes flowing freely as the tension of the last two years released with Lydia’s latest plans foiled. For those few simple moments, they enjoyed each other’s company as a family.
“Daddy,” Sierra said as she shuffled the cards for another round, “now that Lydia is out of the picture, more or less, I think Julia should adopt me.”
Grant stared at her, his eyes wide before he pinched his eyebrows. “Uh, Sierra, I think–”
“What?” she asked, tilting her head at her father before she slid her gaze to Julia. “You’d be okay with it, right, Julia?”
Julia smiled at her. “Of course.”
“Then Julia can never leave me. She’ll always have to be responsible for me.”
“Sierra, you’re an adult. You’re responsible for yourself,” Grant said.
“You know what I mean. I just want to be a family.”
