by Abbi Waxman
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” said Lisa, over her shoulder.
She and Nina met by the bar.
“Where’s Tom?” yelled Nina, over the hubbub. “This is my cousin, Lydia. She’s an expert in traffic patterns.”
“Hi,” said Lisa, looking surprisingly interested. “You picked a good city for it, although the biggest traffic jam ever took place in Beijing in 2010.”
“I know,” said Lydia with relish. “Sixty-two miles long, and lasted for twelve days.” She looked at Lisa carefully, never having met anyone else who cared about traffic. “I went on vacation last year to São Paulo. They have enormous traffic jams all the time; it was great.”
Lisa smiled at her as if that hadn’t been a ridiculous thing to say, then turned back to Nina. “Tom isn’t here, but he’s supposed to be. He’s been totally off his trivia game. Why did you break up with him?”
“Because I was scared,” said Nina. “I want to apologize, but he’s not answering his phone.”
“I know, I’ve been trying to reach him.” Lisa looked mildly concerned. “Hey, do you want to play for our team? Without him we’ve got no chance, even if he is playing at half strength.”
“I can’t. I don’t think it’s allowed.”
“Well, let’s ask.”
Nina hung back. “No, I’m sure Tom will be here.”
“I am here,” said Tom, coming up behind them. “Sorry, Lisa, I was working and lost track of time.” He looked at Nina. “Hi, Nina.” Then he took Lisa by the arm. “Let’s go. They’re going to start.”
“Tom, Nina wants to talk to you,” said Lisa.
Tom looked at Nina. “That’s nice,” he replied. “You have ice cream in your hair.” Then he walked away and Lisa followed, shrugging apologetically. Nina smelled that sawdust smell that always went with him, feeling herself take a few steps without even realizing it.
She had made such a mistake.
“He’s cute,” said Lydia from behind her. “Go get him, tiger.”
Nina watched Lisa scramble back to her seat on the team bench, next to Tom, who was studiously avoiding her gaze.
“I’ll try,” she said, “but I think I’m more of a pussycat.”
“House cats share 95.6 percent of their DNA with tigers,” said Lydia. She paused. “According to one study, anyway.”
QuizDick stepped forward and raised his hand for silence. “Let’s review the format. In the first round, I’ll be asking the teams sets of questions in various categories. Anyone on the team can answer, but only one answer will be accepted. A correct answer receives two points. An incorrect answer means that question will be offered to the opposing team. If they get it right, they’ll get one point. If nobody knows, it will be offered to the audience, and if they get it right, they can give one point to whichever team they’re supporting.”
As the audience was largely supporting the local team, this seemed popular, but the California Quizzly Bears had also brought a sizable contingent of fans, who were wearing bear claw gloves and Smokey Bear hats. It was a look.
“Are both teams complete?” QuizDick looked over the competitors carefully, presumably to check none of them was secretly Ken Jennings. “In order to reduce the chance of cheating, we’re pulling categories at random. Our first category is Sports in the USA.”
Both teams did pretty well with Sports, but Quizzard took the lead in the next round, which was Real Life Couples who Played Couples on TV. Then the Quizzly Bears dominated Minor Countries You’ve Never Heard Of (a statement that clearly didn’t apply to them), but Quizzard swept the board in Sitcoms of the Eighties, bringing the scores level as they entered the final round.
Nina was watching Tom’s face, and it was impossible not to notice how effectively he was ignoring her. It became almost comical, the lengths he was prepared to go not to meet her eye. Lydia started muttering commentary and answering the questions under her breath, and Nina made a mental note to see if Santa Monica had competitive trivia, because Lydia would crush it.
“In this final round, it’s team members one by one, head-to-head and toe-to-toe with their opposition. Each pair will get six questions, two from each category, and twelve points are up for grabs, no fancy business.”
