16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
“ Y ou came!” Jenn said as she opened the door, immediately leaning in for a hug as soon as I stepped into the foyer of the townhouse.
“Of course,” I said, taking off my coat. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“I know, I know, I’m the flake, not you,” Jenn said as she picked up a stray toy from the floor.
“So where are the kiddos tonight?” I looked around at the relatively tidy home that was usually wall-to-wall toys and other kid items.
“Not here!” Jenn said with a bright smile. “They’re at Grandpa’s house. I’m free . It’s party time! Look, I even did my hair.”
“You look gorgeous. For board game night—you’re such a hard partier, Jenn,” I smirked.
“Well, I do have to cater to my guests,” Jenn retorted.
“No arguments here,” I said. “A board game night is as wild as this old lady gets.” I tried not to think about last night, which I’d spent much of today trying to forget through naps and Netflix.
“Hey, until you’ve had kids, you don’t get to feel like an old lady. And yes, I said kids plural. It’s the second one that really ruins your figure. Exhibit A: pancakes, formerly known as breasts.” Jenn pointed to her chest and grimaced.
“Oh please, you look amazing as always. Even more gorgeous than usual, somehow. And for tonight, you’re free!” I followed Jenn to the kitchen. “I know you, though. By 7 o’clock, you’ll be missing the kiddos like crazy.”
“Oh, for sure,” Jenn said with a laugh. “So you’d better enjoy this carefree version of me while it lasts.”
“Hi, Kieran,” I said as we entered the kitchen and encountered Jenn’s husband. I nearly tripped over my own feet when I saw who Kieran was talking to. “Jack! I … I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Hello to you too,” he said with an easy laugh. “Do I ever miss a board game night?”
“Why wouldn’t he be here?” Jenn asked, raising an eyebrow.
I was silent for a long moment, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “No, but lately you’re so busy …”
Just then, Jenn paused in the pouring of drinks, her eyebrows raised as she looked at Jack and me. “Is something going on? You two seem weird. What’s happening? You must tell. I need my gossip.” When we didn’t respond right away, she turned pleading eyes to us. “Kieran will tell you. I need adult talk. Please .”
Jack chuckled as Kieran nodded knowingly. “We’ll do our best to meet your dire need, Jenn. Won’t we, Vivi?”
I fought to conceal the tension I felt when facing Jack again after the uncomfortable ending to our run yesterday. Something about the incident still felt unresolved or awkward, a feeling I was not accustomed to experiencing around my best friend. Still, this wasn’t the time or the place to air our problems—if indeed there was any such place, as I didn’t feel like examining my lingering feelings of discontent in any setting. I took a breath and forced a smile. “You have a wild imagination, Jenn. So, what’s on the snack menu tonight? Tell me you made my favorite garlic rolls.”
Jenn narrowed her eyes slightly, knowing me well enough to discern I was hiding something. She dropped the subject while strolling to the oven to check on the snack fare. “How could I not? The garlic rolls guarantee that you’ll stay at least two hours.”
“If you have enough of them,” I teased. “And beer. Don’t forget beer.”
Kieran nodded as he raised his mug. “Never forget beer. We may all be well beyond our partying days, but what’s a board game night without beer?”
“I’ll take this over poker games with whiskey any day,” Jenn said, and we all groaned.
“You had to remind us, didn’t you?” I said with an exaggerated shudder. “I can’t believe I used to drink that stuff. More like guzzle. How did we not all become raging alcoholics?”
“Because you had me,” Jack said, nudging me gently with his arm.
Stiffening, I looked away and remained silent, but Jenn couldn’t let his claim go unanswered. “Oh, Jack, you’d like us all to forget that we did convince you to take a shot once in a while. Or shots, plural.”
Kieran grinned and raised his glass. “Need I remind you—”
Jack held up his hands with a sheepish smile. “No, no reminder necessary. I suppose I might have succumbed once or twice.” His smile faded when he looked at me.
I was frowning and looking at my watch. “Well, what are we playing tonight? I brought Island of Plague,” I said quickly, eager to avoid further awkward chitchat. The sooner we started playing, the sooner it would end and the sooner I could go home. As much as I loved games, I loved self-preservation in the comfort of my own home even more.
