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I opened the door and walked into the registration house. Unlike every other time I’d walked in, Hanna didn’t just pop up at the front desk.
When I looked to my left, I learned precisely why that was. Hanna was ready to go. She had set up the table with a stack of board games and snacks.
“Hey, Ellery,” she greeted me.
“Hi, Hanna. How’s it going?” I returned, moving in her direction.
“Great. I’m so excited you could make it tonight,” she said. “We don’t have anyone else joining us that I’m aware of, so it’ll just be you and me. I hope that’s okay.”
I didn’t need a crowd of people.
In fact, the fewer people I was around, the better.
“That’s completely fine. What are we playing?” I asked.
As I sat down in a chair at the table with her, she answered, “It doesn’t matter to me. I pulled out a bunch of games that I’d be more than happy to play, so if there’s something that looks fun to you, just say the word.”
Trivial pursuit. Clue. Scrabble. And the classic, Connect Four.
“I haven’t played any of these games in years,” I declared. “I’d play any one of them, honestly.”
“How about Scrabble?” she suggested.
“That works for me.”
For the next few minutes, Hanna and I got the game set up. “Help yourself to any of the snacks,” she urged.
“I don’t mind if I do,” I told her as I reached out and grabbed a chip. As I dunked it into some salsa, I said, “Thanks. It’s been a bit since I’ve treated myself to some junk food.”
Hanna giggled and grabbed herself a handful of chips. “Junk food is always at the ready with me.”
“Okay, so should I go first?” I asked.
Looking down at the letters on her rack, she muttered, “If you’ve got something, then yes, because I don’t have anything here.”
I picked up the tiles, placed my six-letter word on the board, and asked, “Who’s keeping track of score?”
“I will. Just let me know how many points you’ve got there,” she answered.
After giving her my total, I reached for the bag to grab more letter tiles and urged, “Your turn.”
“Oh, I’ve got something now,” she declared, picking up her tiles.
After she placed them on the board and tallied her score, I took some time to consider a word. I finally came up with one, put on the board, and gave her my score.
While she studied the letters on the board and on her rack, Hanna finally asked, “So, is it okay if I ask you a personal question?”
I wasn’t exactly sure how much information I was willing to share with her, but I didn’t think we could spend our entire night not having any conversation. Plus, I was hoping to make a friend in Hanna, so I decided it was best to entertain her question. If it got too personal, I could always say so.
“Sure.”
“Well, I guess I was just wondering how you wound up here in my tiny home community,” she started. “Are you here temporarily on business, or did you just move to the area?”
“I actually just moved to the area,” I shared. “I’m originally from a town in West Virginia, about three hours away from here.”
“Oh, wow. That’s cool. What made you come to Steel Ridge?” she asked.
I didn’t want to lie. I really didn’t. But I also didn’t want to get into all of the specifics of why I moved here. Hanna might then decide I was crazy and not even want to be my friend anymore.
