Mind Games

“I got an internship.”

“Salary’s kinda crap.”

She punched Rem and laughed. “The salary’s the least of it. I’ll work on other games—entry-level work, but work. Get experience. And I can keep working on my own.”

“They were interested,” Rem said. “I watched them, and they liked the new idea.”

“It’s a good concept, and I can make it work. I know what I’m doing there. Like I know how to milk a cow. But … Oh my God! They’re going to produce my game. My game! People will play my game.”

“I don’t care what the time of day is, I’m opening that champagne I bought.”

“You got champagne?”

“I did.” Lucy nodded at Rem, then at Thea. “Tucked it into the fridge in the craft kitchen so as not to jinx all this. I’m going to drink champagne and toast my brilliant grandchildren. Then I’m calling your uncles and everybody else I know and bragging on you.”

Touched, Thea put a hand on her heart. “Oh, Grammie.”

“Try to stop me.”

“I sure won’t. And since I’m man of the house,” Rem reminded them, “I’ll open the champagne.”

* * *

The summer moved fast. Celebrations for Thea, then another celebration when the rest of the family arrived, for Caleb, his bride, and the baby on the way.

More remote meetings made Thea realize that the life her grandmother had told her to live had entered a new phase. She continued work on the new game, now titled Endon: Mog’s Revenge, did her part around the little farm, and made her first completely solo apple stack cake.

She added wings to the warhorse because when they unfurled for her, she knew Dilis had been meant to have them.

She lined up her courses, found a beginner’s class off campus for swordplay, and one on campus for mixed martial arts.

And signed up for both. She’d make time, and believed her work would be better if she experienced some of the moves and actions she programmed for her characters.

Just before she left for college, she turned in her GDD for review. And crossed her fingers.

If the summer had flown by, her last year of college blurred. She learned, from her professors, from her internship, took plenty of knocks in mixed martial arts, and bought her first sword.

She spent spring break in New York, meeting supervisors, department heads, colleagues. It gave her a few days with Caleb and Selma, and snuggle time with her infant nephew.

She watched the city, and found, as she always did on her visits here, the excitement, the color and movement appealing.

One day, she thought, she’d set a game in a great city like this.

But New York was Caleb’s place, she thought, not hers.

She heard the baby cry, and slipped out of her room to walk to the nursery.

“Is it time for your midnight snack, handsome? I think it’s Daddy’s turn, so let’s give him a minute. Your mama pumped some fresh a few hours ago. Oh, I’ll miss this,” she said as she picked him up to gather him close and walk.

“Tell me I will.” Caleb yawned in the doorway.

She turned to smile at him with his tousled head of hair, sleep-deprived eyes.

“Bet you will. If you get the bottle, I’ll do the rest. It’s my last night, so I’d really like to.”

“Twist my arm.”

He brought the bottle, and when the baby greedily found the nipple, sighed. “Just look at him. Who knew you could love anybody this much? Especially when they don’t do much more than eat, poop, cry, sleep.”