Page 5 of Second Chances at the Board Game Café

Back home, he uploaded his Jorvik Express photos onto Facebook for his eleven ‘friends’ to see, then sat on the sofa with his usual Thursday dinner of microwave lamb hotpot on a tray and Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys on the TV. He had seen this episode before at least twice, but it at least gave him the illusion of company. This was how he ate his dinner every evening; his large terraced house had a dining room, but his N-gauge model railway took up the entire table.

His dinner finished, he washed up his one plate, knife and fork, before setting off for the board game café as he did every Thursday.

‘Hello, stranger,’ called Emily as he walked in.

This surprised him; he’d been one of her first customers and was hardly a stranger. It took him a moment to realise she was being funny, but he couldn’t think of a witty reply so said, ‘Good evening, Emily.’

‘Your usual?’

‘That would be splendid, thank you.’

Harry loved being someone who had ‘a usual’. He always had a decaf latte and a Bakewell tart. The board game café Bakewells were a heady mix of almond and cherry but never iced; Emily insisted that iced Bakewells were invented by Mr Kipling, and that traditionally they weren’t iced. The first time he tasted one of hers, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

‘I’ll bring it over,’ Emily said.

He wasn’t late, but many of the regulars had already arrived. Over in the corner, Mr B and Mrs Ridley were playing their usual game of Scrabble, a very fat dictionary at the ready. Harry waved to the Dungeons and Dragons crowd – they’d been part of the board game group back in the early days. Every table was full, but to his relief, he saw that Tom and Simon had already bagged one, right beside the counter, and were setting up a game of Great Western Trail.

Harry wasn’t sure he counted Great Western Trail as a train game. To Harry’s way of thinking, the cows were definitely the main feature; the trains were only there to transport them. He had nothing against bovines, and the cards showing the different breeds were lovely, but he would have preferred to play Brass Birmingham or Steam Power, a new game that he was itching to have a go at.

‘Good evening,’ he said, pulling out a chair and sitting down opposite Simon. ‘Great Western Trail?’

Simon smiled. ‘With the Rails to the North expansion.’

Harry nodded. ‘Ah. I see. Wonderful.’

That made all the difference. The expansion was an addition to the original board game and would bring more of a railway element to proceedings.

Martin arrived now and slipped into the seat beside him. ‘How are you, Harry?’

‘Tickety-boo, thank you,’ said Harry.

Martin nodded. ‘How about you, Simon? Tom?’

‘Fine, thanks,’ said Tom.

Simon just nodded.

That was the extent of the small talk. Harry looked over at the counter, wondering where his coffee was. Emily looked harassed as she struggled to keep up with the number of orders. His decaffeinated latte was sitting on the counter along with his slice of Bakewell tart. He stood up and went up to collect them, just as Ludek slipped behind the counter and said, ‘Need some help, Em?’

‘Sorry, Harry,’ she said, then turned to Ludek and planted a kiss on his cheek. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you, Lud. Could you make two cappuccinos please for table four?’

Harry felt a pang of longing, not for Emily, but for someone. Would anyone ever say they didn’t know what they’d do without him? Would anyone ever look at him the way Emily looked at Ludek?

‘It must be nice to be needed.’ He didn’t intend to say it out loud; hopefully no-one had noticed his comment.

But Ludek laughed. ‘It’s nice to be loved.’ He glanced over at Emily.

The two of them locked eyes and smiled at each other. Harry mumbled, ‘I’d er… better get back to the game,’ and returned to his table with his Bakewell and his latte.

As he looked at the selection of cows in his starting hand of cards, he pondered Ludek’s words. It’s nice to be loved.

Yes, that would be nice, he thought, though it felt like too much to hope for.

As the game progressed, he glanced over at the counter. He watched as Ludek popped a piece of chocolate brownie into Emily’s mouth. They beavered away, making coffees and serving up cakes, negotiating their way around each other in the small space, as if their movements were choreographed. What would that be like? Harry wondered. That familiarity with someone, that feeling of fitting together so perfectly? That kind of love would never happen to him. He would settle for companionship. He would like to matter to someone. He would like to be needed.

Fay had needed him once.

He had met her when she moved in next door and he’d helped her with a few DIY jobs. One thing had led to another one evening when he’d fitted a new curtain rail in her bedroom.