Lisa was first, and totally creamed her Quizzly Bear opponent, having apparently memorized the lives of Early American Presidents, the Periodic Table of Elements, and Cartoon Cats and Dogs. Quizzard wasn’t so lucky in the next round, and their team member was only able to garner two points for correctly identifying Fresno as the Raisin Capital of the World. In the last round of team member play Quizzard got all the questions about Egg-Based Recipes correct, but were unable to beat the Quizzly Bears on Cocktails or Dog Breeds.
The Quizzly Bears were getting cocky and had started celebrating imminent victory. The bar floor was awash with broken glass and beer, because it turned out bear claw gloves are cute, but not good for holding slippery pint glasses. Presumably, this is why bears prefer kegs.
“Here we go,” said Howard, who had grown into his role as host and was handling things pretty smoothly. “With the scores tied we come at last to the team captains, who have to buzz in to answer ten rapid-fire questions drawn from any of tonight’s categories.” He pulled out his little bag of categories and withdrew a slip of paper. “The same rules apply: two points if they get it, one point if their opponents get it, and the option of throwing it open to the audience if all else fails.”
Tom stood up and came to the podium, as did the Quizzly Bear captain, who was a woman not much bigger than Nina. She was wearing an entire grizzly bear head as a hat. It was bigger than she was, and occasionally, she had to grab the podium for support. Either the head was really heavy, or she’d removed her bear claws in order to drink better. Either way, she was ready to throw down, if she didn’t fall down first.
Howard cleared his throat and assumed a serious expression, making sure the camera was getting his better side. “Who has the most wins as head coach in the NFL?”
Tom answered, “Don Shula.”
Nina had never even heard of Don Shula, but it was nice to know he was doing so well. Tom looked around at his teammates and grinned, but still somehow managed to avoid looking at Nina. Lisa was clearly getting annoyed with him, as she pointed two fingers to her eyes and then pointed them at Nina, but Tom wasn’t having it.
“Next question: Who played Chandler’s father on Friends?”
Tom answered again. “Kathleen Turner.” Nina was pleased to see he was well versed in the classics.
Then the Quizzly Bears got five in a row. Then Tom got the next three.
QuizDick, delighted things had gotten so gripping, and glad to see the cameras were still rolling, cleared his throat. “Unbelievably we have a tie! For the championship, the honor of declaring yourselves Trivia Champions of Southern California, five hundred dollars for the charity of your choice, and free pizza from Domino’s for a year . . .”
“Only for team members . . .” shouted a guy who was presumably from Domino’s. “Not for everyone you know.”
“Yes, free pizza for yourselves; we have to go to a challenging tie-breaker.” He looked around the room and held up his hand for silence. Eventually he got it, and into the hush he said: “Who can tell me the famous last words of Arthur Conan Doyle?”
“Who’s that?” asked the Quizzly Bear captain.
“The man who wrote Sherlock Holmes,” replied QuizDick, surprised.
Quizzly Bear shrugged her shoulders. Everyone looked at Tom, who also shrugged. The teams both shrugged; it was a complete shrug-fest, and finally, QuizDick turned to the audience and asked if anyone knew the answer.
Nina raised her hand. Howard pointed at her, and she looked at Tom, who was finally looking at her.
“Nina can’t answer,” he said to Howard. “She was on an opposing team.”
&nb
sp; Howard looked at Nina. “Yes, but her team was disqualified weeks ago.” He looked at Tom. “You were there; you saw it.” He shuddered. “I sustained a paper cut that took days to heal.”
Nina spoke. “The rules are clear, Howard. If no one else can answer, then it goes to the audience.”
“Yes, but apparently the team captain doesn’t want you to answer.” He looked perplexed. “Although you could give the point to any team you wanted to, so maybe if the Grizzly Bear . . .” His voice tailed off. “I’m not sure the rules cover this eventuality.”
“We can put it to a vote.” Nina looked around the bar. “Show of hands?”
“No,” said Howard. “This isn’t a democracy; this is a Trivia Bowl Final.” He turned to the team captains. “I’m afraid that means it’s a tie. We have no winner.”
