Page 23 of No Such Thing as Serendipity

“Well, we’re not going to stand,” Beverly said.

“Speak for yourself,” one of her teammates said. “Jan and I will stand.”

“Fine.” Beverly stomped to the loveseat and plopped onto the middle.

Something told me all her teammates would be standing.

The game started fast. We blew through the first few participants in record time.

At this rate, the game wouldn’t last long.

Next Emma got love and put her hand over her heart and simulated it beating.

Got it in ten seconds. Then our competition guessed fear in the same amount of time.

Annie’s word was surprise. Another quick point.

Then it was Beverly’s turn. She stood from the couch and walked to the center.

“Anger,” one of her teammates yelled.

“Rage,” another said.

Beverly glowered. “I haven’t started yet.”

I stifled a laugh. Annie wasn’t as restrained and chuckled loudly, which earned her a disapproving glare from Beverly.

Beverly gave another scowl when she opened her envelope. Then she set it on the table and started the timer.

She stood in front of us and smiled. It was a toothy, almost scary smile.

“Ecstasy,” her teammate called.

She glowered and gave her weird smile again.

“Enthusiasm,” another said.

The guesses kept coming. “Joy. Bliss.”

Beverly put her hand on her hip and stared at them before she smiled again.

“Glee. Rapture. Elation.”

I was beginning to like Beverly’s team.

Beverly’s face reddened as they continued throwing out their guesses.

“Delight.”

“Jubilation. Elation.”

“Merriment.”

The time was down to thirty seconds when Beverly said, “For god’s sakes, it’s not that damned hard.” She gave her awful smile again.

“Delirium. Euphoria.”

“They’re just screwing with her,” I whispered to Emma.

Emma nodded and bit down on her lip. Probably to keep from bursting out laughing.

With only ten seconds left, one woman called out, “Happiness.”

“Jesus. It’s about time.” Beverly snatched her envelope off the table and tromped to her seat.

Clapping came from the left. “Very good,” a voice said.

When I turned, Robyn was standing there with a huge smile. Beverly glared at her, but Robyn continued to smile. “I finally made it. Vera asked if I could monitor this group.” She glanced at our team and winked. “Make sure nobody cheats.”

“Well, that’s good,” Beverly said. “I still don’t think it’s fair with them having twins.”

Robyn corrected her, just like Vera had, but I doubted it mattered to Beverly. “So where are we at?” Robyn asked.

“Last person of the first round,” Annie answered. “Score is four to three. No steals.”

“Ah, yes, the first round is always the easiest,” Robyn said.

“Tell that to these idiots.” Beverly pointed at her teammates.

“Now, Beverly, Vera wouldn’t approve of that attitude,” Robyn replied.

Apparently, everyone knew Beverly.

“Whatever,” Beverly said.

“You play nice with these ladies, and I’ll save you a copy of the new Taylor Jenkins Reid novel that’s coming out next month.”

“Free?” Beverly asked.

Robyn let out an exaggerated sigh and dropped her shoulders. “Okay, you win.”

“Exasperation,” I called out.

Everyone laughed, except Beverly, who pointed at me. “Are you going to tell them to play nice, too?”

Robyn shot me a look, but I saw the amusement dancing in her eyes, so I muttered an apology, which seemed to appease Beverly.

“Who’s up?” Robyn asked.

I raised my hand and moved from behind the couch into the center. I tore open my envelope and read the word. This should be easy. I reached for the timer, but Robyn had it.

“I got it.” Robyn held out her hand. “I’d like the word, so I can listen for it.”

I handed her the envelope before taking a deep breath. Then I put my hands up under my chin and wiggled my fingers, while putting an exaggerated expression of excitement on my face.

“Excitement,” Annie called.

“Enthusiasm,” Katlynn said.

I bounced on my toes and glanced from side to side.

“Anticipation,” Emma said.

“Got it!” Robyn held up her finger and made an imaginary tick mark. “That’s a point. Score is tied.”

“Twins,” Beverly muttered, but stopped at that when Robyn looked her way.

Robyn was right, the second-round clues were harder, and both teams fumbled twice, which left us tied. Still, there’d not been a single emotion that nobody had gotten.

After round two ended, I said to Emma, “I thought this was going to be impossible. It’s surprising how easy it is to pick up someone’s emotions.”

Emma smiled. “Are you telling me you’re not as ignorant of feelings as you pretend to be?”

I crinkled my nose. “Hush. We need to pay attention.”

She bumped me with her hip before she focused on the player from the other team who’d just started.

It went down to the last seconds when Beverly called out, “Insecurity.”

“Wow. Great job,” Robyn said.

Beverly actually smiled and accepted high fives from her teammates.

Emma went next, and we nailed her word, reluctance, within a minute. The other team followed suit with a correct guess, to even the score.

Katlynn moved into the center and stared at her word for some time before she handed it to Robyn. Then her face contorted.

What the hell was that? “Constipation,” I shouted.

Robyn burst out laughing, as did the rest of our team.

Katlynn glared before giving us the same expression again. When we continued shouting out wrong answers, she dropped to her knees and looked up at Robyn with the same expression.

“Forgiveness,” Emma said.

“Guilt,” Annie yelled.

Still kneeling, Katlynn took Robyn’s hand and stroked it.

I studied Katlynn’s face as the others called out more wrong answers. “Yearning,” I finally said.

“Yes!” Robyn waved the clue over her head.

My teammates cheered, and the other team groaned.

Annie looked over her shoulder at me. “How the hell did you get that?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“The score is tied again,” Robyn said. “This could come down to the wire.”

As the final round progressed, Robyn turned out to be prophetic. With three clues remaining, we were ahead by one point.

“Come on, team.” Annie walked toward the center, clutching her envelope. “We get this one, and we take a commanding lead.”

