The house was beautiful, had a pool and everything. In the kitchen, Susie handed her a church key from where it hung on a hook on the side of the fridge so Skye could open one of the bottles of Angry Orchard.
“I’m still trying to believe I’m actually back here in Sarasota. It’s like everything’s falling together in a good way for a change.” Skye took a long pull from her bottle.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I mean, look at…” She glanced around and dropped her voice. “Look at Sunday night. It’s like the Universe is trying to tell me yeah, I’m finally on the right track with my life.”
“Better late than never.” Susie stroked her baby bulge. “We’re proof of that. That second chances can be around any corner.”
“I guess we take a couple of months off after you…” Skye pointed at Susie’s belly.
“Oh, no. As long as it’s not the day of or something.” She grinned. “Darryl and Grant can play my character for me if I need to take a night off, but having the game here, that’s a bonus.”
* * * *
Axel had stepped into the bathroom at the far end of the hall just before he heard the muffled sounds of Rusty and Eliza welcoming someone at the other end of the house.
Good, we can get started soon.
As he sat there and skimmed through e-mails on his phone, over the noise of the bathroom’s exhaust fan he could barely hear the muffled sound of Susie talking and showing someone around the house, giving them a tour. Then it sounded like most of the gang congregated in the spare bedroom that had been converted into a full-time game room.
If Grant and company didn’t mind an extra person, neither would he. It was their house, and they had the room at the table. He always kept his campaigns flexible in that way.
He finished, washed his hands, and opened the door just to literally run into a red-haired woman over a foot shorter than him who’d been heading for the bathroom herself, apparently.
He blinked. “Skye?”
Her eyes widened. “Holy crap,Axel?”
He finally found his voice. “Hey!” He leaned in for a hug, glad for the industrial-strength fart fan in the bathroom.
Otherwise, that would have definitely been embarrassing.
She didn’t seem inclined to let him go. “It’s so good to see you. They didn’t tell me you were part of the group.”
“I’m the DM.”
He wasn’t inclined to let go of her, either. Her hair smelled great, something floral, and she was still slim and trim.
Finally, he realized Rusty, Grant, Mike, and Eliza were spying on them with grins on their faces from the game room doorway.
“We’ll be there in a minute,” Axel called to them.
Rusty threw him a wink before following the others into the room.
Axel finally let go of her. “How’d you…I mean…how? Welcome. How?”
She smiled, sparing him. “I ran into all of them Sunday night at dinner with friends. Mike’s wife is a friend of Mom’s and got me my job down here.”
“Oh. Oh! That’s…that’s cool.” He felt like the world’s biggest idiot, like he’d forgotten how to talk. “That’s great. Glad you’re here. Are you going to be a permanent player?”
“I’d like to be, if that’s okay?”
“Um, sure. Yeah. I mean, yeah, of course it’s okay. Absolutely. Yeah.” He felt his face heat. Suddenly, he was once again a tongue-tied junior trying to figure out how to ask the pretty girl if she’d like to go see a movie with him that weekend. “Yeah. That’s great.”
“I’ve missed you,” she softly said, giving him one last, quick hug and ducking around him, into the bathroom, leaving him standing there looking at the closed door and trying to process that comment.
Me?
