Page 56 of The Only Thing That's Real

My cheeks heat. My flip-flopping stomach crashes and burns.

Looks like we had different games in mind.

“Sequence. Best two out of three.” Not waiting for my answer, he opens the box and tosses a little bag of green chips my way and a bag of blue in front of himself.

When he starts dealing the cards, I take the seat across from him.

“You played before?” he asks.

“Reigning champ at the old folks’ home.”

His card dealing halts and his eyes lift to mine. “I’m going to assume that’s sarcasm.”

I bring my thumb and forefinger almost together. “Just a bit. But I do know how to play.”

“Hope you aren’t a sore loser.”

“Right back at cha, Old Man McKinnon.”

“Old man, huh?”

“Well, it’s one in the morning and you want to play a board game. And... you do have a birthday at the end of next month.” I whisper the number 39 as though he’ll be so old it can’t be spoken aloud.

“You’re a cruel woman.”

“Just stating the facts, sir.”

We sift through our cards. I arrange mine by suit and examine the board.

“Soon to be loser goes first.”

“Whatever,” I say as I lay down my first card and chip.

We play in silence until Knox breaks the silence. “When’s your birthday?”

“February 12th. And it’s very wise of you not to ask my age.”

“Well, you’re in my sister’s class, so I have a pretty good idea. I would say you’re 32, but if you were born in February, you probably didn’t start school until the next fall, so you’re 33. I’m only five and a half years older than you.”

“Wow. The man can sing and do math. Impressive.”

He wags his brows. “I have many talents.” He winks and my stomach does another clumsy backflip.

His innuendo forgotten, we continue playing, only talking when declaring a sequence. He wins the first game. I win the second. We’re tied up in game three when he speaks again.

“Do you have your rose quartz with you right now?”

“Always.”

“Can I see it?”

Hesitantly, I pull it out of my pajama pants pocket and hand it to him.

He rolls it around in his hand. “Unconditional love, huh?”

I nod.

“Helps to heal a broken heart?”

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