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Once finished, will bring prey to ground. Stop.
Will bring gift from factory shop as apology for delay. Stop.
Amelia
It was strange, being ledwith my eyes closed through a house I’d been coming to since I was a child. Even stranger when the person doing the leading was a vampire who was humming an out-of-tune rendition ofFollow the Yellow Brick Roadunder his breath as he led me.
“You better not be peeking.” Reggie sounded delighted with himself. “If you open your eyes, you’ll spoil the surprise.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I promise I’m not peeking. Where are you taking me?”
“Just a little farther. Ah. Here we are.” He dropped my wrist and placed his hands on my shoulders. Then he turned me ninety degrees so that I was facing in a different direction. “You can open your eyes now.”
I did.
“You’re kidding me.”
“We’ve already established that I’m not.”
I turned to stare at him. “The game closet?”
“Exactly.” Reggie was beaming. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this was here.”
“I haven’t thought of this game closet in years,” I said, honestly. “It didn’t occur to me you’d be interested.”
His smile slipped. “Why not?” He sounded genuinely affronted. “I love games.” He opened the door, then gestured theatrically for me to go inside. “After you, my lady.”
The mingled scents of old books and unopened closet were nearly enough to distract me from the powerful wave of déjà vu that came over me when I stepped inside. Playing games with my family was part of the fabric of memory whenever I thought ofbeing here. Seeing the stacks of books and games arranged neatly on those shelves made me feel twelve again.
But I hadn’t actually been twelve in more than twenty years. “I don’t think I’ve been in here since college,” I mused.
I turned to face Reggie, and my mouth went dry.
All at once I realized just how small this closet was. Reggie was so tall, and his shoulders so broad, he seemed to take up all the space in the room. Maybe it would feel like that no matter where we were. He was somehow larger than life, larger than even what his own sizable person could contain. There was something about him that displaced every molecule and atom and particle around us until all I could see was him.
He didn’t seem to notice the reaction I was having to being in a confined space with him. He was looking at the shelves of games, eyeing them with an excitement that reminded me of a young child on their birthday.
“What about Settlers of Catan?” He pulled a familiar square box from the top shelf. It was an ancient edition, one my brothers and I had played so many times when we were teenagers that the cards had eventually grown sticky with the snacks we’d eat while playing. He put a hand on my shoulder. I felt our nearness and our isolation, my body thrumming with it in a way I could get lost in, if I let myself.
“I like Settlers,” I said, my voice shaky, trying hard not to think about how good it felt to have his hand resting there. “I’ll warn you, though—I’m competitive.”
“So am I.”
“No, really though,” I said. “I always win. My strategy is foolproof.”
He snorted. “I never took you as one to brag.”
“It’s not bragging if it’s telling the truth.” I grabbed the box, with the idea of taking it from him—but he didn’t let go.
And then we were both holding the box, our fingers nearly touching.
I paused, staring down at the game in our hands. His were so much bigger than mine, his knuckles going a bit white as his grip tightened. Those hands had cradled my face so tenderly when we’d kissed. Somehow, I knew his touch would be gentle everywhere.
All at once, and with the certainty of a thunderclap, I knew that sitting next to him while playing a board game was aterribleidea.
He seemed to reach the same conclusion. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go snowshoeing?” His voice was pitched higher than usual, cracking on the wordsnowshoeing. “Settlers of Catan is…well. It’s a bit cliché as games go, isn’t it?”
Suddenly, running out into the freezing night sounded like a fabulous idea. There’d be no risk of accidental proximity. No chance we’d inexplicably end up holding hands. Going to my bedroom, alone, and trying to get a few hours of sleep would have been a better decision, but at this point I was collecting bad decisions like Girl Scout badges.
