“It might not be wise to tell me that.”
“And why’s that?” I asked.
“Because now I’m standing here picturing you in a barmaid’s dress with your hair in ringlet curls.”
“And?” I shot back.
“Well now I’m trying to decide between an apron or a corset,” he replied.
“Now you have to go with the corset and a gown with a waist-high split,” Thor chimed in.
“Bring it on,” I replied, reaching for the pitcher. “I’ll even wear silicone boobs for the full effect. I’ve got no shame. You should know that, Thor, or have you forgotten the time I dressed up as the school mascot for a bull ride in the junior rodeo?”
“Shit, actually, I had,” Thor grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck as he smirked at me. “That was a sight.”
“What was your school mascot?” Payne asked.
“A unicorn,” Thor admitted, shaking his head.
“No way.”
“Yes way, and let me tell you, on any given homecoming, you could walk into the diner on Main Street and hear several generations of former graduates loudly complaining about how much they hated it and longed for something more rugged, like a Mustang, or a Bulldog, or even a Wolverine.”
“So, you rode a bull dressed in a unicorn costume?” Payne murmured.
“A shimmery, skintight, sparkly purple unicorn costume that left so much glitter on the bull, he still had shiny purple splotches on his sides a week later,” Thor said in-between cackling peals of laughter.
An owl hooted loudly, the sound of its wingbeats as it flew off echoing as much as our renewed laughter.
“I think we scared off someone’s dinner,” Payne said.
“That or we just protected our bunny from potential danger,” I said as I palmed Payne’s tail.
“Mmm, I didn’t think about that,” Thor replied. “We’d better guard this tail with our lives until it’s parked somewhere.”
“Preferably on one of our laps,” I added, loving the way Payne’s eyes lit up at the sound of that.
We knew we’d have plenty to talk about with him, but our best conversations always came after one of those games. I wasn’t sure if it was because we’d given our brains a break by slipping into our characters, and the reset of returning to reality brought clarity with it, or if we just needed the joy of the game before we dealt with heavy things, but it worked for us.
“I don’t intend to park it anywhere until I’ve seen all the games and done my best to trounce you both at them,” Payne declared, shooting me a challenging look. “And I do believe it’s your turn, Sir.”
“So it is,” I said, giving that bunny tail another squeeze as I passed him with my darts.
I’d found the sets at the same place I’d found the board and the checkers we had set up on a small stand a few feet away.
My first shot hit the bullseye; my second and third landed in the inner ring of the twenty. My bunny’s mouth dropped open before he shook his head at me.
“Well, now that we’re all warmed up, who’s ready for round two?” Payne asked, trailing a finger down my chest as he peered up at me. “This bunny still has more moves to show you.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing all your moves, bunny boy,” I flirted back.
“Get in line,” Thor said as Payne stepped up to take his turn.
How had I missed it the first time? Payne was left-handed, but he’d thrown right, like Thor, the first time he’d stepped up to the board.
“Hey, wait,” Thor said, studying our bunny the same way I was. “Did he just pull a Princess Bride on us?”
“I believe he did,” I muttered, watching him land one in the middle, one in the ring around the center, followed by a second on the opposite side of the ring, the three darts close to forming a perfect line.