Chris took a piece of bread and hungrily took a bite. "Thanks, actually my stomach thanks you. Yes, it is beautiful." Chris suddenly felt tongue-tied. Her mind went blank. Think of something to say, stupid.

Lynn broke the silence. "Well, I need to check on the vegetables."

Chris, finally able to open her mouth, asked, "Anything else that I can do?"

"No, just sit down, relax, and enjoy the view. Feel free to have some more bread, there's plenty more," Lynn answered as she stepped back inside.

Chris grabbed another piece of bread, took a drink from her bottle, and leaned on the railing.

"Hey, sorry I took so long," Matt apologized as he stepped out onto the deck still shaking out his wet hair.

"I hear you're starving!"

"No problem." Chris smiled as she held up a piece of bread. "I was saved."

"So, did Lynn tell you about the game that I want to play tonight?" Matt asked.

"No, this was your idea, I thought I'd let you explain it," Lynn said as she brought out the remainder of the meal.

"Well, I played a different version of Scrabble once at a party. Kind of a get to know each other kind of thing," Matt explained as he pulled out a chair and sat down. "You see, every word that you make, you have to use to tell a story about yourself."

"That sounds kind of fun!" Chris said as she loaded her plate. "Oh man, this is great!" she said as she took a bite of the meat.

"Yep, you really outdid yourself this time!" Matt said upon swallowing his first bite.

Lynn smiled. "Aw, it was nothing," she said as she took a bite, and leaned back in her chair, appreciating the food and the company.

"Okay, I'll go first," Matt said as he laid down the letter tiles to form the word FAMILY.

The meal had been cleared away and replaced with the Scrabble game board. Matt sat back and related the first story of the evening.

"Every year my family would take a summer vacation. One year, we went to Hawaii and our luggage went to someplace like Arkansas. When our luggage finally caught up with us, we opened it up and found hay mixed in with our clothes!"

"You're kidding!" Lynn chuckled.

Matt shook his head and raised his right hand. "I swear!" Turning to Chris, he said, "Okay, let's hear your story about family."

Chris looked down and fiddled with her napkin. Most of her memories made her feel so melancholy. Then she remembered something that made her smile. "Well, I told you that my family traveled around a lot due to my dad's career in the military. It got so that every house or apartment looked the same. My mom never really kept many knickknacks or anything, because she got tired of packing and unpacking them. So no place really felt like home. Until one day, my dad brought home a bouquet of daisies. For some reason, they just warmed up the place. And from then on, everywhere we moved, the first night my dad would bring home a bunch of daisies." Chris paused and shook her head. "Those simple daisies would always make wherever we were* home."

After a moment of silence, Lynn looked at Matt. "I liked her story better."

Matt threw his napkin at Lynn. "It's not a contest!" He motioned to Chris, "Your turn."

Chris placed her letters on the board, connecting with the "F" in FAMILY. FOOD.

"Not quite as deep as aefamily'* but just as important!" Chris smiled and continued, "My favorite food is Mexican food. Anything Mexican*tacos, enchiladas, burritos*mmm!"

"I'd have to say, Italian food would be my choice," Matt responded. "I love all the sauces, the marinara and Alfredo sauces are my favorite."

Matt placed his letters off of the "D" in FOOD. DRINK. "What's your favorite drink?" he asked Chris.

"Alcoholic or non-alcoholic?" Chris questioned.

"Either, both. Mine are Sprite and Long Island iced tea."

"Diet c.o.ke and Malibu rum and c.o.ke."

Lynn listened to Chris's choices and remembered the taste of the slight hint of coconut provided by the specialty rum. The thought brought back another memory. The taste of coconut as she kissed the neck of a coconut-oiled woman in the hot sand not far from where they were currently seated. The next word on the board brought Lynn out of her daydream.

MONEY was the word Chris set down, off of the "Y" in FAMILY.

"Money is something I am constandy worrying about. And next year they are raising the tuition costs again," Chris complained.

"Well, I'm no stranger to money problems," Matt explained.

"My shop just barely makes ends meet. That's one major complaint that my dad has with me."

Lynn found herself lost in another thought. Matt was repairing Chris's car for free for her partic.i.p.ation in this charade. Maybe Lynn could find another way to show Chris her appreciation for helping her best friend. Lynn made a mental note to herself to find out the current tuition costs at the university.

Matt placed the word ILL off of the "I" in DRINK. "When I was ten years old, I had my tonsils out. It's the only time that I've been ill enough to be in the hospital. How about you?"

"I threw my knee out when I was a senior in high school while playing volleyball. I had surgery and was on crutches for several weeks. But I've never actually been in the hospital with an illness," Chris replied.

Chris kid her letter tiles down from the "M" in MONEY to form MOVIE.

"Favorite movie?" she asked Matt.

"Bird Cage" Matt replied.

Chris smiled at Lynn, then looked back at Matt. "I can't tell your parents that your favorite movie is Bird Cagel"

"Why would you have to?"

"You never know when something like that may come up."

"Okay, okay, something more masculine, right? How about the Lethal Weapon series?"

Chris and Lynn nodded in agreement.