“Wait!” Lisa jumped up. “Let Nina answer the question, Tom. You’re not the only member of the team.” She was clearly trying to come up with a good reason. “I really . . . love pizza.”
“You’re a vegan,” said Tom.
“We make vegan pizza!” yelled the guy from Domino’s. He must have been drunk, because then he added, “It tastes like cardboard, but it’s vegan!”
Tom hesitated. He looked at Nina.
“Please let me answer,” she said.
Tom sighed. “OK.”
Howard looked annoyed but nodded. “Go ahead, audience member. I’ll repeat the question: What were the famous last words of Arthur Conan Doyle?”
Nina stood up tall. “His last words were, ‘I have made a terrible mistake, Tom. There is room for you in my life, plenty of room. Please give me a second chance.’”
Total silence. QuizDick frowned and flipped over the card in his hand. “Uh, that’s not what I have here.”
“Wait,” said Tom, “he also said, ‘What about the next time you freak out? I don’t want to be with someone who’s ready to throw me under the bus every time she loses her composure.’”
“He has a point,” muttered Lydia.
“Shut up,” said Nina.
The Quizzly Bear captain said, “Wait a minute, are you allowed two guesses?”
“I know,” replied Nina. “I’m sorry. I can only promise to try harder.” She swallowed and raised her voice. “Being with you is as good as being alone.”
There was a pause, then Tom stepped away from the podium and walked over to Nina. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” he said, and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet and kissing her deeply. He was vaguely aware of a woman jumping up and down nearby, saying, “Conan Doyle’s actual last words were to his wife. He said, ‘You are wonderful.’” And then, as Nina and Tom showed no signs of stopping, “The longest kiss on record was over fifty-eight hours long!”
While Tom and Nina didn’t set a new record for kissing, they did cause the clip of the Trivia Bowl Final to go viral on YouTube. Weeks later, when QuizDick’s Trivia Channel was launched on YouTube, he acknowledged that if it weren’t for this peak romantic moment, his success never would have happened. He wasn’t about to share the advertising revenue, of course, but still, he appreciated the boost.
* * *
• • •
Once the contest was over, and the Quizzly Bears had graciously bought everyone in the bar a beer, Tom and Nina made their good-byes. Lydia and Lisa were deep in discussion about fantastic traffic jams in history and barely noticed them leaving.
“I want to take you to my place,” said Tom. “It’s actually not far from here.” Nina nodded, and they walked through the dark streets in perfect happiness, holding hands and saying nothing.
They reached a low building, and Tom pulled a key from his pocket. “This is where I work,” he said, “rather than where I live, but I need to show you something.”
He unlocked the door and led her inside, along a narrow hallway to a large room at the back of the building. Nina followed him, wishing she were still holding his hand. The room they walked into was filled with wood and pieces of furniture. It smelled wonderful, of sawdust and linseed oil. Of Tom.
“This is my workshop,” said Tom, switching on the lights.
“You said you were a carpenter.”
“I am,” he replied, smiling at her. “But not the house-building kind. I’m a cabinetmaker. I make furniture.” He pointed. “In particular, bookcases.”
“You’re joking.” Nina looked around; he clearly wasn’t joking. There were several large, beautiful bookcases in the room. They weren’t simply shelves; they had doors and glass and drawers and little wooden twiddly bits that probably had a proper name.
Tom shook his head. “No, really. I talked to Peter about it that day at the Festival, and we agreed it was too corny to tell you. I was kind of waiting for the right moment and then . . . you know . . . we broke up, so it didn’t matter.”
Nina gazed at him. “It’s . . .”
He blushed. “I know. It’s ridiculous, a man who makes bookcases dating a woman who sells books.”
“Yeah.”
“How about I refocus on cupboards and dressers?”
She smiled. “I could quit my job.”
“I could carry on making bookcases, but make them really badly so the books keep falling off.”