“It’s over if we get this one,” I said.

“How do you figure?” someone from the other team said. “You’d be two ahead with two points left.”

“Simple.” I smiled. “Even if you get your word, I’m the last to go.”

“Yeah, and we could steal it,” the woman answered.

I grinned. “I suppose if you have telepathy. I’ll just stand up there and do nothing. It’d make it pretty hard to guess.”

Annie laughed. “Spoken like an equities trader. Always looking for an angle.”

“Why do you think I’m so good at what I do? I—”

“No fair,” Beverly said, cutting me off. “Robyn, are you going to tolerate more cheating from them?”

Robyn looked at me and gave me an exaggerated glare.

“Irritation. Scolding. Disapproval,” I shot back at her.

Robyn tried to maintain her stern expression through her smirk. “Let’s just keep playing. We’ll deal with that scenario should it come up. Are you ready, Annie?”

Annie nodded, and then her face fell when she opened her envelope.

We began guessing in earnest. Sadness. Depression. Unhappiness. Upset. Grief.

When Robyn called time, we still hadn’t got it, so she turned it over to Beverly’s team, who huddled.

After a few minutes of hushed disagreement, they broke and their spokesperson said, “Regret.”

Robyn groaned. “So close, the word was remorse. That means there’s still only a one-point difference.”

Beverly strode to the center. Her posture remained ramrod straight as she read the word in her envelope. Then her face fell. She shoved the envelope at Robyn, whose expression also changed when she read the word.

“Um, why don’t we choose a different word?” Robyn said.

I studied Robyn’s expression, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“No! I can do this.” Beverly’s tone was harsh.

“Okay,” Robyn said. “I’ll start the timer when you’re ready.”

Before our eyes, Beverly’s sullen expression turned into a mask of pain.

“Grief,” one of Beverly’s teammates called out.

A stiff-backed Beverly walked back to the couch and sat down. The woman standing behind her patted her shoulder, but Beverly flinched and moved away from the touch.

“We’re tied,” Robyn interjected, pulling the attention away from Beverly. She met my gaze. “It’s all in your hands, Blake.”

I raised my arms over my head, stretching from side to side, pretending I was warming up for an athletic event. Then I danced to the center. Was the competition getting me stoked, or was I having fun?

I ripped open the envelope. Yes! I had this. I handed Robyn the envelope.

“The timer will start when you’re ready,” Robyn said.

I let my shoulders drop and matched my expression to the action.

My team shouted out answers. Tired. Sympathy. Empathy. Reluctance. Resignation.

Shit. They weren’t getting it, so I tried again. This time letting out an enormous sigh.

They continued spewing wrong answers.

Time running out, I switched tactics. I waved my arms as if erasing the slate, and my team grew still.

I circled my arms in front of me and then mimed placing it at thigh level. Then I walked in front of it and squatted as if I were sitting.

“What the hell is she doing?” Annie asked Emma.

I ignored them and pretended to reach beside me and yanked down on the imaginary toilet paper. I pulled down again and then wrapped the invisible paper around my hand.

“Jesus. Is she taking a pee?” Katlynn said.

I vigorously nodded.

They yelled out words for pee, but I waved them silent.

I put my hand over my stomach, closed my eyes, and pretended to pee in front of the entire group. I feigned the expression I’d have if I’d waited too long to urinate.

“Relief,” Emma shouted.

I jumped from my imaginary toilet and raised my arms over my head. The rest of my team cheered and rushed toward me.

“We have a winner,” Robyn said over the celebration.

“That’s bullshit.” I glanced over to see the sour-faced Beverly stand up from the couch. “They shouldn’t be allowed to win on such vulgarity.”

I’d had about enough of Beverly, so I put my hand between my legs. “I could have chosen a different kind of relief. Made it X-rated, but I thought PG-13 was better.”

Without a word, Beverly stomped off while her teammates came over to congratulate us.

After the purple team left, Robyn approached and put her arm over my shoulder. “I can’t believe you did that.”

I smiled. “We won, didn’t we?”

“Ya know,” Annie said. “When I met you, I thought you were pretty uptight, but I’m seeing another side of you.”

“That’s my sister.” Emma playfully slapped my arm. Then she gazed into my eyes. “I’ve missed this side of you.”

A lump rose in my throat. Robyn must have noticed my discomfort because she gave my shoulder a slight squeeze.

There were so many things I wanted to say to Emma, but the words wouldn’t come. I wanted to express how sorry I was, how much I’d missed her, and how thankful I was that we were spending this time together. Instead, I said, “Stop. You’re going to embarrass me.”

“I call bullshit,” Katlynn said. “We’ve been playing emotion charades, and that’s not the expression on your face.”

“Hey, why don’t we leave Blake alone?” Annie said. “After all, she won the game for us.”

I gave Annie a grateful look before I turned to Robyn, who still had her arm around me. “What’s the deal with Beverly?”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “She takes pissy to a whole new level.”

“Six years ago, her son died in a tragic car accident. He was drunk.”

“Oh, god.” Annie put her hand on her chest. “I can’t even imagine.”

“She used to be a lot of fun.” Robyn gave us a sad smile.

“Beverly, fun?” Katlynn said.

“Oh, she was still opinionated and aggressive, but she was never angry—before. She couldn’t pull herself out of her grief. Then two years ago, her husband couldn’t take it any longer, and he left her.”

“Oh, my god,” Emma said. “Now I feel guilty.”

“Can’t anybody help her?” I asked.

“People have tried.” Robyn put her hand on her chest. “I’ve tried. I’ve gotten through a bit but never far or for long.”

“I’m gonna go talk to her,” Annie said.

Robyn gave her a skeptical look. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Yep. Why not?”

“Be careful,” Emma called after Annie as she walked off.