Page 83
I wanted to say something about Jack, but I swallowed it. Maybe tomorrow would be the day.
21
LUCI
December 21
Game Night at the Lodge
Snowstorm
Supper: Pizza
Ivy was more excited about game night than she was about her wedding. Not really, but it appeared to be close. We all met in the lobby in front of the big fireplace. Our favorite bride had chosen Pictionary and assigned partners. Grant and I were together again. At least I wouldn’t have to compete with him.
The other pairs were: Jack and Ivy, Rhett and Holly, Blake and Beck. No sighting of Knox and Madeleine. I was pretty sure I knew why but kept it to myself. My mom and Ivy’s parents had bowed out, saying they were tired and wanted an early night.
We started with Ivy explaining the rules as if money or love were at stake. Each team had one minute per card. No talking, letters, numbers, gestures, or sound effects. The rest of us weren’t allowed to call out guesses. Ivy had brought an easel, an enormous pad of paper, and enough black markers to supply a kindergarten class.
The staff had dragged chairs and sofas into a semicircle around the easel before we arrived and we now all took seats next to our partners. Beyond the windows, snow blew sideways, erasing everything past the porch. The fire snapped behind us, warm enough that I’d taken off my extra sweater and draped it over the back of my chair.
Rhett and Holly went first. He read his card, then drew a circle with two enormous wings coming out of it.
“Moth,” Holly said.
He added a smaller circle on top.
“Bug. Pregnant bug. Bat?” Holly asked.
Rhett stabbed the marker at the wings.
“Buffalo wearing a cape?”
Everyone started laughing. Rhett flapped his elbows.
Ivy rang a pair of Christmas bells she was using as a buzzer. “Illegal gesture. You’re out.”
“It’s a snow angel,” Rhett said, dropping his face into his hands. “How could you not get that? We were just doing them for real in the snow.”
Holly stared at the drawing. “Where was the snow? That might have helped.”
“Implied?” Rhett asked, sounding unsure.
“I love you to death but that looks like a flying potato,” Holly said.
“It’s supposed to be a human body,” Rhett said. “And I love you too.”
A beat, the two of them staring into each other’s eyes.
“Get a room,” Beck called out.
That broke the spell. They both smiled sheepishly.
“As a physician, I’m going to have to say you failed,” I said, laughing.
They earned no point.
“This game’s rigged,” Rhett said good-naturedly as he sat down next to Holly.
