Page 6 of Second Chances at the Board Game Café

This had taken him by surprise; he considered himself only average in the looks department, wasn’t great at small talk, let alone at saying the romantic things he imagined she might want to hear. He assumed she’d tell him the following morning that spending the night with him had been a mistake; that had happened on at least two occasions when he was an undergraduate. But Fay had simply asked if he knew anything about landscaping, and Harry had given up his weekend to build her a patio. The following weekend, he’d created a pond and the one after that, he’d done her loft insulation.

Soon he was spending more time at her place than he was at his own. He hadn’t minded. On the contrary. It was funny how it wasn’t until you spent time with someone that you realised just how lonely you had been before you met them.

His mind drifted over the events of the past, so it was hardly a surprise when the game ended and he found he’d come last with fifty-one points.

‘Won’t be here next week,’ said Tom. ‘Work conference.’

‘Me neither. I have a date,’ Simon announced. ‘With Sally from Huddersfield. We met on Buzzz.’

‘Buzzz?’ Harry was puzzled.

‘The dating app.’

‘So just you and me then, Harry,’ said Martin. ‘We could play 18Lilliput. That’s good with two players.’

‘Looking forward to it already,’ said Harry, though if truth be told, he thought it was a pity that both Tom and Simon would be absent.

Tom suggested going to the Red Lion for last orders. Harry declined, remaining alone at the table, staring into the dregs of his coffee as all around him games ended. Boards were folded. Cards were sorted into different decks. Different-coloured meeples were placed into little ziplock bags. Lids were put on boxes and boxes returned to shelves. People drifted away into the night and, behind the counter, Emily switched off the coffee machine.

‘You finished with that, Harry?’

He looked up to see Ludek standing beside his table, a cloth in one hand, the other stretched out for the coffee cup. He handed it over, but Ludek put it down on the table again, and sat beside him.

‘What’s up?’

Harry sighed. ‘I don’t know. Watching you and Emily. And Simon has joined a dating app.’

Ludek put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Would you like to meet someone?’

‘I get lonely, you know? But an app wouldn’t be my cup of tea.’

A voice called over from the counter. ‘There are other ways of finding a love, Hal.’

It was Kate, Emily’s friend. He hadn’t noticed her come in, but she was heading in their direction now. She made him nervous, if truth be told, and Harry began mentally counting in nineteens. It always soothed him.

19. 38. 57. 76…

She turned a chair round at the table and sat astride it. ‘So you’re looking for bit of romance, Hal?’

He wished she wouldn’t call him that. ‘Maybe. I don’t know. But not through an app.’

‘There’s no-one at work?’

‘There are a couple of single women, but there’s no…’

‘Spark?’ said Ludek.

Harry shook his head. ‘No spark.’

‘You have to be proactive,’ said Kate. ‘The right woman is not going to randomly fall at your feet in the street.’

Ludek laughed. ‘Well, that might happen, mightn’t it, Em?’

Emily came over too, perching on the corner of the next table.

‘Okay, so that’s how you two met.’ Kate looked from Emily to Ludek. ‘But it’s not exactly likely, is it? You have to maximise your opportunities for meeting new people, Hal. One of my dating books advises that when you want a coffee, don’t make it at home. Go to Costa instead. You might meet someone in the queue.’

Emily coughed. ‘Costa? Really, Kate? Costa?’