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No. No. No. Sophie refused to let Cole throw walls back up. She didn’t even understand why he had.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. His reasons were exactly why Isabelle would warn her to erect walls of her own.

Andrew’s lips pursed, then he shook his head. “Naw, I think we’re going to stay. These cookies are too good to leave until I’ve had a few more. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve played a game.”

Cole’s gaze narrowed. “You played video games two nights ago.”

“Video games aren’t the same as board games,” Sophie added, earning herself a nod of approval from Andrew.

She suspected she’d played a role in Cole’s friend’s decision to stay. She wanted to feel at least a little guilty, especially since it was clear that Cole would rather go, but she’d been enjoying his company so much that she wasn’t going to look a gift firefighter in the mouth.

Especially when that firefighter was Cole.

“You don’t even know that we’re playing a board game,” Cole insisted, his tone dry. “Sarah might be hooking up a virtual reality game for us.”

Shaking her head, Sarah laughed. “Sorry, Cole. No virtual reality games here. We’re board game people.”

Sarah opened a cabinet and pulled out a word game Sophie had played many times before. A team drew a card and had to get their teammates to guess what the word at the top of the card was, but they couldn’t use any of the most common clue words—which were also listed on the card—to prompt them. An hourglass timer would be going and whoever’s turn it was had to get through as many cards as possible in the allotted time.

“Oh, this is fun,” she assured. “I like this game.”

Cole looked resigned to enduring the next hour or so.

Sophie laughed and, without thought, patted his knee. “Don’t worry, you’ll have fun, too.”

They divided into two teams. Sophie, Cole, Andrew, Carrie, Ben, and his girlfriend, Susan were on a team together along with Sophie’s former schoolmate Lilly Stevens.

“I’m pretty sure y’all should just give up now,” Sarah informed them as she opened the box and explained the rules, sending a besotted glance toward her fiancé. “With Bodie on our team, we’re a shoo-in.”

Looking up from where he knelt petting Harry, Bodie grinned at his fiancée. “I’m only good at this game because Sarah knows what I’m thinking even before I do.”

A few chuckles rang out around the room.

“Which is why he’s marrying me. That way, he can stay a man of few words,” Sarah teased.

Sarah was right about how good their team was. Bodie and Sarah truly did seem to have a silent language going between them as no one else understood the obscure clues that would trigger the other to provide the right answer.

“They got six points that round,” Sophie said with a little bit of a pout, then took a deep breath. Six was a really good number. “No worries. We can do this.”

Sophie’s team got four words on their first go around. Three on their next. When it was Sophie’s turn to look at the cards and give clues for the others, she made a show of stretching her shoulders and cracking her knuckles, then picked up the box with the cards.

“Ready?” Isabelle asked, preparing to flip the sand-filled timer.

“Ready.” Sophie pulled a card from the box, glanced at the first word, and smiled. She couldn’t say December, Santa, holiday, or presents, but she had this one. “When Sarah and Bodie are getting married.”

“Christmas,” Carrie immediately shouted, excited at knowing the answer.

“The best day ever,” Sarah added from the other side of the coffee table, causing a round of laughter from the others.

Not Sophie, though. She was all business and pulled the next card.

She couldn’t say cup, drink, water, plastic, or transparent.

“What a window is made of. Pour myself some sweet tea in this,” she rushed out.

“Glass,” Andrew answered correctly.

Sophie pulled more cards, gave more clues, and her team answered. Time had to be getting close, she thought as she pulled another card.