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“The woman reaching for her second brownie.”
“Fair enough. What do you think?”
I smile at her. “I think… I’m in.”
A happy feeling wells up inside me.
The Friday Night Checkers Club is back.
“So, what’s first on the agenda?” she asks me, just like she did all those years ago.
“We need checkerboards. I have one at home. So we need?—”
“Ten more,” she says, snapping and pointing at me. “Easy. I’ll grab them tomorrow. What else?”
“We could put up a post on social media to invite people. There’s a Stillwell Neighbors group. And maybe design some physical flyers to hang up around town, too.”
“Done and done. Your profession made you adept at handing out health advice, and mine makes me pretty handy with a computer. I can handle a little graphic design.”
“You can email or text the flyer design to me, and I’ll print it out at work and make photocopies.”
“Great. I’ll clear the use of the diner with Grandma tomorrow. I’m sure she’ll say yes. Hey, maybe we could even have our first get-together soon. Like next Friday.”
“Sure.”
I’m not on call for the next couple weekends, so I’ll be free. I don’t have to check a calendar to know that.
“Sure?” she repeats, her eyes with that mischievous glitter again. “Is that all? I think this situation deserves a little more formality than that.”
A memory of the first night we met surfaces in me—more in my heart than in my mind. It comes up as a good feeling, warm and comforting and joyful.
I feel incredibly grateful as I extend my hand across the table.
Maddison grips my hand and pumps it up and down twice. Our eyes lock, and it no longer matters to me that my life is not what I hoped it’d be at thirty-one.
I’m here in this kitchen with my friend, and we’re going to start our club back up.
Hope swells in my chest.
“Maddison Bradshaw, I would be honored to reinstate the Friday Night Checkers Club next Friday, with you as co-leader.”
“Thank you, Nicholas Landry. The feeling is mutual. With any luck, we’ll get a nice turnout.”
“There’s a saying about that, Miss Club President.”
“And it is?”
“Only time will tell.”
“Ah-ha. A cliché that can apply in so many areas of life.Across the board, you might say—pardon the pun.”
I chuckle. “I’ll allow it.”
“I guess if we’re starting the club back up, I better get used to your roguish use of lawyer-speak.”
“And I better brush up on the rules of checkers.”
“You know every rule by heart, and you know it.”
