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I wait for her to bring up Josh but then recall that her dad doesn’t know about him yet. The knowing smile that spreads across my face is just enough for her to see before I come in here after leaving the table. From what I heard Lucy and her dad arguing over earlier, it sounds like she wants to go home for good, which is fine by me.
Six months of her day in and day out and the thanks she gives me is the “as if you’d have a chance anyway” look? I love my bestie with all my heart, but part of what makes our friendship so strong is that it can weather moments like tonight when I wish she were on a cargo ship to Fiji instead of in our house.
What if Bowdie is interested in me? Could our friendship stand that test? Not to mention my dad…
By the time I splash some cold water, practically feeling like it’s steaming off my flushed face before rejoining everybody, I still don’t know how I will get through the rest of a “wholesome” evening with family friends. My mind wants to go places far from wholesome, and there’s only one man I want to join me there.
Lucy has the dishwasher stacked, and my dad’s already warning Bowdie he’s about to get his ass kicked playing some board game that isn’t his usual highly competitive, real estate-based one. It’s some game where you have a card saying who you are stuck on your head and have to ask questions to see if you can guess who you’re supposed to be. Great. A “worse than charades” type deal that will involve lots of my dad carrying on and all of us play-acting and pretending, precisely what I don’t feel like doing anymore.
Bowdie asks if I feel better as soon as he spots me, and although I nod before he’s even finished, I can tell he isn’t trying so hard to ignore me like he was earlier today. I feel embarrassed again, feeling childish for getting upset when he wasn’t looking at me every five seconds, but I like it. I love it whenever he looks at me, even if it’s only for a moment.
With all that “accidental” leg touching over dinner, I get brave enough to let him watch me as I sit next to my dad, who yanks me down next to him, instantly making Bowdie look deflated and annoyed. I feel the loss too, but it would look weird if I was suddenly glued to the man in front of my dad, even though that’s the only thing I want.
I don’t care if I’m gonna look like a fool. I promise that tonight, I’ll find out if Bowdie is interested in me in that way or if I’m only imagining it. All I need now is a way to do that.
Dad lectures us on the rules of the game. Each of us has to write a person’s name or place on a card. The cards get shuffled, and then we get handed a card, which we stick to our heads without looking at it. I know, riveting night in, right?
When I see Bowdie with his name on the card he sticks to his forehead, I know I might have a way of finding out how interested he may be in this curvy girl half his age who happens to be his best friend’s daughter. My mind’s blank when dad appoints me first to go first, urging me to ask a question about who I am in the game.
Blundering my way through the first round, Dad and Lucy seem to forget about anything awkward over dinner and have a secret passion for this game.
“Am I a place?” Dad asks, all of us giving a resounding “no” before he gets to ask for two more clues.
When it’s Bowdie’s turn, I feel my stomach tighten. My mind suddenly floods with the million things I’d love to know about him, but I have only one real question. I doubt he’d offer that one up as a clue. He does pretty well at this game. Better than I do. Maybe he and Lucy played it more than we did growing up.
“Am I a man?” he asks.
“Yes!” we all say.
“Am I famous?” Hmm, kinda, but not in the game.
“Do I have a romantic interest?” is his third question, which sets my heart pounding. It makes Lucy and my dad wince a little as if bringing up anything to do with his first wife, and the fact he’s never been with anyone since could be a hurtful thing to say.
They both go quiet, and Bowdie looks at me quizzically. His mouth curls into a half-smile as he asks me directly, “Do I? Is there someone special in my life?”
It’s the closest I can get to finding out, so I seize my chance.
“Umm, you might. If you do have someone special, you’re kinda quiet about it.” I volunteer, drawing a burst of applause from my dad and Lucy.
“Good reply, Beth!” Dad notes aloud, taking another swig from his beer and looking like he’s enjoying this game a little too much.
“Am I a doctor?” Bowdie asks for his last clue question, each of us getting to ask another if we get one right. When we answer “yes,” his face peels into a wide smile. Keeping his eyes on mine, making me feel like his smile is all for me, he asks me, “Am I Dr. Bowdie Bigg?”
The game is over. My dad groans, annoyed he didn’t get to guess who or what he was first. And me? I got all the info I needed. Sealed with a smile, I know who I’m gonna see in my dreams tonight.
It’s late by the time my dad works us through another three board games, and he’s the only one not yawning. It’s a big deal for him to have a day off with Bowdie over, so we all try to humor him, but once it’s past one in the morning, Lucy winds things up again. Dad’s a little unsteady on his feet and commenting he has work in the morning. He reluctantly agrees that tonight has been “the best night ever.”
It’s clear that Bowdie’s going home now. Lucy is adamant that she’s going with him, taking me aside as my dad and her shoot the breeze by the front door, saying their farewells.
“Luce, you never told me what’s going on,” I urge her in a whisper. “I get it you wanna go home, but if there’s something else bugging you…” I start to say. She crimps her mouth shut, physically showing me that whatever it is, it’s her business and not something she’s willing to share with her bestie.
That, mixed with the fact Bowdie’s leaving, is enough to make me feel a mixed bag of emotions as I join my dad to wave goodbye to them both in the driveway. Bowdie’s rental car gleaming in the driveway makes me wonder why he hurried to get home. Maybe he does have a romantic interest, and perhaps it isn’t you, Beth, but my heart swells with a thrill in my chest when Bowdie moves over to me as dad helps Lucy with some of her things into the trunk.
“There is someone, Beth, and I think you know who it is,” he rasps, leaning down, the words like honey in my ear and sending a flush of heat straight to the one place that swells every time I think of the man.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to pick up the rest of Lucy’s things,” he announces casually, ensuring my dad hears. I already feel my knees trembling.
“Beth’ll be home. Won’t you, sweetie?” Dad drawls, giving me a goofy but pleading smile.
