Lowering to my knees, I dig around in the cabinets under the bookshelves. Why does he not have any board games? Not even Candy Land left over from childhood. I find the deck of cards from yesterday. There has to be something else under here.
I continue to dig around. There are the usual storage items—serving dishes, a few more movies, a box of CDs, and a stack of scrapbooks. Pulling one out, I lean back against the cabinet to look through it.
“Find anything good?” I jump at Beau’s words only a few feet from me. I didn’t hear him coming back down the hall. My gaze makes a slow perusal up his bare feet, sweatpants, and T-shirt until it lands on his face. He slides to the floor next to me. He smells so good I have to fight the urge to lean in to him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop. I was just looking for some way to kill time until bed.”
“There’s nothing in this house you can’t see.” He takes the scrapbook from me and begins leafing through the pages. “These pictures are from when my parents were dating.” He flips through a few more pages. “Here we go. Mom was already pregnant with me in this one. Shh,” he says, bumping against me. “Scandalous.” He smiles. There’s a mix of wistfulness and sadness in it.
“She was beautiful,” I whisper.
“She was.” He seems to shake himself out of wherever his memories have taken him. He flips the book closed and returns it under the cabinet. “I’m afraid with the electricity out our choices are books or cards.”
“Cards it is then. I have an idea.” I take the cards and flop onto the pull-out bed. With my legs crossed, I motion for him to join me. Reacher thinks I’m talking to him and joins me on the bed. Beau sits on the other side with his long legs stretched out in front of him. “We’re going to play gin, but for every game I win I get to ask you a question and vice versa. Sort of like a cross between an icebreaker and strip poker.”
“This sounds like a horrible idea.”
“It’ll be fun. I promise not to ask anything too crazy.”
He looks at me like he doesn’t believe me, but he nods. I take the cards out of the pack, shuffle them, and deal them out. He wins the cut. I organize my cards and wait for him to begin. It doesn’t take long for him to win the first hand. He gathers up the cards and turns his gaze on me.
“Why did you want to spend Christmas with Travis instead of your family?” he asks.
“I told you my parents are on a cruise, and I don’t really want to visit my sister for the holidays.” I shrug. “Travis asked, so it sounded like the best choice. Being on your own for Christmas isn’t the best choice in my opinion.”
“Yeah, it’s not.”
“I mean,” I stammer, realizing too late that being alone is how Beau spends most of his time. “It’s fine if that’s what you like.”
“I’m not sure anyone likes it, it just is. Sometimes circumstances don’t include a big happy family.” He deals the cards. Since he won, I get to go first this time. Reacher stretches and moves his head to my lap. I stroke his ears as I study my cards. “You’re spoiling him rotten.”
“But look how happy he is.” Reacher sighs. I’m choosing to believe it’s a happy one. “I think you’re just jealous.”
“Probably,” he admits. “I can guarantee, though, if I put my head in your lap you’ll do more than rub my ears.”
My eyes feel like they’re about to pop out of my head. I’m sure the shock on my face is Oscar-worthy. Beau looks over at me and laughs. Is he just trying to knock me off my game, or is he making promises? It’s giving me whiplash. I toss a card on the discard pile keeping my head down. Reacher snorts and shakes his head.
“Sorry,” I tell him. I guess the death grip I had on his ear wasn’t working for him. So much for my ally in this. Beau chuckles again and throws a card. “It’s not going to work you know. You’re not going distract me from winning.”
“What? Me?” he says, acting offended. “Surely not.” What’s frustrating is, he wins anyway.
“Who was your first?” he asks.
“Wow, going straight for the jugular. How do you know there’s even a first?” I ask. His eyes fire for a second with something I can’t quite place. Lust? Jealousy? Hunger? “Let’s see. I was seventeen. It was prom night with Chase Hansen. Cliché, right?”
“Not cliché. Not very exciting either.” He shuffles the cards and deals them.
“Well, he was a senior, so I thought it was exciting at the time.”
“Was he your boyfriend.”
“For about two minutes. He was a nice guy though. Could have been worse.” I pick up my cards. Not too bad a hand. This time I can win. I can’t be the only one in this room sharing her darkest secrets. I need to even the score.
nine
BEAU
I knewthis was a bad idea when she suggested it. Not that I don’t want to know everything about her because I do. Every single detail. My life, however, is boring. She’s never going to look back once she gets to know me. I have nothing to hide, except maybe monotony.
