“Did you keep the money?”
I snorted.“Nah.Got caught.What I managed to keep went to lawyers, restitution, fines.Prison doesn’t exactly pay well.”
She absorbed this, her fingers absently arranging her game pieces in perfect rows.“What was it like?Prison?”
The memory of Terre Haute flashed through my mind.Concrete and steel, the smell of stale sweat and blood, the constant noise of men packed too tight together, made me sick to my stomach to think about.
“Cold.Boring.Dangerous if you didn’t know how to handle yourself.”I dealt out the starting resources.“USP Terre Haute is a high-security federal joint.Everything smelled like industrial cleaner and body odor.Guards sprayed mace first, asked questions later.”
“Did you get in fights?”
“Some.”I rolled the dice.“Enough to make sure people knew not to mess with me.Not enough to add time to my sentence.Though, fighting is what got me sent to Terre Haute in the first place.”
She nodded, processing this information with an expression too mature for her age.“Your move first,” she said, pointing at the board.
We played in silence for a few minutes, the plastic chair digging into my lower back.Brynn studied each move carefully, her strategy becoming apparent only after several turns revealed her master plan.She’d been quietly accumulating specific resources while appearing to make random choices.
“Shit,” I muttered as she blocked my shipping route with a perfectly placed piece.
“That’s three gold coins you owe the bank,” she said, a hint of smugness in her voice.“Plus, I get access to the spice market first.”
Her tactical brilliance stunned me.Not just the moves themselves, but the long-game planning behind them.Three turns later, she’d cornered the market on two key resources and effectively locked me out of the most profitable trade routes.
“Where’d you learn to think like that?”I couldn’t keep the admiration from my voice.
She shrugged.“Nobody taught me.I just see patterns.”
Ten minutes later, she demolished my remaining forces with a series of brutal, efficient moves.
“Game freakin’ over,” she announced, a genuine smile breaking across her face before she caught herself and pressed her lips together.But I’d seen the flash of pure delight, unguarded and real.
“Damn.”I leaned back, impressed beyond words.“That was… spectacular.Ruthless, actually.”I grinned.“I like it.”
She gathered the pieces, arranging them neatly in their compartments.“Want a rematch?”The question came out casual, but her eyes flickered to mine, waiting.
“Absolutely,” I said, already resetting the board.“But don’t expect me to go easy on you this time.”
A ghost of that smile returned.“Wouldn’t want you to.”
As I shuffled the cards, something eased in my chest.One game wouldn’t make a relationship, but maybe it could be the first stepping stone, the first cautious move across a bridge I’d thought permanently burned.My daughter had destroyed me in that game, and I’d never been prouder of anything in my life.
Our rematch was in full swing, Brynn’s face locked in fierce concentration as she plotted my second downfall, when the hospital room door eased open.Lavender stood in the doorway, hair damp and curling around her face, wearing clean clothes that still looked worn at the edges.The pressure in my chest I’d grown used to since losing Lavender eased somewhat.Her eyes widened slightly as they moved from me to Brynn and back again, registering the change between us.
“Mom!”Brynn’s voice lost its edge of wariness, sounding momentarily like the child she actually was.“I totally destroyed him in the first game.He’s trying to redeem himself.”
Lavender stepped into the room, her sweet scent trailing behind her.“Is that right?”Her voice held cautious wonder, like she’d stumbled into an alternate reality.
I shifted in my chair, strangely self-conscious under her gaze.“Your kid’s a tactical genius.Reminds me of someone else I know who used to demolish me at chess.”The memory slipped out before I could stop it.Lavender, doing a victory dance in her eyes as she captured my king for the third straight game over her Christmas break.The year before I realized how truly beautiful she was.
A smile flickered over Lavender’s face.“Ada insisted I use the shower at the hotel.Said she’d keep an eye on things.”She moved closer, studying the game board.“Looks serious.”
“Knight brought games,” Brynn said, the use of my current name jarring coming from her.“Not baby stuff.Real games.”
“I can see that.”Lavender perched on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb the pieces.Her hand brushed Brynn’s leg through the thin blanket, a small, unconscious gesture of reassurance.
I watched her from beneath lowered lashes, needing to study the changes in her face.New lines around her eyes.A small scar near her temple I didn’t recognize.The way she carried exhaustion in the set of her shoulders.But her eyes… Those hadn’t changed.Still that clear hazel that could strip me bare with a single look.It was that look that made me want to lay the world at her feet.
“Your turn,” Brynn prompted, pulling my attention back to the game.“Knight says I get my strategy skills from him,” she informed Lavender, not looking up from the board.
