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“Doctor Grace, we have no time to be playing these childish games.” Eva Stratt tapped her fingers against her desk. “We have a meeting in ten minutes that we cannot delay because you had the urge to play UNO.”
“All I’m hearing is that we have ten minutes to play UNO.” Grace held up a deck of weathered cards. The frayed edges and discolored surface were a testament to how often the man played the game. How silly to be dedicating so much of his time to a card game.
“We have nine minutes now.”
Grace tapped the deck against her desk to align the cards. “Nine minutes is enough.” He split the deck and shuffled the cards expertly, his long fingers going through the familiar motion with an ease that was surprisingly attractive. She raised her eyebrows.
“You play often?”
He shrugged. “I play with Ilyukhina sometimes, but she always cheats.”
“I’m sure she’s the only one doing the cheating.”
“Hey, I don’t cheat!” He split the deck and shuffled again.
“You cheated last week in the only game we ever played.”
“I’m sure I was the only one doing the cheating.” He dealt seven cards out to each of them.
“You have no evidence that I was cheating.”
“Sure, sure.” He placed the deck down and flipped the first card over. “You start.”
Eva picked up her cards and arranged them according to color. She placed a blue 4 on top of the starting red 4 card.
Grace huffed in frustration. He picked up a card.
“Really? We just started.”
Grace looked at the card and frowned. Another green card to add to his stack of mostly green cards. “I don’t think I shuffled well enough.”
Eva shrugged. “My cards are good.” She placed a blue 6 down.
Grace drew another card. Another green.
“No blues and no sixes? Interesting.” Stratt played a green six.
Grace sat up and slapped down a green 1. He grinned. Eva placed a green 3. Grace played two cards: skipping her turn with the first card and then a +4.
Stratt blinked. “You had that the entire time?”
“Yeah,”
“Why didn’t you play that before?”
“I was saving it for later.”
“I don’t think you’re allowed to do that.”
“What? Why not?”
“If you have a playable card, it must be played, you cannot hold on to it for later.”
“Oh, boo.” He tapped the middle pile. “Don’t be a sore loser, Stratt. Just take your cards.”
Stratt’s eyebrows shot up at his blatant lack of respect for her authority. She wondered why this side of him didn’t come out more often and in more suitable situations. He chose to be passive during critical moments in his life but he stood up for himself when playing a child’s game. She drew four cards.
“What color?” Stratt arranged her cards.
“Green.”
“It was already green.”
“So what?”
Stratt shook her head. She reached for a green 3.
“Wait, you just drew, you can’t play a card if you just drew one.”
Stratt dropped her cards on the desk and stood up, gathering her tablet and coffee. Grace sputtered at her dismissal of the game.
“The meeting has been moved up to right now.” She said.
“What? Hey!” He set his cards face down on the table to cross his arms. “You’re just a sore loser.”
“And you make up rules in the middle of a game.”
“It’s not made up, it’s the actual rules!”
“Regardless, we are done.”
Grace grumbled something under his breath as he stood up.
“Don’t mumble,” she snapped at him. “Say it to my face if you have something to say.”
“You were just mad because I was winning.”
“Winning? You had six cards in your hand.”
“And you had seven! I was winning and you got mad.”
His reasoning was aggravating, even if it were true. She straightened her posture and allowed her face to go blank. It did not matter that he grinned down at her smugly, she would show him that she was unaffected by the game.
“I was not mad at the game. I simply refuse to play with people who change rules so they don’t lose.”
His smug smirk softened into a fond smile. Stratt looked away, suddenly feeling the need to leave the room.
“We’ll play again after the meeting. This time with the rules very well defined at the beginning.” Grace said.
“Fine.” Stratt crossed the office and opened the door, waiting for him to leave before her. He walked beside her with his hands tucked into his pockets and a pleased grin on his face.
“Stop smiling,” she scowled.
“Your threats don’t work on me anymore.”
“I can have you arrested.” She tilted her head toward the security guards in the corridor as they passed by.
“For what? Winning a game?”
“I can make something up. Say you sabotaged the mission.”
“Wow, you would send me to prison because you lost?”
Stratt held her tongue as they reached the meeting room. She pushed the door open and held it for him again.
Grace took detailed notes during the meeting. His attention focused solely on the presenter. He asked a few questions and jotted down information to go over later. With him handling the meeting, Stratt allowed her attention to shift to something else. She needed to find a way to win at the game if luck was not on her side. She thought of the magicians who could do closeup magic with cards through sleight of hand. With a little practice, it would not be too hard to replicate the trick. If nothing else, she could always slip a card into her sleeve when he was distracted. Stratt tugged at the long sleeve of her sweater to test the stretch of it. Grace glanced at her for a second out of the corner of his eye. Feeling like a child caught passing notes in class, Stratt crossed her arms and turned her attention back to the presenter. Her sleeves were loose enough. Her plan would work.
“Ok let’s get it all out before we begin.” Grace gathered the cards and shuffled them. “No playing a card if you draw one.”
