* * *
Alicia is there when I get back. Toby’s playing her at chess in the games room. I walk in and find Toby’s brow furrowed. “Might have me beat in three moves,” he says, glancing up and looking my way. “Maybe we should call it a draw?”
“No fair,” Alicia says. “Just because you’re losing.”
“All right,” he replies, knocking over his king with one finger. “You win.”
She grins at him. “You said you were good at this.”
“Not as good as you.” He gets to his feet, nodding my way. “She’s had her dinner. I’ll see myself out.”
“Thanks for watching her,” I reply.
“No trouble at all. Me and the ball and chain are considering one of our own. Gives me a good insight into what it’s like to be a parent. You lose a lot of games, apparently.”
“Bye, Toby!” she shouts after him.
I sit opposite her. “You want to play?” she asks.
“I’ve no idea how.”
“I’ll show you if you like.”
“Sure. Why not?”
She explains how the pieces work, and I try to take it all in as best I can. I’ve lost my queen and two bishops within a few minutes of the game. “This is not going well,” I say as she swipes a knight off the board.
“Takes time to learn,” she says. “Daddy says the best things take time to master.”
“I bet he does. How was your weekend?”
“Great. I stayed at Claudette’s house. Did you know her name is French? She comes from a place in Normandy, and she showed me these medals her great-granddad got in the war. They were cool. They had these dark bits on them that she said were just dirt, but I bet it was blood. What do you think?”
“I’m not sure.” I slide a pawn forward, and she shakes her head.
“Shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why not?”
She leaps it with a knight and says, “Check.”
I look at the board. “Oh, I see.”
“Never mind. You could still win. Claudette told me she wants to work on a boat someday, which got me thinking about what I want to do when I grow up.”
“And what do you want to do?”
“I want to run a magazine like you do.”
“I don’t run a magazine. I just work at one.”
“Daddy says you’re in charge of it. Says he put you in charge because you know best.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but if you like, I could bring you into the office one day and show you around.”
“I’d love that.”
“Hey, maybe we could do a kid’s version someday. What do you think?” I slide a bishop toward the top right-hand corner of the board.