In a Book Club Far Away(25)

“Pfft. Waffle mix, shmaffle mix. I can make waffles from scratch.” It felt like a challenge. Regina’s mind ran through the ingredients she had in her pantry, and for the first time in the last week, she actually felt like cooking. “In fact, I might have everything I need here.”

“Even better. And here’s the second thing.” Adelaide lifted a book and presented it with a game-show-hostess flair.

Room, the next book club book.

Regina groaned. “I take it back. Turn down the lights. I want to be alone. Leave me to wallow and get scurvy. I’d rather be stuck in this room than actually read that depressing book.”

“Nuh-uh. I think it’s apropos, don’t you think?” Sophie laughed. “You’re stuck with us, lady. The two of us, and book club. Get used to it. And better start reading.”





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Sophie




October 2011

A few weeks later, and right on time, Sophie’s waning optimism took a tumble in between helping others with their deployment blues and the next book club meeting—at an escape room, no less—that seemed to never end.

Nothing like a room one needed to escape to remind her she was enclosed in a time warp that would only end in eight months.

“This thing… it won’t untangle!” Sophie’s fingers fumbled with the knot in a rope that was tied to a key. Next to her, Regina and Frank Montreal struggled against their own knots for their own keys. The other end of their ropes were secured to a ground hook.

One of these keys would open the exit door.

“Almost… there,” Regina squeaked. “Frank, how are you doing?

Frank grunted next to her. The other three book clubbers behind them cheered. “I’m stressing! People out there are probably laughing at us. My fingers are on fire.”

This was the first escape room in the area, and the line for this challenge was long with other groups waiting their turn. They were also being videotaped.

“There’s a nurse in the room just in case something happens, don’t worry. C’mon, keep going!” said Sophie. The faster one of their keys unlocked the room, the faster she could go home and lie on her bed and simply read. “We’ve got five minutes left!”

Regina growled; Frank grunted.

“I’m almost there!” Regina yelled. “Oh my God, this is not what I signed up for. We’re not even talking about the book.”

“Shhh. Focus on the keys! You all are moving slower than molasses,” Adelaide screamed.

“Someone, someone say something,” Frank said. “I’m to the last knot. Distract me.”

“Oh, okay, um, I really liked the book. It was devastating. I can’t even imagine,” said Colleen, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She was a German woman married to an Army soldier. She was also a math whiz, which had been a help in the room. Without her, they would have still been stuck at the puzzles, which incorporated some geometry and algebra.

It was Colleen’s idea to do an escape room challenge for October’s book club. Which, at the time, seemed like a good idea, a great way to kick-start the neighborhood after deployment. Now Sophie couldn’t blame those who had decided to bow out for the month. The sun was setting earlier, the air was getting chilly, and with Jasper not home, all she wanted to do was curl up and watch TV.

“Fear is what I felt,” Frank said. Sweat bloomed on his forehead. “I know the story is told through Jack’s eyes, but all I could think of was his mother. She tried so hard to make it the best life she could. A couple of times, I had to sit there and remind myself that it was fiction. This book wasn’t a true story, but aren’t each of us just trying to do the same thing—survive in our own bubble? In our own room?”

“That’s deep, Frank.” Sophie paused to appreciate that thought. Okay, maybe she needed book club for that aha moment. She was starting to hibernate. Lately all she wanted was to hide in her bedroom. “It was sad that Jack called each inanimate object by its name, as if they were human friends. It got me in my soft spot.”

“Soft spot? You have a soft spot?” Regina grunted out.

“Hey, I’m a nurse, I have a soft everything.”

“I beg to differ.”

The team laughed.

“She’s right, though, Soph,” Adelaide said. “Don’t be mad, you’re just sometimes… well…”

“You’re hard to read,” Frank added, grunting. “And pardon my language, but you give no fucks. Which isn’t a bad thing, mind you.”

“Oh! I got another loop out! I’m almost there.” Regina rested her arms at her side. “I need a couple of seconds.”

The team cheered, and Sophie joined in, though the comments took her aback. Her fingers relaxed against her own knot. She’d known these people two months now, and their love language was teasing and sarcasm. All her life, Sophie had been able to dish as much as she could take. But in that moment, she felt raw. Her attempts at a clinic job had come up short; she hadn’t even been asked for an interview.

Without Jasper around, she didn’t have the daily pats on the back, the backup to remind her that she was amazing. Her twins wore her out daily, and this sometimes made her feel inadequate. The strength that she was supposed to feel, the steadiness of her experience, was starting to ebb. Everyone seemed to look to her, just as Jasper had asked her to check on Regina, because she was a caregiver.