Lucian Divine(60)

The crowd gasped, but I started laughing.

Evey went on. “She means well, some of the time, but I think instead of a toast, right now Brooklyn needs a roast, even if it is at her own wedding. So here it is, Brooklyn booger picker. That was her nickname in the third grade.” Evey looked at her notes then looked up again. “Oh, and by the way, this was the third speech that I wrote for Brooke. The first went on and on about what a good friend she’s been to me—not all true—and the second version talked about love and sacrifice and how thanks to Lucian”—she winked at me—“I finally know what that means. But I want to be real with you all. The truth is that Keith is an angel, a real angel for taking this girl on.”

Evey jutted a thumb in Brooklyn’s direction while she continued staring at me. She laughed then turned toward Keith, who was smiling kindly at her. The audience was chuckling, and of course Brooklyn looked furious.

“First of all, you’re going to have to learn to do dishes, sweet Keith, because our darling Brooklyn will never, in her life, do a dish. She might cook for you—though she has a habit of eating the entire meal before it’s finished—but dishes… forget it.”

The crowd was in hysterics.

Evey looked back at Brooklyn, who was not happy. “I say most of this with a light heart because Brooklyn is the sister I never had. We can tell each other anything, and we’ve been there for one another for a long time and I know we always will be. This year we made a lot of changes.” She finally addressed Brooklyn directly. “I’m proud of us, Brooke, for finally growing up, putting an end to our codependency issues, and finding two awesome guys to share our lives with. I love you so much, and I can’t wait to see where life takes us.”

Everyone clapped. Evey went over and hugged a smiling Brooklyn. We were going through so much unknown crap, but Evey was selflessly there for her friend through all of Brooke’s bridezilla moments during the planning process. I hadn’t expected the roast, but after hearing her words, I realized that both girls had come a long way. I was proud to see Evey standing up to Brooklyn and to see Brooklyn finally showing some much-deserved appreciation for her best friend.

As I sat there watching the girls dance, memories swirled around in my head. I thought back to a day in the park when Evey was playing chess with Charlie. She was maybe ten years old and her mom was sitting on a bench close by, watching her. Evey was an excellent chess player from a young age. She had gotten so good that she could beat her mom and dad, so her mom would take her to the park to play against Charlie. He was a good teacher for a while, but he could be grumpy. He was also experiencing the very early stages of dementia, so I’d pop into his body once in a while to give Evey more of a challenge.

“Ah, no, Evey. Think about that move. You need to be thinking about my next five moves,” I had said.

“But I don’t know what you’re going to choose to do, Charlie.”

“By moving your bishop across the board for a lousy pawn, you’ll expose your queen. See here. It’s not worth it. I’ll have your queen in three moves.”

“Hmmm.” She scratched her little chin like she was years wiser than me.

“Evelyn, did you know that the knights aren’t allowed to be next to the queen because she thinks the horses stink?”

“Everyone knows that.”

Ha! My smart girl.

She was staring at the board, concentrating on her next move. “I can’t decide if I should move my knight or one of these little dudes.”

“They’re called pawns, luv.”

“I know, but I want to call them little dudes.”

I smiled at her. “Call them whatever you want. You know what I think? I think if there was a princess in the game of chess, she’d look just like you.”

She giggled. “Charlie, how come you don’t have a wife or kids?”

“What was that?” I asked then popped out of Charlie’s body. I didn’t know the answer.

Evey repeated, “How come you don’t have a wife and kids, Charlie?”

“I don’t know, luv. I guess I wanted a career. I spent a lot of time working and just didn’t see how a family would fit in.”

I watched with trepidation, not knowing how the conversation would affect Evey.

“Why can’t you have both?” Evey asked.

“Well, sometimes if you want to be really good at something or really successful, there isn’t much time for the monotony of domestic life.” He scratched his mustache and studied the chessboard.

He put his hand on the rook and Evey said, “But you’ll expose your queen if you do that.”

Charlie looked at her and laughed. “Well, aren’t you the little grandmaster.”

“It’s what you just taught me.”

He nodded, still watching the chessboard.

“Charlie, do you get lonely now that you’re retired and don’t have a family?”

He seemed to be getting agitated by her line of questioning. I wondered if I should intervene. “Sometimes, kid, family is just added weight keeping you down.”

Evey scowled before glancing at her mother on the bench. She was offended and rightfully so. I’d had enough. I moved into Charlie’s crummy old body. “I’m just kidding. You can have it all, especially because you’re smart, my little princess.”