“Knight’s could switch to selling audiobooks only.”
They looked at each other. “See,” said Nina. “I’m willing to change.”
Tom stepped closer to her and took her hands. “I don’t want you to change, Nina. I want to take care of you. If you get less anxious, great, but if you don’t, then that’s fine, too, because that’s who you are.” He shrugged. “I’m never going to be a huge reader, I’m never going to know all about the stuff you know all about, but that’s who I am.”
“I like who you are,” Nina said, not feeling anxious at all. “And you know plenty of stuff I don’t know. Like Don Shula. I don’t even know who Don Shula is.”
“You don’t? Well, maybe this won’t work after all.” He grinned. “Look, I cleared you a corner.” Tom pointed to an area near a large window. It was dark then, of course, but in the daytime it would get plenty of light. “I was going to surprise you and put a comfy chair there so you could sit and read while I worked, and we could, you know, hang out.” He tugged her closer and kissed her. “I want to be with you the way you are, the way you’re going to be, and the way you end up. Every way you are is beautiful to me.”
They kissed, and then Nina said, “That was the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Tom laughed. “Really? I worked on it in my head for days.”
Nina was going to make fun of him again, but didn’t. He wasn’t a poet, but whatever. She wasn’t a competitive skier. It didn’t matter what they weren’t; it only mattered who they were.
“I could be in love with you,” she said.
“I could be in love with you, too,” he replied.
“We’re very romantic, aren’t we?”
“Very,” he said, and kissed her again. “Let’s go home and be alone together.”
Thirty
In which Liz loses her mind, finds a friend, and gains a partner.
The next morning, Nina woke up to find Tom already awake and looking at her.
“Good morning, creepy boyfriend,” she said. “Have you been staring for long?”
“About thirty seconds,” he replied. “Your cat registered a complaint by standing on my eyeball.”
Phil was sitting on the chair, washing his paw with the air of a cherub grooming his wing.
Nina grinned and got up to feed him. She went to get the coffee started and found it already set up, water in the reservoir, coffee in the filter. She paused.
“Did you do this?”
Tom turned over in bed and nodded. “I was inspired by my brother’s wedding vows.”
Nina was opening her mouth to comment positively on this when her phone rang. She looked at the clock. Oh. Ten o’clock. Not exactly the crack of dawn.
It was her friend Vanessa.
“Hey, I think you better get over to the bookstore.”
“Why are you in the bookstore? And why are you whispering?”
“I’m not.” Vanessa sounded suppressed, like she was either about to laugh or cry. “I’m hiding from the manageress because we’re not supposed to be on the phone at work, and I think you should hurry up because there’s a crowd outside the store and occasionally Liz appears and hands out books.”
“Sells them?”
“No, gives them away.” Vanessa paused. “Enthusiastically.”
“I’ll be right there.”
* * *
• • •
When Nina arrived, she and Tom found Liz sitting in the middle of the store, with Mr. Meffo, in the midst of chaos. Every book in the store’s inventory was off the shelves, and Liz sat in the middle like the Caterpillar on his mushroom. Meffo, who reminded Nina more of the White Rabbit, was perched by the register. Both of them seemed to be having a marvelous time.
“Ah, Nina!” said Liz. “You’re just in time.”
“For what?” said Nina carefully. “It looks like I missed the main event, which was apparently trashing the store.”
“Not at all! We’ve been having a literary discussion requiring illustration,” replied Liz, fluidly. “It was necessary to refer to multiple volumes.”
“Are you all right?” Nina picked her way over to Liz, who pushed aside a stack of books to make room. She patted the carpet beside her.
“I am fantastic,” Liz said. “Pull up some rug and pop a squat.”
Mr. Meffo giggled, which was alarming.
“Did you have breakfast?” asked Liz, holding out a bakery box. Inside were a selection of brownies, cupcakes, and muffins.
Nina took a mini muffin and popped it in her mouth. “Wow, these are good.” She took another. “Where are they from?”
