Page 5 of First Comes Marriage

Jamie slid a plate of pizza next to Baz’s elbow. “Standard rules—no proper nouns, and no words that aren’t in the dictionary.” He tapped a weathered paperback copy of the Miriam Webster dictionary that Baz kept in the game box. “No Dothraki, Quenya, Klingon, or any other made-up languages.”

“All languages are made up,” Gavin grumbled.

“Point of order—” Ethan began.

“Yes, the Portuguese names of foods count, but only if there isn’t really an English equivalent,” Jamie said. Ethan leaned back in his chair, mollified. “Mnemonic device acronyms are allowed but only if you have the entire acronym. Loser has to go to this convention next week. No rematches unless there’s a tie for last place. Did I forget anything?”

“Nope. Let’s play,” Gavin said.

“Aren’t you playing?” Baz asked, noting the lack of Scrabble tiles in front of Jamie.

“Tessa’s seven months pregnant. No way am I traveling anywhere. This is between the three of you.”

“And yet, you’re the one who promised Norm one of us would go,” Baz said with a shake of his head. “Isn’t that convenient?”

“That’s my grandbaby about to be born. I think I should be off the list too,” Ethan said.

“Nice try.” Gavin shuffled the tiles on his rack. “You go first.”

Baz stared at his tiles, the letters blurring and shifting in front of him. He blinked but it was no use. Maybe he was a little drunk after all. And now he was going to lose this game.

Of course, losing might not be that bad. Then he’d be the one flying off to the small-town tourism conference in Vegas, putting a whole country between himself and Sabrina. It would only be a temporary solution, but maybe it would be long enough for him to figure out how to be civil to her when they inevitably ran into each other in the cheese aisle at the grocery store. Long enough to remember that he wasn’t supposed to be attracted to someone he hated.

“Didn’t Norm say something about sending two delegates?” Gavin asked. “Two of us have to go to this thing?”

Jamie shook his head. “Mrs. Greene said she’s filled the second spot already.”

“Then one of us has to spend a few days in Vegas with our former elementary school teacher. Nothing weird about that at all. You’re up, Baz.” Ethan leaned back in his chair with a smug smile.

Ethan and Gavin had already played their opening words, each one six letters and worth more points than Baz could calculate after drinking four fingers of Scotch. Squinting at the board, he lay down two tiles.

“That’s the best you can do?” Ethan laughed. “Do youwantto go to this conference?”

Baz glared at him.

“If you’re only going to play swear words, you’re going to have to get more creative than that,” Gavin said, inclining his head towards Baz’s move.

“Shit isn’t a swear. They don’t even bleep it on TV,” Jamie said.

“Huh. I guess you’re right.” Gavin lay out his own tiles.

“I thought we said no made-up words.” Baz pointed at Gavin’s mess of consonants. “How the hell do you even say that?”

“Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge,” Gavin said. “Mnemonic device. Didn’t you take piano lessons with Mrs. Blumenthal when you were a kid?”

“I thought it was Every Good Boy Does Fine,” Ethan said.

Gavin shrugged. “Either way.”

It didn’t take long for his friends to completely destroy him, putting more than a hundred points between their scores and his.

Jamie clapped him on the shoulder as he stood from the table. “I’ll let Norm know to put the plane ticket in your name.”

Playing Scrabble when he was the only one who’d been drinking might not have been his best idea, but as much as he hated losing, he was starting to think that going to this conference might be exactly what he needed to get his head on straight. A few nights in the city of sin on the town’s dime, an anonymous out-of-town hookup or two, and by the time he returned to Aster Bay he’d be prepared to face his ex-fiancée’s little sister.

Chapter Three

Sabrina shoved her overstuffed carry-on under the seat in front of her with a grunt. It shifted a fraction of an inch, barely fitting in the meager space. She sighed and sank down into her window seat overlooking the wing of the airplane. Closing her eyes, she focused on her breathing. In for five, out for five, in for five, out for five, just the way she’d practiced.