Page 26 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Yeah, up near Port Huron.”

She plays her card, places a chip on the two of spades, then another on the corner spot right next to it. Apparently, the confusion is written all over my face because she lets out a small laugh.

“Sorry. I forgot to tell you. The corners are free spaces. So when you play a card that is next to the corner, if you’re the first person, you also get the corner. Get it?”

“Ah. Okay then.” After she draws her card, I play mine. A six of diamonds. I place my chip, then also place one on the corner spot. “Like that?”

“Perfect.”

“So, when did you move away?” I ask.

“When I was just a kid.”

“Why did you move all the way to Texas?”

She drops her chip, and it bounces on the table before falling to the floor. She stares at the board for a second before reaching down under the table to grab the chip.

“I had to go live with my grandparents after my parents passed away,” she says while her face is hidden from view by the edge of the table.

Interesting. For someone who practices law, she still has a hard time concealing her emotions.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I lost my mom when I was young, too.”

“You did?” her head pops back up, and she places her chip down on the board, covering the five of clubs.

“Yep. When I was ten.”

“What happened to her?” she asks softly before taking another sip of her Butter Beer.

“Cancer. We caught it too late. So it’s just been my dad and me ever since.”

I lay my next chip on the Ace of Spades, blocking off one of her paths.

“I’m sorry. My grandma died five years ago from cancer, and my grandpa didn’t last two months without her. I moved up here not long after that. I couldn’t stand being in that big house all by myself, plus I wanted to come back to my home state.”

She lays a chip on the six of clubs, and I block her path with a seven of clubs.

“Did you always want to be a lawyer?” she asks as she lays a chip on the three of spades.

“Kind of have to when your father, cousin, uncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather all became lawyers. I think it might be genetic at this point…Or a curse.”

“Well, your future children will have to break that curse,” she says, laughing at her own joke, and I can’t help but think about our future.

Our children, Little Rabbit. They will be ours.

She gives me that adorable smirk, then glances down at the board. I blocked her path again by placing my chip on the four of spades.

“You know there’s a four of spades right next to where your chip is covering the king of clubs, right?”

“I do.”

“And yet you still played it on my side of the board?” she tilts her head at me, and a small smile tugs at the corner of her lips.

“What can I say, I like a challenge.”

“That’s not a challenge,” she huffs as she places her next chip on the four of spades next to my king.

“Ah, but you see, this is a game of strategy. I have to preemptively block your path to stop you from winning, even if it means not always going for the quickest win myself. And I was right.”