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I scoot past Tyler, ignoring his manly scent and make my way back to my seat next to Nigel.
“You guys are going to have to bear with me,” Anna Mae says, looking sheepish. “I don’t know how to play Pictionary.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“I’ve never really played any games before.”
How is that even possible? Has she never played Uno? Hide and seek? Has she been living under a rock for the past sixty years?
I grind my teeth together and look over Anna Mae’s shoulder at a picture of my mom.
This woman doesn’t stand a chance in my life.
* * *
TYLER
I don’t like Nigel.
He’s nice and all, but he’s the one sitting next to Meg, so by default, I don’t like him.
“So, Nigel,” I say as Brooke erases the Pictionary whiteboard. “What do you do for a living?”
He sits up straight. “I’m in between jobs right now. I just haven’t found something that I like.”
“What do you do all day?” Tessa asks.
“Watch anime.” He points across the room to Paul and his date. “NotthatAnna Mae. I’m talking about Japanese animation.”
“Yeah, we got it,” Meg says, cutting him off right there.
“Tyler, what do you do?” Ben asks from across the table. I like Brooke’s friend. Or maybe Ben is her date? They seem like more than friends, but I’m not really sure.
“I own a landscaping and property management business.”
Tessa bats her eyes at me. “I love being outdoors. Let me know if you ever need a sidekick.”
Meg grabs the marker in front of her. “Tessa hates manual labor, so I think she’d make the worst sidekick ever, but that’s enough getting-to-know-you stuff.It’s my turn to draw.” She stands next to the whiteboard.
I bite back my smile. Meg claims she’s not jealous, but I’m getting a very different vibe from her.
“We’ve got this, girls,” Tessa says, flipping over the tiny hourglass timer.
Tessa’s cute and all, but I’m not interested. Meg’s right. She’s way too young for me, and on top of that, it’s her jealous older sister that I like.
Meg draws two stick figures with objects in their hands. Next she draws a line in between them and a big circle thing coming at one of the stick figures. It’s clearly pickleball, but her sisters are stuck guessing tennis and volleyball. She tries to draw what looks to be either a pickle or part of the male anatomy, and it’s all I can do to hold my laugh in.
“Oh, I know.” Anna Mae’s hand shoots up. “Badminton!”
Meg shakes her head. She’s doing her best to hide her annoyance, but I can see it.
“Time’s up,” Paul says.
She looks at her sisters. “Pickleball!”
“Yeah.” Brooke nods. “I can see that now.”
“You should have drawn the lines on the court or made your paddles a little smaller. I don’t blame your sisters for not getting the answer,” Nigel says.
