Page 57 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

It could be the perfect event for the Saturday evening of the festival.

If you could have a pub quiz crossed with a speed-dating event, why not Scrabble?

Obviously Scrabble and speed weren’t two words you’d normally associate with each other – at least not in Hebbleswick where certain members of the club seemed to take an age over each and every turn. They’d be there for a week if each man played a whole game with each woman, but if each couple only made five words each, it might work. When the bell sounded, the woman would reset the board and the next man would arrive at the table to play. How long would each couple need to play their five words and have enough of a chat to know whether they wanted to see each other again?

She needed to test it out, and to do that, she needed someone to play with. She texted Ras.

Fancy a game of Scrabble tonight?

*

Jo decided she wouldn’t reveal her idea until she was sure that it would work. She set the Scrabble board up on her tiny, fold-out dining table before he arrived. Her plan was to time how long it took to play the first ten words. She was hoping ten minutes would be long enough. If they had twelve pairs of daters that would mean two hours of playing Scrabble, with a half hour break for drinks in the middle. They could open at half seven to register everyone, start playing at eight, and be finished by half past ten.

With her phone secreted on her lap and the stopwatch app activated, they began to play. Ras chose difficult letters at the start of the game. Ten minutes went by and he hadn’t played his first word. Or uttered a word, come to that. If this were a date, she wouldn’t be ticking his box. This idea was a non-starter.

The first four words took seventeen minutes.

As Ras laid his fifth word – COBBLER on a double word score – he said, ‘Why do you keep looking at your phone? And pretending that you’re not?’

‘No reason.’

‘Are you waiting for a text from someone? Have you met someone new on Buzzz?’

‘No,’ said Jo. ‘I’m through with dating. I’m crap at it.’

Ras hesitated, as if he was about to say something but thought better of it. She couldn’t quite read his expression.

‘So why do you keep looking at your phone?’ he said eventually. ‘Are you timing my moves? Am I being too slow or something?’

‘Yes and yes.’

‘I didn’t know this was speed Scrabble all of a sudden.’

She couldn’t keep the idea to herself any longer.

‘Not speed Scrabble,’ she said. ‘Speed-dating Scrabble. For Saturday evening at the festival.’

‘Speed-dating? In a primary school? Are you sure the head’ll be up for that?’

‘He isn’t expected to join in.’

‘I didn’t mean…’

‘He’ll be fine, Ras. Don’t worry.’ She explained how she thought it might work. ‘I was timing how long it takes to play ten words, to check it would work.’

‘Then we need to do it properly,’ said Ras. ‘Timing the moves on a normal game doesn’t tell us anything. If people know they’ve only got ten minutes, they’ll play quicker, especially if it doesn’t matter who wins the game. Each round will take less time, but you’ve got to factor in some small talk. They’ve got to chat to work out if they like the other person.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Let’s play again and this time, we’ll pretend we’ve just met. Ask the sort of questions you ask on a date and try and make a few words at the same time.’

‘I feel silly,’ Jo said.

He was putting all the letter tiles back in the bag again, ready to start a new game.

‘Come on, set the timer.’

She set a timer for ten minutes and pressed ‘start’.