Page 122 of Vivacity

‘Because I’m illiterate at coding and you’re illiterate at the English language,’ Ethan supplies.

‘That’s rude.’

Ethan raises an eyebrow at him. ‘Pillow sheets?Need I say more?’

They both collapse into laughter, and I smile. Must be some insider joke. They’re fucking adorable. I scroll through the As.

‘Okay, I’m clicking onarm.Oh my god!’

When I click into the word, various tags come up.

> Body part (v)

> —chair (n)

> Weapon (n)

> Weaponise (v)

> Division (n)

‘Holy shit!’ I look up at them. ‘This is amazing! Are you kidding me right now?’

They glance at each other again and smile. There’s definitely something I’m not getting here—they’re being cagey as fuck. Jamie pushes Ethan on his shoulder. ‘Tell her to play the game. We set one up for you.’

‘Why don’t you give the game a go, sweetheart?’ Ethan says in a sexy, sugared tone.

‘Alright. But I want to play with the dictionary for alotlonger afterwards.’ I click through to the GAME tab, and up comes a four-by-four grid, just like in Connections. There are sixteen words locked and ready to go. Below them, like in Connections, is a Shuffle button. I press it. ‘Should I do it now?’

‘Yes!’ Jamie practically shouts. ‘It’s a special one, just for you.’

I shimmy in my seat and straighten my shoulders. ‘Bring it. You with me on this, babe?’

‘No.’ He smiles at me and shakes his head. ‘You’re on your own for this one.’

I focus on the letters, reading them aloud to the boys so I can pick up any homophones. Once I’ve run through them once, I see a couple of potential patterns. Sayingewealoud made the first one click for me.

‘Ewe, ya, thou, U.’ I hit them all and press Select. ‘You. Bingo! One down.’

‘Nice one,’ Ethan says.

‘She’s guessing them in the wrong order,’ Jamie stage-whispers, and I look up.

‘Am I? Oh, sorry.’

‘No, you’re good,’ Ethan tells me. ‘Keep going.’

‘This is so clever. I can’t believe you guys built this for me. Okay, let’s see.’

I squint at the puzzle.Miis probably the musical note—thank you,The Sound of Music.‘Anyone know what the abbreviation for Methyl is?’ I ask them. I have my suspicions, but I’m not so hot on the periodic table these days.

‘M-E,’ Jamie says, drumming his fingers on the table.

I select Myself, Methyl, Ego and Mi and the answer comes up correct.Me. ‘Yay! Go me!’

My eyes latch ontotestament. ‘Old Testament? New Testament? Last will and testament?’ I muse aloud. Jamie’s sharp intake of breath has me snagging on that one. Will. Ah, yes. Bequeath. Determination. Testament, and… Volition. Triumphantly, I hit Select.‘Will.Three down, one to go.’

I highlight the four remaining words: Hitch, join, espouse, wed. No guessing required. ‘Marry. I did it! That was so clever, guys.’