“Oh, did you finally buy the Legacy version?” Kieran asked, his eyes wide. For a university athletic director who’d played every sport in high school and college, Jenn’s husband was also surprisingly fond of intense strategy or roleplay games, better known as nerd games.
“No.” I looked pointedly at Kieran and Jenn. “That would require regular, frequent play, and I don’t see you busy parents often enough for that.” Legacy games were my favorite, but such long-running, episodic, continuous games took commitment and time, both of which were hard to come by among my friends these days.
Jenn frowned, but then her face lit up. “Let’s play another kind of game tonight. Let’s pretend we’re not old and busy and overworked. Pretend we’re …”
“Board game geeks in our early twenties? The glory days?” her husband asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“Sounds like a perfect night to me,” Jack said, looking sideways at me. “Let’s go set up, Vivi?”
An hour later, I was notably more relaxed. It might have been the beer or the pure enjoyment of playing a game with my closest friends, always one of my favorite pastimes. I even started to warm up to Jack again, feeling like my old self, and he was his normal easygoing self.
Winning the first game certainly helped my mood. Since the nature of the game was to work together rather than against other players, the good vibes were contagious, especially when the much-anticipated garlic rolls were brought in on an oversized tray.
As we set up our next game, an old favorite, Jenn turned to me. “So, anything new with, uh, Gary?”
Ah, crap.
I bit my lip, chiding myself silently for not being better prepared for this. “Mmm, I don’t know,” I said as casually as I could.
Jack coughed and said quietly, “I think she means Gregory.”
Jenn’s lips curved into a wide smile. “Gregory, right! So I need the juicy details. Spill.” When I said nothing and pretended to be too focused on game setup, Jenn resorted to pleading. “Oh, come on. You know I need my romance fix, Viv—an old married lady with two kids can use some of that, even if it’s someone else’s romance.”
I looked at Kieran and then back to Jenn. “Old? Need I remind you, we’re the same age. And you guys are … well, you two are still as in love as anyone I’ve ever seen. Marriage and children haven’t changed that a bit.”
Jenn fought a grin, her baby blue eyes twinkling as they landed on Kieran. “OK, maybe you’re a little bit right. I’m still enamored with the jock, and somehow he’s still into me—whatever the opposite of a jock is. But don’t change the subject. We need you to spill already, Viv.”
I looked around the room. How could I shut down this conversation without arousing suspicion?
Before I could respond, Jack spoke up, his tone light. “I think she doesn’t want to talk about it.”
I turned to him, feeling oddly annoyed at his well-intentioned intervention.
He’s clearly trying to help, and I should be grateful, but …
Jenn eyed the two of us with suspicion. “But it’s us . You always want to spill. What’s going on?”
This time Jack didn’t speak on my behalf, and I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or irritated. I settled on irritated. “Jack’s right,” I said in a clipped tone. “I just don’t feel like oversharing, for once.”
After an awkward silence, a rare thing among us, Jenn rose from her seat and declared that everyone needed more beer. Kieran tried unsuccessfully to fill the silence, and when Jenn returned, she tapped me on the shoulder.
When I looked up, Jenn said, “Let’s switch chairs. It’s easier to play Lost Villa when we’re sitting next to our partners.”
I suppressed a groan. Usually when we played partner games with just the four of us, Jack and I paired up against Jenn and Kieran. But I couldn’t demand a different partner and thus make another scene that would only invite unwanted questioning. I clenched my teeth and rose from my chair, moving to Jenn’s vacant seat next to Jack and wishing I could go home instead.
When I glanced at Jack, he was eyeing me expectantly. I forced a smile and picked up our game pieces and cards.
He leaned close to me, his breath warm on my cheek as he whispered, “Come on, Vivi, relax. This is one of your favorite games. I won’t bite.”
How was I supposed to respond to that? I offered what I hoped passed for a cheerful smile and tried to put a little space between us in a non-obvious way.
As the game progressed, it became harder to enjoy myself, since I had to converse frequently with Jack. Whenever I glanced at him, he looked completely at ease, his usual self, of course. That should have been calming to me—his steadiness usually was—but tonight it just irked me.
It irked me even more that I couldn’t explain why.
And it irked me that it irked me.
