Page 52 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Hardly,” he said. “But I’m not sure I’ve ever played it.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” she said. “We don’t have to play by the rules completely. I mean it’s hard with two people but will be fun.”

He picked the box up. “I think this is an original.”

“It might be,” she said. “There are a bunch of board games in the chest over there.”

“The people who owned this house were older. They had kids that were my parents’ age. I bet that is who owns the house and rents it now.”

“Could be,” she said. “I never met them. I’m going through a management company. They left some things here and it’s fine. Made it easier for me. Some of my furniture wasn’t going to fit.”

“What was left?” he asked.

She took the plastic mat out of the box and laid it down. It had permanent creases in it from being folded for so many years.The spinner was tilted, but when she flicked it with her nail it went around. Good enough.

“These games, for one,” she said. “We can try another later if you want.” But she wanted to get close enough to smell him and touch, laugh, and maybe rub up against him.

This was a good way to do it and not be too obvious. At least in her mind.

“We can,” he said. “You might as well school me on some more things.”

“I think you’re a good sport about it,” she said. He had been so far.

Even the fact that she brought up him going back home soon. She hadn’t thought much that he only wanted a fling and was glad that it came up the way it had.

“I try to be,” he said. “I’m not some stuffy old attorney in a suit sipping my scotch and putting caviar on a stale cracker.”

She turned to stare at him and burst out laughing to the point she was bent over and hugging her waist. “You just described Philip’s father on Sunday afternoons.”

“No,” he said.

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head.

“How could you handle that?”

“Not well, as you can tell. This is more up my alley.”

“Seems to be for me too,” he said.

She moved over and found a pad of paper. “We aren’t going to be able to spin if we are on the mat, so why don’t we do like eight spins and write them down and then we just alternate them going down the list.”

“You’re pretty organized,” he said.

“Just having fun,” she said.

They each spun four times and wrote them down. “You go first.”

“It says, right foot red,” she said, putting her right foot on at the top.

“The next is left foot blue,” he said. He went right behind her and put his foot at the top next to her so that their asses were touching.

Okay, he knew what she was thinking. Or maybe he was thinking the same thing.

“Right hand yellow,” she said. “Oh boy. I need to stretch. Excuse me.”

She turned and leaned over, stretched and found the spot. It wasn’t easy balancing like this and trying not to laugh.

“Left hand red. Hmm,” he said. “Do I go under or over you to get it?”

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