The moment it happens and I race past her score, she cries out. “Damn it! I almost had you!” Her voice distracts me, and the ball is gone and it’s game over.

“Yes! Mr. Pinball reigns supreme,” I cry, throwing my hands in the air in victory.

“Best out of three.” She is right beside me, ready to take over the machine again.

“Sure, but that doesn’t get you out of answering my question.” Harper rolls her eyes at me as if to say, do I have to? “That was the bet, and I’m sure you are not someone who reneges on a bet, are you?”

“Of course not.” She stands with her hands on her hips, and I know that I need to ease into this and save the big questions for later.

“Good. Question number one is…” I tap my fingers on my chin, and I look toward the ceiling like I’m thinking hard. But the reality is I have so many questions that I just don’t know where to start.

“What is your perfect way to relax?” I’m pleased with myself that I have shocked her. I know she was expecting a hard question or something sexual.

“Really, that’s your one question you ask when you get a free ticket, and I have to answer? What a wasted opportunity, but okay.” She steps away from the game, and as confident as she was, the longer she thinks about it, she is struggling to answer.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure I have one. Sure, I love a massage or facial, but I can never completely switch off my brain while they are being done on me. Ummm, I don’t really read, and who’s got time to binge too much television. I thought this was a stupid question, but to be honest, I don’t have a real answer. I’ve never had time to find out.” She looks at me, perplexed.

“Well, then that’s a great answer, and it looks like we need to spend some time finding that thing that is perfect for you.” I tap her on the nose with my finger, not letting her dwell too much on that thought or the fact I touched her again.

“Okay, cutie, next game, see if you can beat the master.” I watch her nose scrunch up at my words.

“Ughh, the word cutie is a big fat no,” she says, turning her attention back to the next game.

“Oh, don’t worry, I have plenty of names. We will find the right one by the time we get to the end of this competition.” To which she just laughs at me and starts off with the first ball of the next game.

“I’m sure you do, and I’ll hate all of them.” This time she talks while playing, like she is in the groove of the game now.