Page 63 of No Headlines Please

Lofty in the game.

Not so lofty in real life, where six hundred bucks might get you a broom closet if the landlord was feeling generous.

Delaney gestured toward the board. "Yeah, but on your last turn, you landed on Park Place."

"So?"

"So, like two minutes ago, you had to pay me four-fifty."

The game had spread across the coffee table in colorful chaos – with fake money, scattered deeds, and enough tiny plastic houses to form a questionable suburban development.

Delaney was curled up on the floor beside the table with one foot tucked beneath her, frowning at the board like bankrupting me wasn't such a great plan.

But I was far from destitute. I still had plenty of money left, and we were just getting started.

I asked, "Don't you want to win?"

"Well…sure. Eventually. But where's the sport in destroying you right away?"

Already, we'd been playing for over an hour, circling the board and gathering up properties in hopes of completing matching sets so we could add houses and hotels.

So far, Delaney had locked down Boardwalk and Park Place along with a second monopoly in red. As for myself, I had the full set of orange plus that low-rent stretch of light blue – the slums as Delaney had called them.

Slums or not, I'd done my own share of house-buying, too. And now, as I forked over six hundred dollars in fake money, I told her, "So land on mine again. That'll even things out."

"I can't do it on purpose," she laughed as she studied the board. "And I'm not sure I'd want to."

I couldn't resist teasing her. "Oh, so I can pay you, but you don't want to pay me."

She looked up, meeting my gaze. "Can I confess something weird?"

"Go ahead."

"I don't even know why I play this. I hate to lose. And I hate to win. So, why do I torture myself?"

"It can't be all torture," I said. "You're still smiling."

She snickered. "Yeah…well, so are you."

She was right. In fact, I'd smiled more today than I had in weeks. "If you think I'm smiling now, just wait 'til I've got all your money."

"Hah! Dream on, sucker!" As she said it, she reached for the two dice and tossed them lightly onto the board, rolling a nine and moving her game piece to a railroad she already owned.

She looked up with a smile. "See? No rent for you."

The roll hadn't gone my way, but I still smiled back. I couldn't help it. As a kid, I'd played the game only a handful of times, but I couldn't recall it ever being this much fun.

And it continued to be fun – even when Delaney added a hotel to Boardwalk and nearly cleaned me out in a single turn.

Still, I wasn't too worried. All things considered, the game was evenly matched. I had more hotels, but Delaney had better ones, which made every trip around the board a nail-biter for both of us.

The stakes were technically zero, with nothing but bragging rights on the line. This should've made the nail-biting ridiculous. After all, I'd handled bigger deals in real life with less adrenaline than this.

It didn't matter. I was too caught up in the game.

When Delaney landed on New York Avenue and had to pay me a thousand bucks, it felt stupidly good to relax.

But then Delaney asked, "So how long have you been living here?"