Intelligent brown eyes held mine as a small hand pushed a black pawn into the e6 square.
I broke eye contact to move another pawn into g4. Chess could take a while, so I leaned back to wait on Sierra to make her move. My spine had no sooner touched the back of the rocker than Sierra gripped her queen and moved it on a diagonal to h4.
“Checkmate.”
Checkmate? She’d only had two turns. How could she have checkmate already? I leaned forward and studied the board, looking for ways to protect my king. Nope. No safe squares for the king to move to. I continued to scan the board. None of my pieces could move to block her queen from checking my king. No pieces to capture her queen either. My chin tilted, and I stared into Sierra’s smiling face, my jaw unhinging a little.
“Want to play again?” she asked.
I moved my two pawns back to their starting points. “How old are you again?”
Her smile widened. “I’m eight.”
“Someone should have warned you.” Jocelyn walked over with a mason jar of lemonade in her hand. The ice tinkling against the glass sounded like mocking laughter. She tweaked Sierra’s pony tail. “We all stopped playing her ages ago. She never lets us win.”
“It usually takes longer than two moves though.”
Ouch. “Maybe we should try something more my speed then. Up for a round of Old Maid?”
The hem of Jocelyn’s dress skimmed her ankles. “Miriam said the food was ready.”
“Ah.” I held my hand out to Sierra to shake. Not a hint of surprise or pleasure at being treated like a grown up entered her expression as she slid her half-sized palm into mine. A little woman in a young girl’s body.
She squeezed my hand in an impressive shake, meeting my gaze with a serious look. “Good game.” Her severe mien cracked to reveal a small incline at the borders of her lips.
I followed the two back to the large deck. Nate had already started a fire in the sunken pit at the end, and a few of the Whalen group retreaters sat around the flames, sturdy paper plates laden with burgers, baked beans, and potato salad resting on their laps.
“Go wash up, Sierra.” Miss Nicole gave her a little nudge toward the door, a plate in her other hand. She looked up at me. Blinked.
The pressure to say something pushed against my esophagus. I cleared my throat. “Good kid.”
Tightness seeped from around her mouth. “I think so.”
I nodded once. “Bright.”
Her gaze shifted off-center to my left. A honeysuckle scent filled my nostrils, scattering any remaining intelligent thoughts.
“How many moves?” Miss Nicole asked.
Slim fingers curled lightly around my tricep, and I froze.
“Two. She’s gotten better, hasn’t she?”
Miss Nicole rolled her eyes. “YouTube videos.”
“Don’t knock YouTube. It’s how I learned how to ride a horse, remember?”
My body shifted at an angle, capturing Jocelyn’s fingers between my arm and ribcage and bringing her a hair’s breadth nearer. Unintentional, but my abysmal chess game proved I didn’t think steps ahead. But not even her close proximity could scatter my surprise. “How can you learn to ride a horse on YouTube?”
Her delicate chin rose half an inch. “You can learn anything on the internet.”
“Did the video tell you to keep your eyes shut the whole time?”
Miss Nicole gasped. “You didn’t.”
Jocelyn averted her gaze. “Maybe.”
The screen door banged shut and Sierra reappeared. Nicole handed her the plate she’d been holding. Her nose scrunched as she surveyed the piles of food then stepped past and took a seat on the edge of the deck. Scout walked over and sat beside her. Sierra looked around to make sure no one watched before she offered the dog half her burger.
