Page 38 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

‘In that case,’ said Ras, ‘I’m going to play with Jo, since she doesn’t know anyone here. Florence, will you join us? And Mr B perhaps? And Linda, Annie and Ray can form a three.’

Everyone found their tables and sat down. The hall fell silent as every player in the room began to contemplate their letters.

‘We’re missing one thing,’ said Florence, ‘as usual.’

Ras began to root through his pockets. ‘I’ve forgotten again,’ he said.

‘He never remembers to bring pens or paper to keep score,’ Florence whispered to Jo.

Jo reached down for her handbag and pulled out her trusty Filofax. She never took pages out but decided to make an exception on this occasion. She handed blank sheets to the neighbouring tables and, using the pen she kept clipped in the Filofax’s handy penholder, drew four columns on a blank page in the ‘Notes’ section, heading them Ras, Florence, Mr B and Jo.

‘Very organised,’ said Florence.

‘Organised is my middle name,’ said Jo, then a second later, hoped that hadn’t sounded like she was bragging. ‘It’s just… well, I have to be organised with my job.’

‘What do you do?’ Mr B asked.

‘I work in television. Nothing exciting – I’m not a producer or anything. I do all the behind-the-scenes stuff, organising everything like hotels and taxis and every last detail so that the shoots run smoothly.’

‘Think you might have found the perfect person for…’ began Florence, but Ras put a finger to his lips as if he were an infant teacher and she mimed zipping her lips.

What had she been about to say? The perfect person for you?

They began to play. Ras took an early lead playing JOURNEY in his first turn and using up all his letters, thereby achieving a massive bonus of 50 points. They’d have their work cut out to catch him after that.

At the adjacent table, Jo could hear Sylvia saying, ‘And then, last week, I had these palpitations. Several times, in fact.’

‘Have you thought about critical illness cover?’ Malcolm said to her.

As Jo turned her attention to her letters, her embarrassment at seeing Ras again began to ease. So what if he didn’t fancy her? She still felt a little stung at his rejection, but he seemed happy enough that she’d come along this evening. And she hadn’t been 100 per cent sure she fancied him anyway; yes, over the course of their date, her attraction towards him had grown, but he definitely wasn’t her usual type. So what if she wasn’t his? That was okay, wasn’t it?

Perhaps they could be friends – they shared a hobby, after all, she thought as she used the J on the board to make JOKER on a double word score. Heaven knows, she needed friends. Maybe here at Hebbleswick Scrabble Club, she might finally ‘find her tribe’.

Florence used the K to make SPIKE. Unfortunately, this gave Mr B access to the triple word bonus space.

He ummed and ahhed for a bit before spelling out PAXOS.

‘You can’t have that,’ Florence objected immediately. ‘It’s the name of a Greek island. Proper nouns aren’t allowed.’

‘It means several packets of sage and onion stuffing,’ he said.

Jo caught Ras’s eye and bit her lip, to stop herself from laughing.

‘Paxo is a brand name,’ hissed Florence, ‘and therefore also a proper noun.’

Mr B reluctantly took his letters back.

‘Your go, Ras,’ Florence said firmly.

‘What about me?’ said Mr B.

‘You forgo your turn if you play a word that isn’t allowed,’ Florence said to him. ‘Stick to the rules, please, Stan.’

Ras looked like he was about to intervene, but she silenced him with a glare and he turned his attention to the letter tiles on his rack.

They were partway through the game – Ras still in the lead – when there was the sound of a chair scraping on the floor and Jo looked round to see Linda standing up.

‘Got to go,’ Linda said. ‘My salsa class starts at nine.’