Page 32 of Autumn at the Willow River Guesthouse
It was worth a shot. Lily shrugged as she looked at the list of messages in her sent box, then switched off the computer.
In the restaurant, Uncle Gus was now standing up, both hands holding clumps of his hair as though attempting to become his own puppet master.
‘Just knock your king over,’ Aunt Gert said. ‘It’s checkmate in two. You can’t get out of it.’
‘There’s always a way out,’ Uncle Gus said, shaking his head.
‘No, there really isn’t.’ Aunt Gert leaned forward. ‘You have two possible moves, here or here.’ She pointed at the board. ‘Both mean I can go here, and then you lose.’ She clapped her hands together and rocked back on the chair, wincing as the plaster cast over her knee hit the underside of the table. ‘Tell him, Lily.’
‘I can’t play chess.’
Aunt Gert nodded at the window. ‘It looks like rain again, so now’s a good time to learn.’
With a grunt of frustration, Uncle Gus reached down and knocked over his king. ‘All right, you’ve got me. I’m going to go and cut some cabbages. Beat her for me, Lily.’
Lily smiled as Uncle Gus stomped off. Aunt Gert, chuckling, replaced the pieces. ‘Right, it’s pretty easy. First you have to move this one,’ she said.
‘Aunt Gert,’ Lily said, ‘do you know any good secrets?’
‘About what?’
‘About anything. Like, a kind of plot twist for a movie.’ She waved her arms in the air. ‘Woah, he’s not a clown, he’s a secret agent, that kind of thing.’
‘Careful, dear, you’ll knock over the pieces.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Hmm.’ Aunt Gert frowned. ‘A secret can be anything, big or small. It depends on what you’re trying to do, doesn’t it?’
‘Surprise people.’
‘Then you make it as outrageous as possible.’
‘But … I literally have no idea. I’ve spent my whole life moving big numbers around. It’s maths. I know maths, because it’s logical, and predictable. I’m not good with the unpredictable.’
Aunt Gert grinned. ‘Perhaps you should try going on a blind date.’
‘Absolutely no chance. I’m still in mourning over Steve.’
‘Are you really? Because it doesn’t seem like it. You seem to be coping very well. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that Steve had become part of your routine, and that only by shaking up the bag a little bit did you figure out that he wasn’t really needed.’
‘Shaking up the bag….’
‘Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone. You can step back into it, of course, but if you don’t roll those dice once in a while, you could be missing out on things that might change your life.’
‘Have you ever tried stepping out of your comfort zone?’
‘Absolutely. When I agreed to go on a date with that great bear in there. I didn’t find him attractive at all. I thought—and don’t tell him this—he was a monster. I’d never seen a man so unattractive.’ She giggled. ‘So I made him grow that beard.’
‘Really?’
Aunt Gert slapped a hand on the table so hard the chess pieces jumped. ‘Ha, not at all. But I really didn’t like him. And then, after I went out with him … I found out that I did. And the rest is history. I’m fully in my comfort zone now, but I wouldn’t have been without stepping outside it.’
‘How would I step outside my comfort zone?’
‘All sorts of ways. You’re doing it right now by working here. And have you thought about going on a date with someone?’
‘Not at all. I’d be on the rebound.’
