After You (Because of You 2)

But it feels kind of nice, so I’m trying to ignore the high-risk warnings going off in my brain. I know I should not dread going home. I know that is a bad sign. A neon, flashing sign with alarm bells. He has already dismantled the life I built for myself in his absence, and the sneaky bastard removes another panel every time he thinks I’m not looking.

Cassidy never got to play Jenga after lunch, so after dinner, Derek points me in the direction of the Jenga game. I dig it out of the closet so he doesn’t have to reach, but when I turn back around, he and Cassidy are both sitting down on the floor.

“Got down there all by yourself, huh?” I ask, sitting across from them.

“The pain was almost unbearable,” he assures me.

I crack a smile. “It was not.”

“I’m still broken. I’m going to need you to stay another week,” he tells me.

“I didn’t even bring enough clothes for another week.”

“I have this innovative machine that cleans clothing. Another one that dries them. There are also stores in driving distance where you could easily buy more.”

I shake my head at him as I open the Jenga box. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, but it does mean I’ll have to be going home.”

“No,” Cassidy says. “You make yummier dinner than Daddy.”

“Hey,” Derek objects. “I make good dinner.”

Laughing a little, I stack the Jenga blocks and set up the tower.

“But Nikki makes it better,” she tells him earnestly. “She even makes vegetables taste good.”

Derek nods in consideration. “This is true. I guess it’s settled, Nikki. You have to stay here and make us dinner forever.”

“Stop before your feminism overwhelms me. I don’t know how much more of this enlightenment my tiny female brain can possibly endure.”

“All I’m saying is, go make me a sandwich,” he jokes.

I shake my head at him. “I’m going to destroy you at Jenga, just for that comment.”

Cassidy starts to say something, but Derek covers her mouth with his hands. “Hold on, squirt, the grown-ups are talking.” Cocking an eyebrow at me, he asks, “If you’re so confident in your Jenga-playing abilities, let’s make it interesting.”

“What did you have in mind?” I ask.

“A wager. If you win Jenga, you leave whenever you want.”

“So, if I win Jenga, I have all the regular freedoms of an average human. Got it.”

Derek smirks. “But if I win, you have to stay until Wednesday. Then you’ll have been here for a full week.”

Cassidy breaks free of Derek’s hand to break her silence. “And if I win, you have to move here and play games with us all the time.”

Derek nods approvingly. “Look at that, my mini-me has good ideas, too. These are our terms.”

“Jenga sounds like an incredibly high-stakes game,” I inform them. “I was not prepared for this. Also, I get literally nothing if I win. This seems rigged.”

“How about this?” he asks. “If you win, I’ll stop bitching about your job for two whole weeks.”

“Yes. I want that if I win.”

“We’ll go best two out of three,” Derek offers.

“I appreciate where your terms are coming

from, but they need to be tweaked. If I stay until Wednesday, I’ll be too busy catching up on work to come here at all next weekend. How about we just play Jenga, and I’ll leave tomorrow, and that’s that.”