“Fine, no holding on to playable cards.”
“Okay, fine.” He split the deck and shuffled again. Her eyes tracked the movement of his fingers. “Any rules for special cards?”
“Which ones?
“Do we switch cards on a zero?”
“No.”
“Anything for seven?”
“Seven?” She furrowed her brows.
“Yeah, you can switch cards with a person of your choice with that.”
Stratt looked around her office. “Who else is joining?”
“Oh, yeah.” Grace grinned sheepishly. “I guess we can disregard those two and play them like regular cards.”
“We play them as regular number cards.”
“Okay, good.” He dealt the cards. “Any last rules?”
“Nothing comes to mind.” She reached for her cards. Grace slapped his hand down over hers, the sudden motion shocking her into stillness.
“Last chance,” his long fingers curled over her wrist and pressed her hand on the table over her cards. “No changing rules once we start.”
All the words in her English vocabulary slipped her mind while his warm hand trapped hers so casually. His thumb twitched against her wrist. Stratt’s fingers wrapped around her cards and she pulled her hand out of his grasp. She cleared her throat while arranging her cards.
“We may begin.” If her voice sounded a little rougher than normal, he did not comment.
He shrugged and lifted his own deck of cards. He turned the first card over from the pile and gestured to her to begin.
The starting card was a yellow 1. Stratt placed a yellow 4. Grace placed a yellow +2 down with a grin. Stratt reached for the yellow +2 in her own deck.
“Hold on, you have to draw.” Grace tapped the cards on the table.
“I have a card to stack on it,” she flipped her yellow card around for him to see.
“That’s something you should have established when we were making the rules.”
“Why? It’s the classic rule in the game. I assumed it did not need to be said.”
“Nah uh,” he wiggled a finger. “This is why we made the rules at the start. Take your cards.”
Stratt drew two cards with a huff. She reached for a card and Grace raised his hand.
“Wait, you just drew.”
Stratt felt the irritation growing. She glared at Grace over her cards. She had not expected the need to cheat to be so soon into their game but it was unavoidable now. With him distracted by his cards, she slipped a card down her sleeve into her sweater. Grace triumphantly placed a yellow card to skip her turn. Stratt glared at him and slipped another card up her sleeve.
They took turns placing cards down for a few rounds until Grace was down to two cards. He placed a green 8 and smiled.
“Uno.”
Stratt placed a +4 onto the deck. Grace froze.
“Did you just draw that?”
“Yes,” she lied. She had held onto the card for this exact moment. He squinted at her.
“You didn’t draw for a few rounds.”
“I had other usable cards before.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “How do you have two cards left? You didn’t put down that many.”
He set his cards down and flipped through the cards in the middle.
“There’s no way you only have two cards. Impossible.”
Stratt shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t be a sore loser, Grace.”
Grace scowled at her. “What color are you changing it to?”
Stratt glanced at her cards. “Yellow.”
Grace reached for his cards. Stratt raised her finger.
“You just drew.”
Grace slapped his cards down and stood up. “I’m done.”
“Oh, don’t be a child. Sit down and finish the game like a man.”
Grace dropped down to his chair again and glared at her. Stratt placed a yellow card to skip his turn and a yellow +2 on top of that with a grin.
“You can’t end on a wild card.” Grace pointed.
“You never established that in the rules.”
“I didn’t think I needed to! Plus you never said uno.”
Stratt spread her hands. “Does it matter? I already placed my last card.”
“The game is literally called uno. You have to say uno.” He sputtered.
“The game is already over, it does not matter whether I said it or not.”
“Fine! Congratulations.” Grace gathered the cards and tapped the deck against the table to straighten the edges. He turned and left her office with the cards.
Stratt reveled in her victory for a moment until she remembered the cards up her sleeve. She would have to find a way to return them without him noticing somehow. She placed the cards in her desk drawer.
Grace was gone for only a few minutes before her office door slammed open and an irate Ryland Grace slapped the cards onto her desk. She raised her eyebrows at him.
“How many cards did you take?” He said through his clenched teeth.
Stratt leaned back in her chair. “You assume I cheated.”
“A standard deck has one hundred and eight cards. How many do you think are missing?” He tapped the stack of cards. Stratt eyed the motion.
“You assume you have not lost any cards before? How many times have you played? It is possible a few cards were lost over the years.”
Grace shook his head. “I lost three cards. I know there should be one hundred and five cards. How many are there now?”
Stratt crossed her arms. “I have not cheated.”
“You’re lying,” he gasped. “Straight to my face.”
“I would not lie over such trivial matters.” She shifted her attention to her tablet. “We can play another round if you think you lost unfairly.”
A smile tugged on the corners of his lips. “Fine, let’s go another round.”
Stratt nodded at the door. “Go close it.”
Grace turned to obey her. With his back turned to her, she slid her drawer open and quickly placed the cards onto the deck. She was the perfect picture of passive amusement when he turned toward her again.
“I’m going to kick your ass this time.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Metaphorically, that is.” A blush crept up his collar to redden his face.