"And yours?" Matt asked Chris.

"Give me anything Doris Day. I love the old Doris Day movies!" Chris answered.

Matt looked at Lynn then back at Chris. "You're kidding, right?"

Chris shook her head. "No, why?"

"Lynn drives me crazy with those movies. She has a whole collection, you know."

"Cool!" Chris replied.

"Yeah, I've got them all. Pillow Talk, Move Over Darling, Please Don't Eat the Daisies*" Lynn rambled on.

"Yeah, yeah, you two can reminisce later. My turn." Matt laid down FUN, connecting to the "N" in MONEY. "What do you do for ran?"

"I guess I'm kind of boring. In the summer, I have some friends that I go camping or hiking with. Sometimes, I just hang out at the pool. In the winter, I like to snuggle in with a good book, or if a game is on, I love to watch football."

"I love to go camping and hiking, but you can keep the football. You'll have to get with Lynn on that. I swear that's all she does in the winter!"

Chris turned to Lynn. "Really? Who's your team?"

"Denver Broncos," announced Lynn.

Chris named her favorite, "Cowboys."

They both laughed.

"Neither of our teams has been doing very well," Lynn explained to Matt.

"Okay, okay, enough football talk," Matt said, jealous that the two had so much in common.

Chris laid the tiles SEA on top of FOOD to form SEAFOOD.

"I'm allergic to seafood. Shrimp, crab, lobster*one bite and I swell up like a balloon. If that happens, just take me to the hospital," Chris explained.

"Wow, that's good to know. Any other allergies that we need to know about? Bee stings, aspirin, penicillin?" Lynn asked.

"Nope, just seafood."

"Hey, I thought you said that you'd never been to the hospital due to an illness," Matt questioned.

"Oh, sorry, that's just an emergency room thing, I didn't think it counted," Chris explained.

"Okay. Well, I'm not allergic to anything," Matt responded.

"Speaking of penicillin," Matt said as he connected with the "S" in SEAFOOD to form DRUGS. "Any addictions that we need to know about?"

Lynn looked at Chris with an apologetic smile. "Not very tactful, huh?"

"That's okay," Chris replied and looked Matt straight in the eye. "No addictions, Mr. McKinley. Not drugs, not alcohol, nothing!"

"Well, I needed to know!" Matt answered Lynn's glare.

"Let's lighten up the mood a little," Chris said, placing the word MUSIC off of the "U" in DRUGS. "I like most kinds of music except rap. And I can only stand maybe one reggae song at a time. But my mood usually determines what music I listen to."

"Matt's a jazz freak," Lynn commented.

"What do you mean by freak?" Matt argued. "Just because I don't like all that headbanger music that you warp your mind with!"

"Matt, I really don't consider Van Halen and Def Leppard to be aeheadbanger' music," Lynn said in her defense.

Then turning to Chris, Matt asked, "Do you even know who those groups are?"

"Of course I do," Chris answered. "They have some great songs!"

"Now, she's just trying to be polite to you, Lynn," Matt explained.

Lynn shook her head. "Your turn, Matt."

Matt placed his letters on the board, CRIME, connected to the "E" in MOVIE.

Chris looked at Lynn. "I guess we're not lightening up the mood." Then turning to Matt, she asked, "I suppose you want to know if I've ever been arrested for anything?"

"Matt!" Lynn glared across the table once again.

"It's okay, Lynn. He found me out," Chris said with a serious look on her face. "I've got a criminal record. I was arrested as a Russian spy!" Chris kept the serious look on her face as long as she could, but upon seeing Lynn holding in a laugh out of the corner of her eye, she broke out in laughter.

"Funny, funny. But she'd thank me if it turned out you were a murderer or something!" Matt exclaimed, pointing at Lynn.

"Yeah, like she'd really tell you if she were a murderer!" Lynn said through her laughter.

Mart's face remained solemn, so Chris took his question seriously. "No, Matt, I've never been arrested or convicted of any crime."

"Thank you," Matt mumbled.

Lynn watched as Chris set down the letters with a mischievous grin. If Matt wasn't going to lighten up, then she would give him a little bit more information than he really wanted. The word she placed was HOTEL off of the "L" in ILL.

Chris took a swig of her beer. "Okay, HOTEL. I lost my virginity in a hotel, prom night, to the captain of the football team."

"Hey! Me too!" Matt exclaimed.

"You mean on prom night?" Chris asked, surprised by his reaction, "No, not actually on prom night, but it was the captain of the football team!" Matt replied.

Lynn, after being taken aback by Chris's openness, suddenly woke up. "Wait a minute, I haven't heard this story!"

"Nothing much to tell. I was dating his sister, but I scored with the brother," Matt explained.

"I'm sure his sister was thrilled about that!" Lynn remarked.

"Oh, she never found out. It was the summer after high school. He left for college, I never saw him again."

"And his sister?" Chris asked.

"We ended up having s.e.x, too. But the experience with her brother was much better. That's pretty much when I figured out that I was gay."

"Well, Matt!" Lynn remarked. "I never knew that you had such a sordid past!"

"I just hope they never figure it out!" Matt joked.