Page 135 of Somehow You Knew

He chuckles. “I have tissues in my pocket ready for you when you lose.”

“The end of this game will be slightly different than normal,” Timothy says, grabbing our attention. “At the end of the race, the last contestant will have to sink three bean bags into the cornhole boards to seal the deal and clench the title.”

I turn to look at Gage. “Shit.”

“Let me go last,” he suggests, turning behind him to consult the team. Everyone nods in agreement.

“Okay. Yeah, I think that’s our best shot.”

Dallas calls out to us as he makes his way to the back of his line as well. “You sure you don’t want Grady to go last?” Grady flips him off as my brother cackles, holding his stomach.

“You afraid you can’t beat me, Dallas?” Gage calls out to my brother, which makes his laughter stop abruptly.

Dallas glares at Gage. “Get ready to lose, Gage. Don’t worry, I have enough tissues for youandHazel.”

Timothy calls out to us. “Teams…are you ready?”

I turn back to him and nod, bracing myself to go first. “Ready!”

Sally calls out from Dallas’s line. “Ready!”

And then the whistle blows, spiking my anxiety even more as I struggle to get the sack on and start hopping across the sand.

Person after person on my team makes their way across, neck and neck with Dallas’s team the entire time. When one person gets ahead, someone else trips, making the lead go back and forth as each person takes their turn.

And then before I know it, Gage is the last person hopping into the sack, leaping across the sand, fighting like hell to beat Dallas to the cornhole board.

The two of them arrive within seconds of each other, sprinting to pick up the bean bags in preparation to throw them.

Dallas tosses his first bag and sinks it right through the hole. “Hell yeah!”

Gage sinks his first as well. “Don’t get cocky, Dallas!”

They both throw their second bag at the same time, but Gage misses as Dallas’s slinks through the hole again. “What was that?” Dallas mocks him. “Who’s behind now?”

But while Dallas is talking, Gage tosses his third bag and makes it through the hole, tying the score at 2-2.

As if someone is filming them in slow motion, both men prepare to launch their last bean bags in the air, leaving their hands at the same time.

All eyes are on them as they sail through the sky, arching toward the boards and aiming toward their target, making the seconds crawl as we find out who is going to be the champion of the Carrington Cove Games this year.

And when the cheers ring out around me, I don’t believe what I just saw.

“Oh my God!”

Timothy bellows out, “Holy moly, folks! The winner of this year’s Carrington Cove Games is…”

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