The Waiting Game by Unknown

man never was going to come along in the world in which I was living. He’s always been a bad influence on me. Just ask my parents. They think I get my occasional bursts of unpredictability and unconventional behavior from his side of the family."
    Adrian nodded. "He can be unpredictable and unconventional but he has a way of getting things done.
    He really did give you to me, Sara. I’m not making that up."
    The camaraderie she had been feeling faded into a new kind of uneasiness. "It was a joke, Adrian. I’m sure of it. Even Uncle Lowell wouldn’t go that far."
    "Then why the matching gifts?"
    "The crystal apples? They probably just took his fancy in some shop and he decided to buy a couple."
    "He told me he had them specially made by a craftsman on the coast who works in glass," Adrian said.
    "Adrian, I really don’t know why he would give us a matching set of crystal apples, but I don’t see that it matters one way or the other!"
    "And what about that message on the tape at his cottage? The bit about protecting our wedding gift?"
    "Now that," she admitted dryly, "was fairly bizarre. Your guess is as good as mine. But knowing Uncle Lowell, he was probably referring to something obvious."
    "It would be just like him," Adrian agreed thoughtfully.
    "When he shows up," Sara went on forcefully, "I’m going to have a few pointed remarks to make to him."
    It was after dinner that Sara began to experience a strange nervousness. She knew the focus of it was the inevitable approach of bedtime and the necessity of making a dignified exit that was neither provocative nor rude. You learned to distinguish such subtle variations of behavior when you’d been through as many different careers as she had, she decided ruefully.
    It wasn’t that she was expecting a heavy-handed pass from Adrian. He didn’t seem to do things heavy-handedly as far as she could tell. Just very deliberately. He certainly wouldn’t pressure her into bed.
    But there was no denying the sexual tension that now existed between them, and if he alluded to it, she would find it difficult to deny.
    The graceful approach was to keep things light and casual, she decided. That’s the tone she would strive to maintain. After this first night it would be easier. Tonight would set the tone for the rest of her stay under his roof. She sensed it instinctively.
    "Ah, a checkerboard," she exclaimed as she followed him into the living room after dinner. It struck her as the perfect answer to the question of how to spend the rest of the evening. "Are you any good?"
    "At checkers? Fair, I guess. I’ll give you a couple of games." Adrian poured two brandies and carried them across the room to the table where Sara was busily setting up the game. "I’ve played your uncle a few times."
    "He prefers chess."
    "So do I, usually."
    "I only played it during my college years," she confided cheerfully. "It seemed to fit the academic image. Haven’t played it since. I didn’t really like it." She lined up the checkers in their little squares.
    "All that business about strategy and having to think several moves ahead was far too much like work to me. When I play games, I like to play."
    "I see." He gave her a half-questioning, half-amused glance. "Checkers may be simpler but it’s a game of strategy, too."
    "You play it your way and I’ll play it mine," she ordered, reaching out to make the first move.
    Four games later they faced each other across the width of the table. Adrian’s expression was one of wry wariness. Sara was feeling quite cheerful.
    "That’s two wins apiece," she pointed out. "One more game to settle the matter."
    "Who the hell taught you to play?" he grumbled as he set out his pieces.
    "I’m strictly self-taught," she acknowledged brightly. In truth, she was secretly pleased with her two victories. They had been achieved with wild, haphazard moves that clearly offended her opponent, who had won his two games with careful, precise strategy.
    "It shows. You