Wanna hang?
I smiled. I couldn’t help it.
I’m babysitting my little sisters. Maybe tomorrow?
Yeah. I want to take you into the city. I know of a cool park with a few marble chess tables. We can practice for Saturday.
Sounds good. What time? I asked, feeling happier than I cared to admit.
I don’t know. Noon?
Sounds good. I’ll meet you at the market at noon?
See you then
I laid my phone down and enjoyed the butterflies Salinger gave me. He made me forget stuff. For the first time in a really long time, I looked forward to something.
CHAPTER SIX
If I were to guess, I’d place Salinger’s height around six foot three. He had thin hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and fair skin. His hair was pitch black, straight as an arrow, and fell just below his ears. He parted it down the middle and tucked both sides behind his ears.
That afternoon, the afternoon we were to play chess, he wore a pair of worn jeans and a T-shirt with a cardigan over it with a pair of white Adidas. I immediately thought of how I wanted to steal his cardigan, wrap it around myself, smell it. He was so amazing.
When I pulled into the parking lot, he came bounding up to my car and opened my door for me.
“Thanks,” I said as he helped me down.
“Hey,” he greeted with a smile. “How’s your noggin?” he asked, lifting my hair to inspect the damage.
“It’s better.”
“How do you feel?” he asked. “Up for some chess?”
I looked up at him. I was a good foot shorter than he was. I was underweight. He was right when he guessed I didn’t eat very much, but it wasn’t from lack of trying, I assure you. Also, because of this, I had small boobs and cheekbones that stuck out a little too much, lending me a gaunt feel. I did have good hair, though. That, at least, I had. It reached my waist and was a smoky lilac color. I’d curled large waves into it before I left and used almost all of the last of the makeup I had.
The summer before, I’d gone to the thrift store in Smithfield, the next town over, with Katie because it was a more affluent area and the stuff there was much nicer than what we could find nearby. I wore a pair of black, fitted overalls, tapered at the legs, with a split hem, that I’d bought that day. I paired it with a white T-shirt. I didn’t have any money, but I tried to make what I already owned work. I had a bunch of different necklaces I’d collected over the years and piled them on top of each other, hoping to distract from the fact they were cheap. I topped it off with a pair of black ankle boots Katie had let me borrow. I hoped it worked.
“I’m good. I’m ready,” I told him.
He led me over to his Jeep, placing a hand on my lower back, making my skin tingle there and butterflies crowd my stomach. He opened my door for me and helped me in. He rounded the front and got in the driver’s seat.
It was more than an hour’s drive to the park with the marble chess tables, but it was worth it. The park was stunning with lots of fresh, bright green grass, tall, billowy trees shaded the chess area, which sat on gravel and stone. Wood folding chairs sat on a cart that read Woodcreek Recreation Center. Both of us grabbed a chair and picked an ideal spot, settling in.
Salinger had his own chess pieces he’d brought with him. They were heavy, looked to be made of stone, and were stored in a leather folding pouch that tied together with bits of leather string. I reached out, running my newly manicured fingers, thanks to Katie, over the worn leather and each piece laid side by side.
“That’s beautiful,” I told him.
“Thank you,” he said, placing the pieces between us. “They were my great-grandpa’s.”
“That’s cool.”
“Yeah, he was a cool dude. Fought in Korea where he met my great-grandmother. They got hitched when they were both nineteen and he brought her back over with him.” He sat back in his chair and stared up into the trees. “They were married seventy years. When she died, he passed two weeks later.”
“Couldn’t live without her then.”
“Couldn’t live without her,” he confirmed.
“That’s beautiful too,” I told him.
He smiled in answer and it stopped my heart a little.
We started playing one another but kept up the conversation.
“You look really pretty, Lily,” he told me, his gaze roaming the board.
For some inexplicable reason, that made my eyes sting. I blinked hard to work through it.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“When did you graduate?” he asked me, making a move.
“Last year.”
“Last year?” he asked, his voice an octave higher in what I assumed was disbelief.
“Yeah,” I laughed.
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen,” I answered. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Cool.”
“You’re so young,” he remarked, which made me laugh.
“Only four years younger than you.”
He shook his head. “No, I meant you’re so young for having so much talent at this game.”
I beamed a little. “Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “Checkmate.”
He laughed. Like, genuinely laughed really loud. He fell back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair then down his face. “Let’s go again,” he said, sitting back up, the biggest grin on his mouth.
We set the board back up.
“What time is the tournament?” I asked him.
“Ten in the a.m. Want me to pick you up?”
I imagined Salinger pulling up to my shack of a house, getting stared at by Sterling, then my being on the receiving end of an elbow to an eye when I walked back in after the tournament.
“Nah,” I said, trying to stay casual, “I’ll just meet you there. Text me the address.”
“Cool,” he said, nodding his head.
His index finger landed on a pawn but he thought better of it then wrapped his long fingers around the back of his head. He perused the board.
“I really like playing chess with you.”
“It’s a rush,” I said. “Way more fun than with a computer.”
He looked at me, a crooked smile fell across his face. “What’s your last name?”
“Hahn. Yours?”
“Park.”
I nodded and made a move.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“I was born on an army base in Germany. My dad was in the military and we moved around a lot.”
“Is that why you don’t like to stay in one place too long?” I asked him.
He blew out a deep breath. “Uh, no. I hated moving around that much and I never got used to it.”
“What?” I was confused. “Then why keep moving around now?”
A small smile fell across his lips. “I just haven’t found a place that feels like home yet. I give them a year and then I find somewhere else.”
“You’ve never been anywhere any time and felt as if you were home?”
“No,” he told me without further explanation.
I waited until his eyes met mine and when they did, my heart sped up. “Neither have I,” I confessed.
“It’s sort of an empty feeling, isn’t it?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I offered. “So you keep searching,” I observed.
A gust of wind blew the treetops around us and he glanced up at them. “Always searching,” he told the trees.
“I’ve never bothered looking,” I revealed.
“You should change that.”
“No money. No idea where I’d go.”
“It’s a risk, I admit it, but risk can be adventurous.”
It was quiet for a few minutes as we concentrated on playing.
“How do you know Noah?” I asked.
“I answered his ad for tutoring online. He needed help in a math class so I helped him out. We stayed friends.”
“That’s cool.”
“Yeah, Noah’s awesome.” He looked up from the board. “Is, uh, well… You and Ansen seem close.”
“Yeah, we grew up together. He’s like family.”
“Ah, I see. He takes good care of you.”
“Yeah, when he can. I try not to rely too terribly much on him. His girlfriend Katie is a good friend of mine too, and I don’t like making her uncomfortable.”
“I get it.”
“Any siblings?” I asked.
“None,” he answered. “You?”
“Yeah, I have two little sisters. Eloise and Callie. Eight and six.”
“Cool,” he said.
“They’re Sterling’s daughters.”