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“Would you like another glass of wine?” she asked, reaching for the bottle on the table beside her glass.Okay, so maybe he couldn’t take all the credit, he thought, shaking his head with a smile. “I have to drive in a little while. Considering those winding roads, I’d better stick to coffee now.”
She slapped her forehead lightly. “Of course. I wasn’t even thinking. Let me refill your coffee cup.”
“Thanks.”
She poured herself another glass of white wine. “Whose turn is it?”
“Yours.” He tapped the Scrabble board. “I played ‘quid.’ For a tidy number of points, I might add, considering that the Q is on a triple-letter square.”
She studied his play and then her tiles. A smile tipped up her lips, and then she set several tiles on the board with a flourish. “Vista,” she said rather gloatingly. “With, you will note, the S in front of your ‘quid,’ turning it into ‘squid.’ And may I also direct your attention to the triple-word square beneath the V.”
He couldn’t help laughing at her obvious delight in besting him. As competitive as he was, he didn’t mind losing when Natalie seemed to be having such a nice time winning. Whether because of the wine or the game or—he wanted to believe—the company, she was smiling more than he’d ever seen her, and the lighthearted mood looked good on her.
“It’s been years since I played board games,” she said, taking another sip of the wine. “I’d almost forgotten how much fun they can be.”
He picked up his coffee mug. “Your friends back in Nashville don’t get together to play games?”
Her smile dimmed a few watts. “Not so much. I’ve been hanging around with a bunch of workaholics for the past few years, I guess. Their idea of fun is a cocktail party with plenty of networking opportunities.”
So she’d been corporate. Didn’t surprise him. He still couldn’t decide if she’d burned out or lost her job, but something made him suspect the latter. Laying out tiles to spell “maid,” the longest word he could manage at the time, he said casually, “Sounds to me like you needed a vacation.”
“I suppose I did.” She took a few moments to study her tile rack, then played on his M.
“Not much fun, though, if you’re spending it all here in this cabin.”
She shrugged. “I needed the rest.”
“Maybe you’d like to do something a little different this week? Maybe a hike or something? I’ve been told there are some pretty nice trails around here.”
“I haven’t been hiking in a long time, either. But maybe I will go this week.”
“You know, this is my first visit to this area. I’d like to go with you on a hik
e, if you don’t mind.”
She didn’t even hesitate this time before she picked up her wine glass again and nodded. “Sure. Why not? I could use the diversion.”
He wasn’t sure how he felt about being used as a diversion—but then again, wasn’t that what he was looking for, as well? Something to think about other than returning home and taking up his life where he’d left off—a prospect that left him feeling empty and inexplicably anxious?
She won the game, by less than twenty points. “That makes you the champ tonight,” he said. “Two games to one.”
“It was close,” she replied, beginning to gather the game pieces. “We’re pretty evenly matched.”
He thought about those words for a moment, but decided not to comment on them. Instead, he took another sip of coffee while Natalie closed the Scrabble game box.
Her gaze met his across the table between them and he was struck by something he saw in her eyes. His well-developed intuition told him that though she had laughed and played for a couple of hours, something was still eating at her. Something an evening of games—and half a bottle of wine—couldn’t entirely banish.
He wondered just how much of a “diversion” she was looking for with him.
She drained the wine from her glass, and looked for a moment as if she were tempted to refill it again. But then she pushed her glass away and replaced the stopper in the wine bottle. “Can I get you some more coffee?”
“Actually, it’s getting late. I guess I’d better be going.”
He saw the expression in her eyes before she lowered her lids, but he couldn’t interpret what he had seen. Was she reluctant for him to leave? If so, was it because she really wanted him to stay—or because she didn’t want to be alone?
She followed him through the living room. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I suppose.”
“Yeah. Thanks for dinner. And the games.”
