Page 11 of Falling for Him
Lexi’s brows furrow and I can sense the disbelief in her expression.
“Chocolate chip cookies?” Adley lifts the plate and smiles. “Still warm.”
I want to laugh, because she does this so nonchalantly.
“I would almost believe you if we hadn’t hung that board up last night.” Lexi continues inside and places her keys on the table next to the door. “You should have said you asked him to come level it, since it’s crooked. That would have been more believable.”
“Um yeah, that,” Adley says with a laugh, leaning back and shoving another cookie in her mouth. “You should really try a cookie though, I put double chips in them.”
I look at Adley, then to Lexi, and she glances from Adley to me. Suddenly we both laugh, because Adley makes it so hard not to.
It feels normal, like it’s always been. Almost like the last several months haven’t been weighing us down. Seeing Lexi smile, a genuine smile, it was all I’ve been wishing for.
Laughter then reaches her eyes and gives me a peek of the girl we’ve all missed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lexi
“What is this game?”Bennett asks with his brows furrowed. He looks so perplexed, and I can’t help my laugh.
“Old Maid,” I tell him as I grab one of his cards and place it with my own.
“Old Maid,” he repeats with a nod. “And the objective is?”
“To get as many matches as you can by drawing a card from the person to your right. Once you make all your matches you are done, unless you end up with the Old Maid.”
“What happens then?”
“You lose,” Adley says with a laugh.
“So how the hell do I get rid of this then?” He pulls out the Old Maid from his deck and tosses her between us all like she is a hot coal.
“First off you aren’t supposed to share that you have her,” I say, picking her back up and trying to give it back to him. He scoots back and shakes his head.
“Nope,” he states, “that bitch is yours.”
“That’s not how it works.” I have tears in my eyes and honestly I can’t remember ever laughing this hard. It’s been forever since I felt this relaxed. Adley is shoveling popcorn into her mouth and watching us with a smile.
“I don’t like this game,” Bennett says. “Is this what you two do every night? Play weird ass games and eat popcorn.”
“Neither of us knows how to play grown-up games, so we go for the ones we understand.” Adley shrugs like it’s no big deal and grabs a card from my hand.
“Match!” She does a little happy dance tossing down the Musician Joe cards.
Bennett only stares at us both shifting his gaze from Adley to me.
“No poker?”
“Nope it’s all Crazy Eights, Go Fish, and Old Maid up in this place,” Adley states proudly. “If we are feeling adventurous we break out Sorry or Life. Do you want to play Life, Bennett?”
“I’m afraid to ask.” The poor guy looks so torn. I’m biting my lip watching the exchange between them doing my best to hold back my laughter.
“So you get a car, and you spin as you move along the board reaching all the different milestones in life. College, career, getting married, buying a house, having kids, retiring, it’s the game of life.”
Again he only stares.
“Or should we stick with Old Maid?”
