AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I suppose.” Her smile wavered, too.
Stone grabbed her hand. “Come on. Let’s play.” He opened the box, read the instructions out loud, then spread the mat. “You ready?”
She eyed the mat then met his gaze. “Sure. Why not?”
He chuckled. “I’m going to remind you later that you were skeptical of my idea.”
“You do that.”
Stone took out his phone, opened the game app, and put in the settings. Then, he took off his shoes and stretched his arms over his head, then touched his toes.
“Should I be worried?”
He glanced at her.
“You look like you’re preparing for a major competition.”
“Should I not be worried? Are you a Twister loser?”
“I’ve no idea,” she admitted. “I haven’t played since elementary school while at a slumber party.”
“Did you win or lose that night?”
Her lips curved upwards. “I won.”
“See, I need to be warming up.”
Carly laughed and the happy sound vibrated all the way through Stone, leaving him a little wobbly.
“Fine,” she agreed, doing some quick stretches of her own. “Prepare to be out-twisted.”
He grinned, then tapped the start button on his phone’s touch screen. A computerized voice began giving them random instructions.
“Right foot red.”
“Right hand yellow.”
“Left hand yellow,” the voice continued. “Right foot green.”
“Hey, that was my spot,” Carly accused when Stone purposely chose the spot easiest for Carly to use.
“I didn’t see your name there,” he teased.
She playfully narrowed her eyes at him. “You know this means war, right?”
He laughed. “Twister war?”
She nodded, placing her left foot on a different green circle at the phone app’s bidding.
“Bring it on,” he encouraged, purposely stretching beneath her arched body to put his foot on an open green spot on her opposite side.
Laughing and bumping into each other, they continued to play, intentionally tangling with each other as much as possible.
“I’d forgotten how much fun this game was,” Stone mused close to her ear, their bodies twisted around each other’s to keep their hands and feet on the appropriate colored circles.
“Oh? Has it been a while since you’ve played?” Carly stretched to put her left hand on a yellow circle, very aware of how her arm brushed against Stone’s arm.
“Last time I played was at a college party.” He’d not thought of that in years, not until earlier that day while at work, trying to figure out how he could get Carly to relax, to laugh, have fun without their leaving her house.
“Were you much of a partier in college?” she asked as they bumped against each other to put their right feet on different blue circles.
“I partied my share, but was never a diehard partier if that’s what you’re asking.” He’d always felt he had a good balance of fun and hard work in his life. Apparently, Stephanie hadn’t thought so. “What about you? Were you a partier in college or were you taking care of your mom then, too?”
Carly put her right foot on the called-out green circle, trying to focus on their conversation and not how her body rubbed against Stone’s.
“I had a great high-school experience. Most of my college days were good, too. Mom didn’t get so ill until my senior year. Even then, she didn’t require around-the-clock care, but just had reached the point she could no longer work and was in a financial mess. I moved home to help with expenses and drove back and forth to university.”
Carly and Stone both shifted to put their left feet on yellow circles.
“That couldn’t have been easy, working, going to nursing school, and taking care of your mother.”
“It wasn’t bad.” She truly sounded as if it hadn’t been. “I loved my mother very much and wanted to take care of her. I only wish I could do more to help her.”
He stared at her in amazement. “Surely you realize how much you’re doing compared to what most kids do?”
“Most kids aren’t trained nurses. I am. Besides, it’s not anything that she wouldn’t do for me.”
“What are you going to do when she reaches the point you can’t take care of her here?”
Carly shrugged. “I don’t know. I try not to think about that, to just focus on taking care of her a day at a time the best I can.”
His heart ached for her, for what she’d been through, what she was going through, what she would go through as her mother’s condition worsened.
“You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met, Carly Evans.”
