Holiday Games (A Play-By-Play Novella) by Jaci Burton

girlfriends in his lifetime.
    She wasn’t his mother, so she had no idea why she was so nervous about Nathan getting involved with Sonja. She should just let it go.
    But she did watch them during dinner, when the family could really get noisy, talking over each other and often arguing over the most innocuous topic. Maybe they were on their best behavior tonight because Sonja was there and they didn’t want to scare her off, but it was relatively calm. Plus, the baby was still awake and he captured a lot of attention. In fact, Nathan sat next to Sam and he and Sonja entertained him during dinner, feeding him and making him laugh.
    Sonja seemed at ease with the family, which didn’t happen often with strangers. After dinner she even helped Tara in the kitchen.
    “You seem pretty comfortable around our crazy family,” Liz remarked as she, Tara, Alicia, and Jenna, along with Gavin’s mom and Alicia’s mom, helped Tara with the after-dinner mess.
    “Oh, I come from a big family. I have three sisters and two brothers.”
    Liz’s eyes widened. “Really. Wow. So dinnertime is a lot like this.”
    Sonja laughed. “Yes. Exactly like this. Only maybe more yelling. My brothers are younger than me, so they’re a little . . . boisterous.”
    “Boys do tend to be like that,” Gavin’s mother said from across the room.
    Tara nodded. “Yes, they do. And I only had one. Well, one at a time, anyway.”
    “I imagine it takes parents ruling with an iron fist to keep a brood like that under control,” Alicia said.
    “My mother is pretty fierce. When she speaks, believe me, you listen.”
    “And your dad, too?”
    “He died when my youngest brother was two years old. It’s mostly been just my mom for a while.”
    Liz laid her hand on Sonja’s arm. “I’m so sorry.”
    “I am, too.” Tara pulled up a chair at the kitchen island. And suddenly the women surrounded Sonja.
    “Oh. Wow. Well, I didn’t mean to talk about it. But he got cancer and it took him pretty fast. It was hard on my mom having all us kids to deal with, but she had my aunts and uncles and my grandparents to help her. It’s been okay, really.”
    Gavin’s mom patted Sonja’s hand. “It’s nice that she had all the family to help support her.”
    “It was.”
    And Liz could tell Sonja was uncomfortable.
    “Hey, how come the guys never help with the dishes?” Liz asked, sliding off the bar stool. “Sonja, let’s go track down Nathan and my husband and find out where they’re lurking.”
    “Sure. If you all don’t need me in here.”
    “We’re fine. We’re just about done anyway,” Tara said.
    As Liz led Sonja down the long hall toward the back of the house, Sonja turned to her. “Thanks for that.”
    “For what?”
    “For pulling me out of that conversation. I miss my dad for sure. But I just don’t like to talk about it.”
    “Understood. Especially with a bunch of people you don’t really know.”
    She smiled. “Right. Not that I don’t like all of you. You’re all . . . great.”
    “Hey, you don’t have to sell me. I get it. We’re all pushy and nosy and overprotective, and we’ll ask you a million questions if you let us. So don’t let us and feel free to tell us to back off.”
    “Oh, I’d never do that. But I might have to ease my way in. Things with Nathan and I are just getting started. And we both have our priorities, which are school and career first.”
    The more she talked to Sonja, the more she liked her. “Those are good priorities to have.”
    “Yeah, I mean we’re just eighteen. Plenty of time for all that romance later.”
    Liz laughed. “Yes. Much later.”
    ***
    Give a guy a game room, and the world is a happy place. At least a guy’s world is a happy place. There was pinball, pool, video games and even a foosball table, which reminded Gavin of college and of old times in their family basement, when he and Mick would go at it for hours. Gavin, of course, was the Riley foosball champion.
    Mick, on