I was just starting a friendship with her. I didn’t have to keep my eyes from lingering too long. I didn’t have to police my thoughts. Iwas still enjoying all the feelings of being around a new person that I liked. I was still experiencing the nerves, the anticipation of hanging out more and getting to know each other. And with Ella, that also meant a lot of time spent wondering what she was going to do next, and how hard it might make me laugh.
I needed to stop getting ahead of myself. Stop thinking of worst-case scenarios and instead take this one day at a time, just like my therapist had advised.
I stepped back inside, slipped off my boots, and brought the package to my ear, shaking it. It made a small rattling sound, but felt like a solid board of wood.
“It’s cribbage,” she said.
I frowned at her. “Wha..hey. You’re not supposed to ruin the surprise.”
“Fine then. It’s a salmon.”
“A whole salmon?”
“No. Just a couple of fillets.” She glanced at the present. “That were pounded into a perfect rectangle and then frozen. Which is why it’s cold. And doesn’t smell. Open it quick, before it defrosts.”
Our gazes caught and held, for one second, ten. We were very serious adults having a very serious discussion about Very Serious Things™. At what felt like the end of a solid minute, my lips twitched. Or course I’d be the first one to break.
She gave me a blinding smile and took the present from me, heading into the living room where we’d left the dogs.
I kicked my boots off and followed her. The dogs didn’t so much as crack an eye open when we walked in.
“Wow, impressive level of dog exhaustion,” I said.
She frowned at them. “I think I might have let them play too much the last few days. Huskies are a working breed, and they’ve been known to hurt themselves by pushing too hard.”
She handed the present back to me and moved to Fred – I knew it was him because of the little white splotch on the tip of one ear – and then leaned down to systematically inspect him, rubbing his shoulders, haunches, legs, and paws to check for any sore spots. She repeated the process with Sam. Both tolerated it fairly well, and conked right back out when she got to her feet, looking satisfied they were uninjured.
I went to the couch and pulled the hidden latch in the middle seat. The chairback folded forward to reveal a flat wooden surface with two cupholders built in.
“Is this big enough to hold the board?” I asked. “I figured you’d want to keep them in sight and maybe sit in something more comfortable than a folding chair.”
“That’s perfect. If you want to open it, I can get it set up while you go grab those beers you mentioned earlier.” She sent me a pointed look.
“Deal.”
The wrapping was some sort of thick kraft paper with little pine trees and snowflakes printed on it in black. I had a feeling she might have made it herself; it was too nice to be store-bought. I slipped a finger beneath the tape and pulled the paper free to reveal a lightly stained piece of wood with a lot of peg holes in it.
I handed it to her. “What’s the little skunk mark for?”
Her grin was a wicked thing. “Oh, you’ll see, Ben. You’ll see.”
The laughter that followed me out of the room was slightly concerning.
I grabbed two oatmeal stouts from the fridge and headed back in. She sat sideways on the far side of the couch, facing the drop-down table, her legs folded beneath her. She’d laid the board out horizontally. Two pairs of brightly colored pegs stuck out from the starting line.
She glanced up at me as I approached. “Sharing your oatmeal stout?”
I handed her one. “Yes. Like a well-adjusted adult.”
She snorted, then took a sip. “Oh, God. That’s so good.”
“Like, Jack could make a lot of money off of it good,” I said, folding myself down into the other seat.
“Right? He’d never hand over his recipe, though. Dad and Jacob tinker around with homebrew, and they’ve been trying to get their hands on it for years.”
“Jacob is your oldest brother? The one who looks kind of like Sterling K. Brown?”
She nodded. “And when he realized it, he changed his glasses frames to match the ones Brown wears onThis Is Us, though he vehemently denies it every time I try to bring it up.”
