Jane and Charlie came back in with a large bowl of popcorn. “Who’s up for charades?” Charlie asked.
“Charades?” Will and Elsie protested at the same time.
Charlie beamed. “Great. Jane and I are a team, and you and Elsie are a team. You two go first. We’re doing movie titles.” He handed Will his phone, where he already had an online charade generator pulled up and ready to go. Will looked over at Elsie. If she was irritated by his last comment, she was hiding it well. At least this stupid game would be a good distraction.
Will tapped the screen and got the title,My Fair Lady. He held up three fingers and Elsie cocked her head in that cute little way she had and looked confused.
“The Three Amigos?”
Will put his hand down. “It means three words, Elsie. Haven’t you ever played charades before?”
“No talking,” Charlie said, stuffing a huge handful of popcorn in his mouth.
He held up one finger this time and waited.
“First word?” Elsie asked, glancing at Jane and Charlie for confirmation.
“Thirty seconds,” Charlie called out.
Will patted his chest.
“My?”
Miraculous. They had one word down. He held up three fingers again and tapped the third one, waiting for her to get that it meant third word. They had about twenty seconds left. He flipped pretend long hair behind his shoulder and did a curtsy.
Charlie roared, which was to be expected. Jane tried to hold in a fit of giggles, but they came bursting out, setting off Elsie.
“I’m sorry,” Elsie huffed out between fits of laughter. “Is itMy Best Friend’s Wedding?”
Will sat down on the couch, feeling stupid. Charlie was in so much trouble.
“What was it?” Elsie asked, leaning over.
“It wasMy Fair Lady.”
Charlie howled. Will aimed a kick in his direction and made him get up to take his turn. Anything to take the attention off himself. Jane still couldn’t look at him without laughing.
Jane and Charlie seemed to have a charade mind-link because she guessed his title with little effort. Elsie’s turn was as disastrous as their first. When he failed to guessWeekend at Bernie’s, which would have been almost impossible even with good clues, she collapsed on the couch.
“Okay, I would just like to add, that I was brought over here under false pretenses. Jane told me we’d be playing cards, not trying to impersonate dead guys.”
“Here, here,” Will added. He had to admit though, he’d never had so much fun losing. They played a round of Hearts, and Elsie was joking and having fun, up until she got a text message. After she read it, her face dropped.
“Is something wrong?” he murmured while Charlie was dealing out cards.
She shook her head. “I was supposed to meet a friend tonight and forgot about it.”
“Charlotte? Invite her over.”
“It was Jeff.”
Will took the cards in front of him and studied them, trying not to let his disgust show.
“You know, the guy who’s not welcome here,” Elsie pressed, back to being her combative self.
“No, he’s not welcome. He’s done irreparable damage to my family, and I can’t forgive that.”
“You can’t forgive an accident?”
