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It's a fun game, and we play until late into the night when Brodie whips me by buying the best properties. We laugh. We talk about how things were growing up and I realize that Brodie doesn't remember things correctly from our childhood.
There's a lot that she remembers that didn't happen, and some things that happened differently from what she remembered.
Maybe she chooses to live that way, but I can't help but tell her how it really was.
When the game is over, I start to pack it up.
"We should do this again," she says softly. "It was fun."
"We can play again tomorrow. I have other games in my room." I grin as I put the board away.
"Other games like?"
"Cluedo. Pictionary. Charades. Balderdash."
"I love Pictionary," she squeals. "And I'm really good at it."
"Okay, Pictionary, it is then," I say as I stand and put the Monopoly by the door. "Come on, let's get some sleep."
I climb onto the bed next to her. She turns her back to me like she normally does, but this time, when I spoon her, she isn't tense in my arms.
Chapter Twelve
Eitan
I watch Brodie pass the time by reading magazines and playing card games. She seems content.
I want to do something special for her again. Something extra special.
She's been so well-behaved, and she seems genuinely happy here.
I take out the steaks I bought on my last trip to town, and I take out some vegetables from the storage racks. I get everything ready, take out the grill in front, and set up a table nearby.
Then I get a blanket and lay it out nearby before I go into her room. "It's a nice day outside. Why don't we grill some steaks?"
"That would be nice," she says, looking up.
I unlock the chain from the bed and lead her out to the front, where I lock it around one of the foundation posts. She sits down on the blanket with her deck of cards and starts to play solitaire.
I get the radio from inside and turn it on, playing some old rock 'n roll music while I fire up the grill. I spice the steaks, and I set them aside, ready for once the grill has heated up.
I go to Brodie and stand near her. "Isn't this nice?"
"It's peaceful," she says, looking up. "But it's not nice being chained up all the time."
"I know you don't like it, Brodie, but I'm doing it for your safety. You can't just go wandering into the forest alone."
"Don't you trust me?" she asks, looking up at me. Is that hurt I see in her eyes?
I go back to the grill to check the temperature. "It's not that I don't trust you."
"You don't trust me," she says coldly. "I know you don't, or you wouldn't feel the need to chain me up all the time."
"Brodie...come on. We have been getting on so well the last few days..."
"And yet you still don't trust me." She tosses down her cards and crosses her arms like a child.
"Let's not fight. Come on, I got two great steaks here. I'm going to make us a salad, and we can eat outside in the sunlight."
