Page 160 of The Best Shot

46

“YOU REMIND ME OF HIM.”

HALE

Harry was already there when I arrived.

He always was lately. The facility said he asked about the park every morning now and got restless after lunch, wanting his jacket.

I crossed the grass, and sat across from him. “Afternoon, I’m Hale.”

He looked up from the board, assessed the stranger joining him for the afternoon, then nodded once, satisfied with whatever he found. “Harry.”

“Good to meet you.”

“You play white or black?”

“Whatever you’re not.”

He turned the board so the white pieces faced me, and we opened the way we always opened. Pawn to e4. Knight to f3. Bishop out early. A pattern so old it had worn grooves in me.

There was no predicting it, no pattern I’d found in six years of Tuesdays. Some days he arrived already somewhere far off, moving pieces without much interest, content just to sit in the afternoon air.

Other days he was fully here, eyes quick, two moves ahead before I’d settled onto the bench.

Today was one of those days. Sharp. Patient. Waiting until the board gave him something.

Problem was, I wasn’t.

I was back at the airport, watching Yasmine leave. It had still been dark, her luggage in the bed of the truck and her camera bag between her feet because she wouldn’t put it in the back.

She’d been quiet on the drive, but not tense like before. More settled than anything else, like the decision had already moved through her and come out the other side.

At the drop-off we moved her bags to the curb without ceremony. She was good at airports. Efficient. She’d checked her tags, rezipped her carry-on, and I’d wanted to say something, but I hadn’t known what.

Then she looked up at me. “Don’t look so sad, Hale. I’ll be back soon. It’s only six months.”

I’d started to answer.

She shook her head once, like she wasn’t finished. “I love you.”

Same tone she used for weather and flight gates. Certain. Factual.

I loved her too. I knew it then and I still didn’t say it.

“I’ll miss you,” she said.

Harry cleared his throat. “Your turn.”

I blinked down at the board. The position had changed. I made my move.

Harry considered it, then made his own. “You’ve got woman problems,” he said.

I huffed a breath. “Something like that.”

“Well?”

“My girl wanted me to go somewhere with her. Couldn’t do it.”