Kylie rubbed her thumb and index finger together, staring at the game board intently.
“Okay. I am going to suggest…no. No, wait.” Hesitantly, she consulted the three cards in front of her and then her score sheet. “No, I am ready to make an accusation. I say it was Miss Scarlett, and I say she did it in the ballroom with the candlestick.”
As she reached for the small envelope in the center of the board, Elliot Bauer muttered, “That’s probably right. I’m totally lost right now. I thought it was you, Josh. Professor Plum.”
Valerie smiled and stood to survey the kitchen table. A vintage 1970s-style dinette that she’d picked up at the consignment shop in town, it was cluttered with people, the Clue game, glasses, dessert dishes, a mostly empty bowl of tortilla chips and a bowl refilled with salsa. There was nothing left of dinner or the pie, which had been the perfect and creamiest accompaniment to a delicious and filling dinner.
She loved seeing her little kitchen so crowded with company, with the familiar faces of her mother and Kylie, and with the new faces of Josh and Elliot.
Triumphantly, Kylie beamed and lightly slapped one card down at a time.
“Miss Scarlett…ballroom…candlestick!” she sang out.
“I’ll tell you, that Miss Scarlett is a wonton woman,” Elliot said with a twirl of an imaginary moustache.
“The word is ‘wanton,’” Linda Cuthbert softly corrected, holding back a chuckle. “And no, I’m not bad. I’m—Miss Scarlett, not me—she’s just misunderstood. I know how it feels to be her, though.”
“I knew it was Miss Scarlett, too,” Josh said to no one in particular. “And I knew she did it with the candlestick. I just couldn’t figure out what room she was in when she killed the vic.”
“‘The vic?’” Kylie giggled. “You’ve been watching too much Law and Order!”
“Maybe we should play Scrabble next?” Linda asked. “But we’d have to play teams. There’s too many of us. And I need more coffee or I won’t stay awake for it.”
Kylie glanced out the kitchen window. “That rain that’s been holding out on us all night is about to pour. I have to get home before it does.”
“And tomorrow morning is church,” Josh added. “Got up early for fishing today. Have to get some rest.”
Like Kylie, he also rose from the table. Slowly, like he was tired, but he smiled at Valerie with content.
Would you like to come to my church tomorrow? Or I’ll come visit yours? She held back on those questions.
Valerie felt the heat and color rising in her cheeks. Earlier, on the pier, she had kissed him. She had done it impulsively, out of curiosity, to see what kissing him would feel like, out of the emotions stirred up in her, simply by being around him.
But what would he think of her? First kissing him, basically stealing a kiss from him, and then inviting him to Sunday services at her church? When she hadn’t shown up at his church last night until the movie was over?
Chocolates. He brought you chocolates. Valerie thought of her mother’s words that evening when they were alone. How sweet! So old-fashioned, so romantic!
“I’m tired, too,” she said. “Got up so early.”
“Thanks, you two, for sharing your fish,” Elliot interjected. “It was great.”
“Steak was good, too,” Kylie added.
“Very good. I’ll come to this restaurant any time,” Josh’s best friend said.
Linda laughed at the teasing remark. “Elliot, do you need a ride home, dear heart?”
“Thanks, Ms. Cuthbertson, but I live about two blocks from here. I should make it home before the downpour.”
“I’ll take a ride, Linda,” Kylie told her. “I walked here for exercise, but you know me and thunderstorms. They freak me out.”
“Oh, honey, I’m right there with ya!” Linda reached for her purse, which she’d tossed on the baker’s rack in the corner, and turned to Josh. “It was very nice meeting you, honey.”
“Very nice to meet you, too, ma’am.” Josh offered her his hand to shake again. “Tonight was a lot of fun.”
“I thought so, too. And the pie? It was delish!”
Kylie hooked the strap of her purse to her shoulder and hugged Valerie, giving the air an exaggerated, “Mmmmwwwwwaaaahhhh! I’ll call you tomorrow, sugar baby.”
“Later, my sweet,” Linda told her daughter, also hugging and kissing her.
There was the usual commotion of guests leaving. Valerie noticed how fast her mother and best friend moved, with Elliot tagging not far behind. Josh was the last one in the kitchen with her, helping to clear the table of the Clue game, dishes, utensils and glasses.
“Well, I guess I’d better be going, too,” he said with a sigh.
She fidgeted with her necklace, which her mother had picked up some months ago while on a daytrip to New York’s Greenwich Village with her friends from work. Valerie stood at the door with him, both of them suddenly shy with each other.
“Well, I gotta get—get going,” he said again, stammering.
Valerie nodded. “Well, yeah. But I hate for the day to end.”
“Me, too.” Josh leaned against the doorframe, staring back at her with genuine affection. “I like your mom. Your best friend is cool, too.”
“Well, and I thought Elliot was cool.”
“Ah, he’s crazy, but he’s all right. He’s a good friend,” Josh conceded with a smile. “And I really liked being around you today.”
She leaned against the door’s edge, gripping the doorknob in her hand. She wondered if he could hear her heart racing.
“I loved being with you,” she murmured.
Pausing, he licked the corner of his lips. “Am I going to see you again? Like, I don’t know—”
“Maybe on your next movie night?”
“That won’t be for a while. I’d love to see you sooner. But…you can come and play for us next Friday. My friend’s going to give a teaching from Romans. You could open up after the prayer with a song on your new, great violin.”
Shakily, she nodded. By now, the idea of playing a solo in front of strangers shouldn’t have made her nervous, yet it still did.
“Okay. I’d love that. Do you have to check with anybody first, Josh?”
“I’ll make sure with Pastor. He’s a big music fan. He’ll love it. We start at seven, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll be there this time, and I’ll be early. I promise.”
“Good. Well, good night, Valerie.”
“’Night, Josh.”
He stood there for a moment, gazing at her. Then he said, “Could I have another kiss? Like the one this morning?”
Valerie cleared her throat. “Sure. I—I should’ve—I should—”
Should’ve asked you first. The words delayed in leaving her lips, and in moments he leaned forward. She saw his eyes close before her own, right before he pressed his mouth against hers in a light kiss. Her heart felt like it was gliding, soaring, reaching to the clouds. She could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance and the gentle tapping of raindrops against the kitchen windows.
“I’d better go,” he rasped.
“Okay. Careful going home.”
Call me before Friday. Please call me. She couldn’t say those words to him. She would look like she was chasing after him. People had told her that, in today’s world, women supposedly could be more forward with men. That a woman could make the move to ask for a date and such. Still, she’d found the opposite to be true, that a woman could appear too interested in a man, and for one reason or another, whether it was the fun of the pursuit that men loved would then be made too easy for them. She didn’t know which was the case, but if it wouldn’t work out she would only succeed in making herself look needy.
And yet as she watched him disappear around the corner and down the stairs, Valerie thought about how alive she felt, just from being around this man, how everything about their time together felt so golden and special, and how long those days in between would be until next Friday arrived
.
****
Unconditional Page 11