On Friday, during a boring hour at work, I decide to text Martha, Divya, and Fallon and see what they think. It’s been weeks since I heard from them, and they’ve all found “the one,” haven’t they?
I open our group chat.
[10:01] Hey guys!! Hope you’re all doing great. Random question for all of you – how did you know your husbands were the one?
I don’t expect them to text back right away, so I put away my phone and go back to researching community grants. Trey and Ihave been talking about building a barrel-themed playground in the backyard, but I had no idea how expensive playground equipment is. I’m sure Shelley would lose her mind if I went to the historical society for money behind her back, so I’m trying to find a grant Trey and I could apply for on our own.
My phone doesn’t ding until lunch, but I swipe the notification away without looking at it. John and I are about to start Wordle. I need to befocused. My streak is getting tantalizingly close to a year.
“Starting word?” John asks.
“GRANT,” I say.
Hmm. Not a bad start. The G is green, and the T is green. The rest of the letters are gray.
BUILD, I try.
Crap. Nothing.
C’mon, brain.Think. What’s a five-letter word that starts with G and ends with T?
I’m totally blanking. Okay, let’s try to eliminate some other letters.
I look at all the letters I haven’t used and come up with POWER.
The O is yellow, the rest are gray.
G... O... T.
GOAT. No, that’s only four letters.
GLOAT. No, there’s no L.
GWOAT. Nope, that’s not a word.
“Crap,” I mutter.
“What’ve you got so far?” John asks.
“G, O, and T.”
He looks down at his screen and raises an eyebrow. I can’t tell if he’s got it or not. Damn his inscrutable face!
“Do you have it?” I ask.
“I do now.” He types a word. “I had the two letters you don’t have.”
I chew on my lip.
G, O, T.
“Is there a double letter?” I ask.
“Nope.”
My phone dings with a text again, then twice more. I swipe the notifications away impatiently. “Is it a weird word? Something I wouldn’t have heard of?”
“Nope.”
