As we dig through the bench seat for games, I’m reminded that Easton has a hell of a selection for being a bachelor. Something tells me that Jade probably brought these from her old home, and my chest pinches.
Living with Easton is new for her, too.
He’s been doing great, though, with both of us. Easton works so hard to make Jade feel welcome and loved, and I’ve never felt safer.
Or as emotionally turned around, if I’m honest.
Jade and I pick a couple of options, including Life and Clue, and we take them to the kitchen table, where Easton sits down with a bowl of popcorn. He smiles at her, rubbing her hair and mussing it up, to which she slaps his hand away, complaining that he is “ruining her do.”
“Sure, sure, it's a ponytail. Whatever you say. All right, what games did you find?”
Jade perks up and holds out the two options we found in the bench seat.
Between the two of them, I can tell Easton is already aiming towards Clue, and I don't mind in the slightest. It's one of my favorites, too.
As long as I can be Ms. Scarlet.
Doling out the pieces and idly munching popcorn as we do, we make small talk about how gloomy and dark it looks outside. The sky is still that strange shade of green, even with the rain pattering against the windows, and it's pretty loud.
“Should we put on some music?” I raise my brows at Jade.
“Oh yes, let's put on music so that we can play and the rain doesn't sound so scary,” Jade says.
It's just a little rain, but alright. Easton rolls his eyes. He walks over to the entertainment center in the living room andputs on low-fi hip-hop, a type of music I have forced him to listen to over the past couple of days.
When he comes back to the table, we have all the pieces set up for Clue, all of us with our little cards accounted for and the envelope full of whoever the murderer might be. We begin the game, and it is just as fun as I remember it.
Probably twice as much fun because we have Jade with us, who manages to find something funny to point out about every single character on the board.
Time flows quickly. We go through several different rounds. Jade wins one. I win one, but Easton doesn't win any.
And then we take a break to go get real food because we've emptied the popcorn bowl and need something more substantial.
It's so strange to be in Easton's company like this. I enjoy it more than I'd like to admit. But there's this tiny voice in the back of my head that says we’re just playing house. The only reason that Easton is doing this is because of Neil's threat.
He wouldn't be here if it weren't for that.
Still, I can't help but wonder if having me in town, if seeing me again, is doing the same thing to him that it is to me.
Would it be a good idea to stay here in Red Lodge, to stay here with him?
Or is he just going to pick up and leave like he did last time, promises of returning to me dashed against the summer breeze?
“All right, we're changing games. We're switching over to Life. I'm not going to sit here and lose two more times to either of you.”
Easton sits down with the new board game at the table, all grins and fake sadness over losing. Jade giggles, and I help Easton set up Life. It's such a weird choice, given everything that we're going through right now.
Weareplaying at Life. Aren't we?
Pretending like we're this couple, that Jade is our kid, that this isourhouse, and we're safe here.
I swallow down the thoughts. I don't want to ruin our lovely afternoon by being a mope.
As Life continues, we each get hit with several different bad luck cards, paying taxes or losing our jobs. But it's fun, and we can't help but laugh and tease each other.
It’s also so blissfully normal.
The day goes on like that for several hours. At one point, we order pizza for dinner, and we watch a movie before playing one more game before bed, which ends up being Uno.
