Page 34 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

Heart.

Cloud.

Plants.

Plants.

I slapped the table. A zinging sensation shot up my thumb and into my wrist. Milk sloshed over the rim of my mug onto the table. Game night at the Johnsons was as hazardous for my body as working their land.

“Oops.” I picked up my cup and guzzled my milk.

“Easy there, I don’t think this table can take another hit like that.” Tony wiped his eyes. “I haven’t laughed this hard in months.”

Nora took his hand and looked at Tony with such loving adoration, I wondered if it was an act. It couldn’t be. This home felt different. Like they all wanted to be with each other.

“So, Remi, what do you do for a living?” Tony met my eyes across the table while he sifted through his cards.

Dammit. I knew this was coming but thought I’d be better prepared when they asked. I kept my mouth shut, but I didn’t look away.

“I assume you do have a career—aside from a BASE-jumping farm laborer,” Nora said.

Angie remained quiet but hung on to every word.

I breathed in through my nose. “I’m on a sort of sabbatical right now. I want to live a different life from the one I was born into.”

Angie gnawed at her thumbnail, then scrunched her mouth together. My answer hadn’t satisfied her.

“Wait. That’s all you’re going to tell us? You’re on sabbatical? From what?” Angie waited for someone to play a card on the one she’d flipped onto the table, but both her parents were focused on me.

I met Angie’s analyzing stare. “I work in business. I was a … am a … cog in the machine of corporate America. Nothing too exciting about that.”

Suits and dinners with potential clients, closing deals and finding new ones—always with the pressure of if I failed, I’d lose this unspoken competition between my brother and me. Combined with the constant threat that my father would take away my inheritance, severing my lavish lifestyle. It would all end once I closed this deal. With the payout my father promised, I could cut myself free of that life.

Come to think of it, my mother and I didn’t see eye to eye either. I was a donkey born into a family of thoroughbreds. Despite my melancholic thoughts, I let out a soft chuckle.

“Your life has to be more exciting than farm life,” Angie said.

Studying the Farm Frenzy cards in my hand, I became a little boy again—the one who did everything under the sun to get his parents’ attention—guitar, basketball, debate team. The only thing getting any reaction was the time I went cliff jumping as a preteen. My mother hadn’t liked how I’d risked my life, and it kind of sent me on a collision course with every extreme sport imaginable.

How much would simple things like family game nights have impacted me as a little boy?

Didn’t matter. In extreme sports, I found a community where I belonged and a place where life became more than something to be endured. “Nothing is more exciting than farm life.”

I earned another round of laughter from Tony and Nora with that comment. Angie didn’t join them, but she didn’t persist in questioning me either. I settled into the game. Despite trying my best, the cards in Angie’s hand dwindled while I held most of the deck. I didn’t care. This night was wish fulfillment for me.

Angie played her last card and rubbed her hands together while we continued. Unless she lost this round, she’d win. The cards thumped down, each of us drawing out the suspense. Taunting Angie.

Farm. Frenzy. This time, I reacted on instinct.

Ignoring Tony and Nora, I watched Angie. Quick as lightning, she slapped her chest, table, table, chest, forehead, and threw her hand on the air … I matched her movements. My hand touched the table before hers.

I beat her. Breathing harder than I should, I sent her a triumphant look.

“Balderdash.” Nora slapped the table again. “I missed my heart.” She swooped up the cards.

Angie jumped to her feet and shoved her hands in the air. “I win.” She smiled and became mesmerizing—a glimpse of who she must have been before layers of grief and responsibility chained her to the ground.

She walked over to Tony and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I gotta run.” After squeezing Nora around her shoulders, she collected her purse and keys.

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