Apparently I was not doing a very good job concealing my unease. Halfway through the game, Jenn lured me into the kitchen to help with the dessert tray.
After silently walking to the kitchen, I didn’t mince words as Jenn turned to open the refrigerator. “That is the most cliche excuse ever, you know, not to mention incredibly obvious.”
“What?”
“Pretending to need help in the kitchen.”
Jenn set the tray down on the kitchen counter and put her hands on her hips. “OK, Viv, what gives? I get that you’re cranky, probably love life problems, and I can understand that. Your Greg sounds like an enigma, to put it mildly. But you seem especially cranky toward Jack —hostile, even—while he seems mostly normal. I can’t figure it out.”
I stared at the floor and sighed, realizing Jenn wasn’t going to let me escape this time.
“Are you guys … in some kind of best friend fight?” Jenn asked, her tone softening.
“Oh gosh, at our age, that sounds so silly.” When Jenn merely eyed me patiently, I said, “I guess, something like that. I think … I think we both just want space.”
“Space?” Jenn raised an eyebrow. “From each other? Why?”
“It’s hard to explain. It’s just … I don’t know what his deal is because he won’t tell me anything. He’s always been like that. Something is going on with him, but I don’t know what. It’s fine though, really.”
Jenn narrowed her eyes. “It doesn’t seem fine. I know you. You aren’t fine.” When I didn’t respond, Jenn added, “But he seems pretty normal to me, and if you weren’t being weird, I wouldn’t have even guessed that anything was wrong on his end.”
I crossed my arms. “Of course he acts normal. He’s Jack.” After a long sigh, my hands flew up. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing. To be honest, I’m dealing with my own stuff, and I just haven’t felt like talking about it. Not to him, not to anyone. It’s not about Jack at all.”
Studying me intently, Jenn was silent for a long moment before she raised her palms in surrender. “OK. You can have your space. For now. You still need to tell me what happened with the date—don’t think I’ve forgotten.” She leaned in and pulled me into a hug. “But if you want to talk, just you and me, just say the word. I know, I know, I’m busy with the family and I cancel all the time. But I will seriously move mountains to make time if you really need me. You know that, right?”
And this was why she was my oldest friend. Also the most wonderful. I nodded and thanked her quietly as we turned to head back to the game room.
When we returned, the men looked up with friendly smiles, each with a beer in hand. “Did you have to make the dessert from scratch, honey?” Kieran teased, throwing his arm around Jenn as she sat close to him.
“You know I’m allergic to honey , honey,” she replied, giggling as she turned to kiss him.
Jack cleared his throat. “Is this apple crisp? Smells delicious.”
After Jenn explained that they were actually caramel apple crumble bars, Kieran added, “Once you try these, you’ll never want boring old apple pie or apple crisp again. These are amazing. Thanks, internet cookbook.”
Biting into the sweet, warm, and crumbly treat, I had to agree. After savoring my first few bites, throwing back another beer, and quietly observing the conversation around me, I decided to stop moping and feeling resentful toward Jack.
Gregory kissed me! If that isn’t a reason to stop moping and to be deliriously happy, then what is?
Forcing myself to think about the man who’d made me feel wanted, if only for a minute, instead of the man here whom I couldn’t confide in—couldn’t reach —I decided to throw my energy into one of my favorite games, even giving Jack a hesitant smile as I picked up the cards.
After another round, he scooted closer to me on the couch. “I don’t know how Jenn worked her magic this time, but whatever she did, I’m glad. You seem like you’re enjoying yourself now.”
I looked into his warm blue eyes and grinned. “Maybe I am.”
Jack didn’t need to know that I was thinking about Mr. Darcy. I shivered, wondering why I’ve spent this whole day moping instead of daydreaming about Gregory. Sure, he acted weird afterward, but he was probably embarrassed about losing control, which is obviously a very precious thing to him. The fact that I made him lose control, well, that had to mean something.
I covered my mouth to hide a laugh, reflecting that my sudden mood change probably had my friends thinking I was crazy. I stole a glance at Jack and then at the others.
Let them think I’m crazy. Maybe I am. But it’s Mr. Darcy! What living, breathing, straight woman wouldn’t lose her sense over him?