The Best Next Thing ((Un)Professionally Yours 1)

“Please, you haven’t played until you’ve been stuck with a squad of bored, soldiers waiting to go on a covert op. We would do anything to alleviate the tedium and tension. This game was our number one boredom buster. It got fucking cutthroat…”

“Sam,” Lia rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Language.”

“Sorry. Forgot myself. It got darned fucking cutthroat.”

Charity choked on her wine, before hooting with laughter, and Lia palmed her face in exasperation.

“We’re talking about edgy, highly trained, SAS men, with itchy trigger fingers…all of that pent-up aggression and frustration had to go somewhere. We got really good at this game really fast.”

“Well, I had equally cutthroat competitors. It was my siblings’ favorite school holiday pastime growing up. You ever try playing this game with a ten and twelve-year-old? I assure you, your SAS buddies would cower in terror.”

“I’ve never played this game before,” Charity ventured, and they all three turned to gape at her in shock. She flushed and felt immediately self-conscious. Truthfully, her parents and Faith had probably played it often, but a game like this would have seemed much too tame for her younger self. If it wasn’t physical and didn’t contain some element of danger, it just wouldn’t have interested her. Even as a child, Charity had always been outside, on her bike, board, or blades. Card or board games could never hold her interest for long.

But now, the idea of a fun activity that didn’t involve any kind of risk to her physical well-being, was highly appealing.

“Uh…it’s pretty easy,” Lia said, after a beat. “It’s fun. A little juvenile, we like to pretend that we keep it around for when Charlie comes to visit, but truthfully, my sisters, their husbands, and Sam and I play it without Charlie more often than not.”

What followed was two hours of competitive and hilarious backstabbing, laughter and fabricated drama. Charity honestly could not remember the last time she had enjoyed herself more. Miles and Sam were so focused on taking each other out, that the women snuck in more than a few victories. Leading to a catastrophic “team up” between the guys in a bid to take out the “female threat”. That didn’t end well, with the uneasy armistice between them failing after just one round.

“Why the hell did you throw down a wild card on me?” Miles seethed, two rounds later. “You should have kept it for her. You had her dead to rights.”

“Are you still on about that? She’s the woman I love and want to have babies with someday, I couldn’t do that to her. She’s a delicate, fragile flower and…Lia, what the fuck?”

The last as Lia smugly and triumphantly threw down a draw four wild card, while stating, “Uno. Blue, please.”

He drew his four penalty cards, grumbling bad temperedly while he did so, and Lia happily put down her winning card on her next turn.

She stretched and yawned immediately afterward, “That’s it for me, I like to end things on a victorious note.”

“Your fragile flower is more than a little bloodthirsty, Brand,” Miles pointed out grimly, and Lia laughed. A sweet fairy-like sound that was completely at odds with the slightly evil grin she leveled on them.

“Oh, while you honed your questionable skills playing with your younger siblings, Miles, and Sam was grunting and growling away with his SAS buddies, I cut my teeth playing this game with the most ruthless and villainous of all competitors…sisters. Trust me, you do not want to play this game with them. Now would anybody like some coffee or tea?”

Miles glanced at Charity with an enquiring tilt to his head, and she lifted her shoulders slightly, leaving the decision up to him.

“It’s getting late,” he said. “I think it’s time we head home.”

Charity pushed to her feet when he did, and Lia and Sam walked them to the door. While the men continued their banter, Charity turned to Lia and gave her an impulsive hug.

“Thank you, I had a wonderful time.”

“I’m so happy you joined us tonight. Why don’t we have lunc

h on Friday, if you’re free? I’m at loose ends during the day because of the school vacation and would love the company.”

“That would be nice. Thank you.”

“No. Thank you. It gives me an excuse to get out of the house.”

Charity was sure that Lia had no end of friends and family who would happily have lunch with her and was under no illusion as to who was doing whom the favor. But it was kind of her to pretend.

They didn’t linger much longer after that and were soon in the SUV on their way home.

“Thank you,” Charity murmured, after a lengthy, comfortable silence. Miles shifted his attention from the road for a second to look at her.

“For?”

“That was the most fun I’ve had with both feet on the ground in I don’t know how long.”