Page 66 of Until Now
“All right. Here we go. Each family will hold up a word I’ve written on these cards. They are clues. If you can figure out how they connect, you’ll figure out the prize. First one who says the correct answer is the winner. Does everyone understand?”
Of course, they do, all except Dominique, who looks a little surprised it’s so clear to the rest of us.
“Wait!” she says. “We are all going to call out our guesses at once?”
“Yeah. It’s going to be fun,” I answer. “Now, don’t turn your cards over until I say go.”
Moving around the table, I pass the words to the designated person I’ve already chosen in each family.
“Lucien, you’re representing the Grant family. Here you go. Kim, you represent our group. Asher, here’s your family’s.”
“This is so exciting!” July says, momentarily revealing her true feelings.
Quickly she regroups and adds a fake clarification. “I love games!”
Dominique looks at her like she’s from outer space. “Since when? That’s the first I hear about it!” She laughs.
“Okay, reveal your words!” I say like I’m parting the Red Sea.
Of course, I am counting on them to guess wrong. They have rehearsed their ridiculous guesses just to spark Dominique’s skills. If she does not figure out it’s an anagram right off the bat, I will have succeeded. But not even she can do that without the two letters I’m leaving out.
The cards go up, above the heads of the person who holds them. Eyes dart fromRAREtoMUMtoWILY.
“What in the hell?” Wes delivers his line.
“Wait! Give me a moment!”
“Is it something to do with a steak?” Hunter says, on cue.
James and Dean start laughing.
“No. I think rare stands for uncommon. Am I right?” Dominique says, looking my way.
“Maybe.” Oh, my girl is smart.
Then the onslaught of ridiculous guesses spills out. They are shouted from the Zoom screen to the table, from the kids to the grandparents.
“What’s wrong with you people?” Dominique says, laughing till she cries.
We are all laughing, including me. But only Dominique stays focused on the game. Suddenly she crosses her arms and leans back.
“It’s a bottle of Mumm champagne, so rare it was hard to track down. And you are the wily one for thinking of it! Boom! That’s it, right?”
Our eyes meet, and I smile.
“I win!!!!! Hahaha! Whoop, whoop!” she calls, standing with hands in the air.
The table gets silent, but the energy everywhere is loud.
“Not quite, babe.”
She sits back down and makes a fake pout.
“I may have left out two letters to this anagram.”
“Anagram? You didn’t say it was an anagram!”
That gets her attention and everyone else’s. A light begins to dawn on her face.
