Rylee leaned forward, wiggling her fingers in the air. “Something might come up and nibble your toes?”
“That’s it exactly. Nightmare material. Like that hand you thought you’d be dragging from the water.” He made a stink face and shook his head. “That’s a nope for me.”
She laughed from her belly because it was so endearingly humble.
Dakota felt so solid and dependable to Rylee. If circumstances were different, she could imagine a relationship with him rather than simply enjoying his company.
While wonderful, this was merely a moment in time. Rylee was in survival mode, and a relationship didn’t make any sense.
“My turn,” Dakota said. “If I had known you for two months, I would already know what you wanted in a relationship. Right now, I’m more interested in what youdon’twant from a relationship.”
“Neesa and I were just talking about this. I don't know if you know this, but Neesa has a doctorate in mathematics.”
“Smart cookie.”
“Intimidatingly brilliant,” Rylee agreed. “We were talking about game theory and how relationships can be seen through that lens.”
Dakota’s mouth pulled into a bemused expression.
“What? Are you telling me that your friends don’t sit around discussing the application of game theory to relationship status?”
He laughed. “Okay, let’s go. Are we looking back at your past relationships? Present?”
“I’m single.”
“Same,” he said, looking straight into her eyes.
That word flooded Rylee’s system with relief. But then again, she reminded herself, she was living in the moment; her future was too tenuous. That MRI truly freaked her out. She had only put MS into her health equation. But because of her time in the sand, sniffing in the fumes from the burn pits, she was nowthinking about imminent, lethal diagnoses like glioblastoma and cancer on her spine.
“Which game theory did you and Neesa apply?”
“Neesa said The Prisoner's Dilemma worked best. Originally, we were talking about it in terms of our corporate culture at WorldCares. We want to stay dynamic and growing. Our goal is to be a source of good for people outside of our organization by serving human needs in disasters, but we also want to be good to our people inside the organization. And that means we need to know that everyone’s pulling their own weight over time.”
“Same with my crew in the Navy,” Dakota said. “You were only as good as your weakest link.”
“Exactly. But humans are humans, you can’t always show up with the same level of go-juice. Sometimes others need to step up and, for short periods, carry more weight. Let’s say you and your crew have a log overhead, and one of the guys is low glycemic, everyone takes on an extra pound or so. But he gets some calories, he’s energized and able, and now he does a little more lifting to give the guy who just ripped his rotator cuff a bit of a break.”
“Show me how the Prisoner’s Dilemma applies here.”
“In this game, two suspects are interrogated in different rooms. If they both stay silent, they’re golden. If one confesses to receive a reward, like immunity, the other will go to jail. If both of them confess to gain the reward, they both lose, and both go to jail. Both of them should choose to remain silent. But that takes an enormous amount of trust.”
“I’ve seen this dilemma as a war game run on things like price wars and environmental agreements. I’ve never applied it to a love relationship,” Dakota said, taking a bite of pizza and putting the slice down on the box lid.
“Neesa really liked that because it said that, sight-unseen, you needed to trust the agreements made in a relationship. For her, that’s not always been the case. She’s had some philanderers who have made her distrustful.” Yes, Rylee told Dakota that on purpose because if Jasper was a shithead, Dakota probably knew and should tell Rylee about it or risk messing up her trust in him.
Manipulative? Sure. But it was in the service of a friend.
“Principled Reciprocity was the game I thought applied best to my experiences,” Rylee said.
“Oh, we are getting deep.”
“I saw the philosophy books on your shelf,” Rylee countered. “So they were either there to impress, or you’re up to this conversation.”
Dakota chuckled and took another bite.
“To make sure we have the same working definition in Principled Reciprocity, if you do a favor for me, I do a favor for you. Your kindness is returned by my kindness.”
“I feed you scampi, you feed me pizza,” Dakota said.
