Chapter Six #2
“I am,” Savannah said. And she was. A two-thousand-piece puzzle of the Amalfi Coast sat fully assembled on her dining table back home, complete with a border of identical bright yellow sunflowers.
“But only if I can see, and right now I can’t see a thing,” she admitted, since it was bound to come out sooner or later.
There was no way she could fake her way out of the puzzle, especially not when every second counted.
“What do you mean you can’t see?” Amy asked, and Savannah heard her pause, heard the scraping of her fingers against the sand end abruptly. “Like nothing?”
“I’m night-blind,” Savannah said, hoping the cameras were pointed elsewhere.
The last thing she needed was for Abi or Marjorie to invite her to an evening doubles match.
They were exactly the sort to exploit a weakness, and with the main court’s floodlights broken since Barack Obama took office, Savannah would be flat on her ass in under a minute.
“Congenital stationary night blindness. It’s nonprogressive.
I’ve had it since I was a baby and inherited it from my dad. ”
Amy didn’t say anything at all. The silence was not only deeply annoying, considering Savannah had just shared one of her deepest secrets, but it also made her feel like a fragile, wounded sparrow.
Savannah Rigsby was no porcelain doll. She was just a little night-blind.
She was about to take it all back with a quick, “Ha. Ha. I’m just joking,” when Amy let out a kind of breathless huff that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed laugh. “And here I thought you were perfect.”
“Perfect?” Savannah frowned. What a weird thing to say.
Amy laughed out loud this time, then continued digging. “Come on, we need to win this challenge, Kiwi. Keep digging.”
Kiwi?
As if Amy could read Savannah’s mind, she quickly added, “Kiwis are nocturnal birds from New Zealand, which is hilarious because they’re basically blind in the dark. They have to survive entirely on their sense of smell and touch. Sound familiar?”
“How do you even know that?” Savannah asked, ignoring the well-placed jab. If Savannah weren’t in such a fragile position, she would’ve allowed herself to reevaluate her opinion of Amy. But what would that opinion be? Savannah was just about to think it through when Amy laughed out loud again.
“When you write books, you Google a lot of weird facts. My search history is unhinged. If the FBI ever subpoenaed my laptop, I’d be in a federal holding cell within an hour.”
This time Savannah couldn’t help it. She smiled.
But that smile turned to a scowl when Naomi’s voice shot through the air like a bullet. “EZRA AND SLOAN... AND WAIT... WYN AND MAYA ARE HOT ON THEIR TAIL.”
“Don’t worry,” Amy quickly said. “The puzzle is always the great equalizer. We still have a chance of winning this.” And she was right. Ten seconds later, Savannah’s hands struck canvas. “I’ve got it.” Together they yanked the bag out of the sand and scrambled to their feet.
By the time they reached the mat, the same pink highlighter-haired PA came running toward them and quickly snipped the rope around their ankles. Savannah staggered forward toward a large table at the edge of the mat where a single, terribly weak lantern hung over their heads.
After they both upturned all the pieces onto the table, Amy stepped in beside Savannah and asked, “How much of this can you see?”
“I’m staring at a pile of charcoal biscuits,” Savannah said honestly.
Amy exhaled, then stepped close enough to Savannah that the heat radiating off her bare shoulders bled straight through Savannah’s top.
Before Savannah could even think to add space between them, Amy’s hands found her waist, anchoring her in place as she slid slowly behind her to reach for something on the far side of the table.
Savannah held her breath. Not only had she cupped Amy’s breast earlier, but she could now feel Amy’s perked nipples against her shoulder blades. Her own nipples hardened beneath the sports bra she donned. Savannah wasn’t sure she could handle Amy getting any closer.
Savannah quickly coughed and concentrated on the table in front of them. “Okay, what are we looking at?” she asked, hovering her hands over the pieces.
Amy slipped back to her side. “I think it’s the Outlast Her logo and Brazil’s national flower beneath it. There’s also a palm tree and some birds flying overhead.”
“What flower?” Savannah asked, not seeing anything that vaguely looked like a flower.
“The orchid,” Amy replied. “Cattleya purpurata. The queen of the orchids.”
Savannah nearly asked if it was one of the many facts Amy had googled for her books, but instead held up a puzzle piece she’d picked up earlier. “Is this an edge?”
“No, that’s a centerpiece. Give it here.”
Savannah reluctantly passed it over just as Naomi called out, “KATE AND LUNA ARE ON THE PUZZLE! EZRA AND SLOAN ARE HALFWAY THROUGH THEIRS, WHILE AVERY AND brENDA ARE CLOSE BEHIND.”
With her vision gone, Savannah’s hearing was supersonic.
She overheard Luna and Kate, two tables away, bickering.
“You’re terrible at puzzles,” Kate shot, a wooden piece clattering loudly.
“You’ve literally had a puzzle sitting on your coffee table for the last six months, and you’re not even halfway done. ”
“Do you know how difficult gradient puzzles are?” Luna shot back.
“I’m looking for a triangle with the letter S,” Amy said.
In that moment, Savannah realized the pieces were intricately engraved.
The letters and flower patterns were carved deeply into the wood.
This might just work to her advantage. She quickly used her fingers to blindly track the raised ridges until she felt the smooth snaky curve of an S.
“Got it,” she said, pressing the piece into Amy’s palm. Amy snapped it into place.
Then she did it with the next piece Amy requested, and the next, handing them over to Amy, who was working on the flower.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Amy slammed piece after piece that Savannah passed to her, and soon they were down to just one.
Amy grabbed it like it was the last chocolate chip cookie on the plate and slammed the final piece into place.
“DONE!” she shouted, just as Avery and Brenda shouted, “DONE!”
What followed was an agonizing moment of silence. Had they been a microsecond too late? Naomi walked by each of the puzzles with her hands behind her back as she inspected them. Savannah felt sick with anticipation. Ugh! Naomi was taking longer than Vivian ever did.
Then, finally, Naomi’s arm shot up. “WE HAVE A TIE!” she announced gleefully. “CONGRATULATIONS, brENDA AND AVERY, AND SAVANNAH AND AMY. YOU’LL BE ENJOYING TONIGHT’S REWARD.”