“I would like to see you try.” Stratt suppressed a smile.
Grace pushed the deck toward her. “Your turn to deal them.”
Stratt shrugged. She split the deck and tapped the cards against the table before shuffling the cards together. Grace crossed his arms and leaned back while he watched her fingers for any sign of trickery.
“What are you looking for?”
“You know what I’m looking for.”
Stratt rolled her eyes and smiled. These games were fun when Grace was aggravated. And if she was winning. A cocky Grace was only acceptable in the lab, not when it was a competition between them. She dealt the cards between them and turned the top card on the pile.
“Rules,” Stratt nodded.
“All the same ones as before.” He said.
“Stacking is allowed if the color is the same for the plus two cards.” Stratt said.
“Fine. Game can’t end on a wild card.” Grace reached for his cards. Stratt covered his hand with hers. He looked up in shock.
“And no cheating.”
“Bold of you to say. I’m watching you closely this time.” His hand twitched under hers as his fingers curled over his cards. Stratt nodded and picked up her own cards. It was mostly number cards with a few wild cards.
Luck was on her side for this round. She had a card for each one of his and didn’t need to cheat.
“Uno,” Stratt said as he placed a card in the middle.
Grace grit his teeth and drew a card. Stratt placed her final number card on the pile. She smiled at his frustrated expression.
“Okay, I didn’t see you cheat.” He huffed.
“Because I did not.”
“Maybe not this time.” He collected the cards and shuffled them. “One more game.”
“Have I not beat your ass enough?”
Grace chuckled. “I’ll beat you this time.”
“I did not think you would condone violence against women.”
“Metaphorical violence against cheaters,” he pointed out. “Cheating should be retaliated against, regardless of gender.”
He dealt the cards out.
“Same rules as before.” He said.
“Which ones?”
“All of them. All the rules we established before still apply.”
“Fine,” she picked her cards up. A majority of them were wild cards of varying colors. They would be good for attacks, but they would be hard to get rid of on their own.
None of the cards could be played on top of the starting card. She drew a card and glanced up at Grace. He eyed her hands with suspicion but did not reach for a card.
“Your turn,” she said.
“I know, I’m thinking.”
“Your cards are not in my hands.”
He looked at his cards. Stratt slipped a card up her sleeve. Grace placed a blue 4. Stratt placed her blue skip turn card and a blue +2. Grace sat up in his chair and slapped down a blue +2 on top of her own. Stratt kept her composure as she drew four cards. He looked through his cards as Stratt slipped two cards up her sleeve. He drew a card from the pile. They took turns placing cards until Grace was down to two.
“Uno.” Grace held up his final card.
“What?” Stratt frowned. “Impossible.”
Grace grinned. Stratt placed a green 4. Grace tossed his last card on top of hers, a green 1.
“I win,” he crossed his arms.
Stratt eyed his sleeves. They were pulled up to expose a portion of his forearms, it would have been impossible to hide cards without her noticing. The table had nowhere for him to hide his cards either. Only one place left to check. Stratt ducked her head under the table. A small pile of cards lay on Grace’s lap. He rushed to hide them from her. Stratt shook her head at him.
“Really? Here you were talking about me cheating while you were blatantly dropping cards onto your lap.”
“What about you? You’ve been hiding cards too, clearly.” He pointed at her hands. “You’re definitely supposed to have more cards than that.”
Stratt lowered her hand and let the cards slip out of her sleeve and onto the table.
“Ha!” Grace pointed at the cards. “I knew you were hiding them!”
“Better than you were.”
“You cheat better than Ilyukhina, I’ll give you that.”
“How does she cheat?”
“She takes a card in her hand and tosses it like a throwing star when I’m not looking.”
“What?”
“Yeah, she holds it like this,” Grace picked up a card and set a corner of it between his pointer and middle finger so the card could not be seen when he lifted his hand to show the back of it. He turned his hand so she could see how he held the card. “And she distracts me while she tosses the card.” With a flick of his wrist, the card flew across the room.
Stratt watched as the card hit the window and fluttered to the ground. She nodded her approval.
“So the three missing cards…?”
He shrugged. “She tossed them pretty far. And it took a while for me to figure out she was doing it.”
“Impressive. I will have to practice for next time.”
Grace gathered the cards on the desk and smiled at her.
“To be honest, I’m not sure I want to play against you again.”
“You have no problem playing with Ilyukhina when you know she cheats but you refuse when I do it?”
“So you admit it!”
Stratt spread her hands out on the table. “You saw the cards fall out of my sleeve, how can I deny it?”
“True. Anyway, one day I will find a game you can’t cheat in. Then we’ll see who the winner is between us.”
“I look forward to the day. I will win, of course.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Grace turned and left her office with a final smile aimed at her.
Stratt went to the window and picked up the fallen card. She turned the weathered card in her hand and traced the rounded edges with her fingers. If Grace could do it, so could she.
Stratt set the corner between her fingers and flicked her wrist. The card flew across the room. She would be ready for next time.