“Okay.How about we play a game?Twenty Questions?”
“Sure.You go first.”
I look out the window at the town.“Okay… are we close to where you grew up?”
“Yeah.My old house is right up that way.”
“Do you want to go see it?”I offer.
“No, that’s okay.”
“That was two for me.Your turn.”
I expect her to ask about what she found, but she surprises me.
“Who’s your hero?”
“Hero?Um… I don’t know.I guess maybe Coach?”
“Okay.Favorite food?”
“Pizza.Ham and mushrooms,” I say right away.“My turn.If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?”
“Hawaii,” she says with a sigh.“It looks so beautiful.”
“We should go.”
“Uh-huh.”She snorts like I’m joking.
I want to correct her, but our food is delivered and we both dig in.
“Oh, my god,” I groan.
She giggles.“Told you.Best burger in the world.”
“This is so good,” I agree.
We eat in silence for a while until our food is gone.
I pay the bill and take Elle’s hand as we leave.“You want dessert?”
Elle shakes her head.“I’m stuffed, and it’s getting late.”
We make the drive back to Maple Creek.I park outside her place and hop out to open her door for her.We head up to her apartment slowly and stop outside her door.
“Thanks.Tonight was fun,” she says, smiling up at me sweetly.
“We should do it again.Tomorrow.”
“Maybe,” she agrees.
I grin.“You’ll be at the game tomorrow night?”
She sighs, her smile dimming.“Maybe?We’ll see how the meeting goes tomorrow morning.”
“Right.Well, either way, I hope you come.I’ll leave a ticket for you at Will Call.”
She nods.
