“I suppose I should.”He waited for her to step aside and ducked inside, just as his phone rang.
“You have that turned on?”She called through the thin nylon wall.
He didn’t bother to answer; instead, he said, “Varner.”Fifteen minutes later, minor crisis solved, he slipped the phone back into his sleeping bag and exited the tent.Wanda was nowhere to be found.It wasn’t dark; the sun wouldn’t set until around ten, but evening was falling.Distant laughter reached him, and he walked toward it, his mind more on the office than on tonight’s trivia games.
The only empty seat was a spot on a log bench on the opposite side of the fire from Wanda.He debated asking everyone to shuffle over, but decided against it.
“Ah, there you are,” Brent called out.“And just in time, too.”
“For what?”
“Trivia, of course.”He grinned maliciously.“Grab yourself a drink and a snack if you want one.”He waved to a table laden with snacks and steaming beverage carafes.He stuck the mic under his arm and clapped briskly.“Okay, everyone, make sure you’re sitting beside your partner.This is a team game.”He waited while everyone shuffled.
Eric noted, for the first time, that the group had been divided.Men on one side of the fire and women on the other.Once everyone was seated again, the games began.
He and Wanda did great in the first few rounds.
“What is a Monstera?”Brent asked and reminded them to write their answers on their mini whiteboards.
Eric jotted down a movie genre.
“No, it isn’t,” Wanda hissed.“It’s a type of plant.A relative of the Philodendron.”She reached for the board to change their answer.
“Boards up,” Brent called.
Wanda’s glare would have cut stone.
He got the next question wrong as well, and her glare doubled.
“Don’t be so competitive,” he whispered.“It’s a game.”
“There’s two hundred dollars riding on this.That’s the prize.Two hundred dollars to spend at Southcentre Mall.I could have used that.”She crossed her arms.“We’re way behind now.”
The next few questions were science-based, and neither of them had any clue.Before he realized what was happening, the competition was down to two pairings, and they were sitting and watching.At least he was paying attention.Wanda was glaring into her hot chocolate cup.
She was on her third serving, every one topped with marshmallows.He shook his head.“How can you drink that much sugar?”
She shrugged and shifted to look away from him.
When the game was over, people slowly dispersed.Wanda set her cup on the table and grabbed a paper plate.She loaded it with chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers and returned to the fire.
He sat beside her.
“You can go to the tent,” she said.“I’ll be along in a bit.”
“I can wait.It’s nice out tonight.Not many bugs.”
She shrugged, clearly still angry with him.
“It was just a game.”
She ignored him.
Funny, she hadn’t struck him as the petulant type.She was so upbeat and cheerful.All day, she’d been sunshine and kind words.Not so much now.
“I can give you a gift certificate if that would help.”
She glared.“It isn’t about the gift card.”
