New Beginnings: A Hessa Story (2)

Chapter 93: Tessa

"Are you sure that's even a real word?" Landon queried me as I score myself 76 points on a word in Scrabble. I remember my mother teaching me words that rack up points when I was a child.

"You've never heard the word, quixotic?"

He shakes his head, chuckling. "Not all of us were English majors in college." I guess he has a point.

"It's like saying something is too good to be true, like unpractical or unrealistic. For example: Hardin showing up here right now would be quixotic, aka, unrealistic."

"You never know, the snow has died down." I glance out the window for the tenth time in the last hour to make sure the snow hasn't started up again. "I haven't heard from Nora in a while. I should call her once the game is over."

Landon creates the word 'earth' using the T in quixotic.

"Earth? That's the best you could do?" I playfully tease him.

"You know what, how many points was that?"

I count the numbers in my head, internally cheering when it totals as a number much less than mine was. "Fourteen."

He groans loudly and writes the number down on the small paper. "So the score is now... 135 to 215. You're too damn good at this game."

"What can I say?" I shrug like I haven't played this game a million times.

"I'll beat you one of these days."

"The only person who has ever beaten me is my mother, and she taught me how to play, so I wouldn't get your hopes up with that." I laugh to myself at a memory that just resurfaced. "I remember in elementary school we would have recess outside, but if the weather was bad which it always was because we lived in Washington, we would play games inside. There was a huge collection of every board game imaginable: Monopoly, Life, Clue, Chutes and Ladders, literally everything. Anyway, each time we played inside, we would have a Scrabble match similar to a chess match where students would bet their lunch money on who would win. I was known as the reigning champ from third grade until I graduated."

"That's so funny!" Landon holds his stomach. "Kids really bet money on you?"

"Yeah, it was wild! Only for a little while because a teacher found out that there was gambling happening in the school cafeteria."

"I was known as the guy who always had a pencil on him at any time. Literally, kids called me "Leady Landon" like pencil lead. It was humiliating." His face blushes in embarrassment.

"Leady Landon! I love that! Do you have a pencil in your pocket now?"

He pulls a pen out of his pants pocket. "Always."

"Shut up!" I bend over in laughter. My stomach hurts, and tears are pouring out of my eyes.

"You told her the Leady Landon story?" Nora's voice startles us as she pops her head into the kitchen. "The man never leaves without some sort of writing device. I kid you not."

"What are you doing home!?" Landon rushes over to her, but Nora walks straight passed him to Addy in her little carrier sitting on the table. "There's my baby!" She picks up Addy and showers her with kisses all across her chubby cheeks.

"Hellooo!" Landon yells and waves his arms dramatically, halting Nora's showcase of affection with her daughter. "How the hell did you get home?"

"With a car." The corners of her mouth turn up in a smile as Landon rolls his eyes at her smart ass remark.

"The roads aren't bad?" I ask her.

"They aren't good by any means, but they're not terrible. I think the storm's over for the night."