He holds up his hands. “I’m a good person. I don’t deserve this.”
Levi is next to me on the sofa, and he chokes back a laugh. “I feel that deeply,” he says low enough so only I can hear.
“You’re a veteran of our armed services, Dean,” my dad says. “You can handle the pressure.”
Dean sighs, and I can almost see his wheels turning as he runs his eyes down the stack of games, looking for the one least likely to turn into an active combat situation. Ultimately, he decides on none of them. “Charades,” he says.
“Parents against their kids,” Sara says. “I’ll tell you now that all the ones I act out are going to be bowling ball, speed bag, pumpkin.” She looks down at her very pregnant belly and rubs it. “Maybe elephant.”
“Quit being mean to my wife,” Dean says, giving her a soft kiss.
My mom plops a bowl on the table. “I knew someone would pick charades, so I have strips ready to go. Warren, why don’t you start?”
“You got it.” He picks his paper, thinks about it, and stands. It’s a place. After pulling up the tip of his nose for them to guess “pig” and wiggling his hand until they get “spider,” Dr. Taft guessesCharlotte’s Web. My dad gets them to guess a house, then several houses, and finally Mrs. Taft guesses, “Charlottesville.”
“I’ll go,” Dean says. He tells us we’ve got a person, and we quickly guess “newspaper reporter.”
Mrs. Taft goes, and her team eventually guesses the jingle for a jeweler whose commercials jam the radio nonstop from December to February.
“You go,” Sara says, waving me up when it’s our turn.
I don’t want to. I want to stay right here, curled beside Levi on the sofa. He’s been back in town for a week, and he’ll be here until mid-January, but I always feel the pressure of making every minute of our time together count. For the last year, he’s been home at least as much as he’s been away, and that’s been a good thing. But every time he’s back in town, almost from the minute he’s here, I feel my internal clock already counting down to when he has to leave again.
“Up,” my mom orders me. “Your turn.”
I groan and push myself off the sofa, plucking my word from the bowl.Get me to the church on time. I wrinkle my forehead, trying to remember where I know the phrase from. Oh,My Fair Lady. The town did a production of it over the summer, and Eliza Doolittle’s dad sings it as he’s off to get married.
It takes almost the full minute for my team to guess because Sara keeps unhelpfully yelling, “It’s time for church!” Ultimately, Dean comes up with the answer at the buzzer, and the score is tied.
Dr. Taft gets our parents to guess “BFF,” although my mom has to explain the acronym to my dad.
“My go,” Levi says, standing and looking at everyone. “We’ve had an interesting range of clues tonight.” He points to my dad and then each person who has played, in order. “Charlottesville, newspaper reporter, a jewelry store jingle, get me to the church on time, and BFFs.” He thinks for a few seconds. “I’m going to do my own clue, see if I can tie it all together.”
I wait for the parents to boo him, but they look fine with this.
Hold on.
Something is up…
I run through the clues again, as Levi nods for his dad to start the timer on his phone.Charlottesville. Newspaper reporter. Jewelry store. Get me to the church. BFFs.Is that supposed to mean something?
Levi points to me. “Taylor,” my mom says.
He points to his heart. “You love Taylor,” Sara says. “She’s your BFF.”
He makes a big circle shape in the air with his hands. “You love her more than anything in the whole wide world,” Dean says.
Levi makes airplane arms then holds his arm out, palm facing us. “You want to stop traveling and settle down near here. Maybe Charlottesville,” my dad says.
My heart pounds hard, my blood making a pulsing sound in my ears.
Levi waves his hand to encompass the whole room. “You want a home of your own,” Mrs. Taft says.
Then he gets down on one knee in front of me, and my hands fly to my mouth.
“Oh,” Dr. Taft says, “I know this one. That means he wants to get married.”
Levi slides his hand into his pocket and pulls out a ring box from the jeweler in the radio jingle.
