Being Alive: A The Queen's Gambit Story

Chapter 16

It's somewhere around two o'clock the afternoon, and Beth is alone in the house. Mrs. Watts took Alma out to the local zoo for the afternoon – a monthly tradition now, which Alma reminds her grandmother of each month – and Benny is out picking up light bulbs for the house. Beth takes advantage of the empty house and puts Rumours on the record player, dancing around the house as she sings along, picking up Stevie Nick's harmonies here and there. She has a batch of cookies cooking in the kitchen for a bake sale that she grudgingly signed up for the week before. She still didn't quite understand why parents were expected to play such an active role at the school. But, when she casually asked at the last PTA meeting whether all parents were required to take part in the bake sale, she had received such looks that she immediately stopped asking questions. She didn't even chance bringing something store-bought. She sensed that the other mothers would pick up on it immediately, like how she could sometimes tell the outcome of a game just by how a player moved their pawn.

The timer dings and she takes out on tray of cookies and replaces them with another. They look decent. Slightly burned, but in this particular situation, she believes it is the effort that counts, not necessarily the end product. She sets the timer for the next tray and heads back out into the living room, picking up a magazine and beginning to read it while standing, her hips moving to the music. It's her favorite song now.

Listen to the wind blow

Watch the sun rise

Damn your love

Damn your lies

She doesn't hear her husband come into the house, but then familiar arms encircle her waist and she grins, leaning back as she covers his arms with hers. His mouth pressed against her ear, he starts to sing along, because, it's his favorite, too.

And if you don't love me now

You will never love me again

I can still hear you saying

You would never break the chain

She turns around, draping her arms around his neck. He tracks the movements of her hips with own, and she can feel the beat thrumming through her entire body. She missed being close to him like this. With a mother-in-law and daughter running around the house, they had little time to just be themselves. But here, swaying in the living room to Fleetwood Mac, it is only them. They continue to move, their dancing taking up more space as the song builds. By the time the guitar solo comes, nothing else will do except for full-out flailing, and they throw their bodies around with sweet abandon. Beth is breathing hard and she can feel hear heart beating in her temples. The feeling is pure ecstasy, and when she looks over at Benny, she can see the same joy mirrored on his face.

The front door opens, and Alma bursts into the house, running over to her parents. She begins dancing, too, grinning wide and Benny takes her hands in his, spinning her around. He spins her over to her mother, and Beth picks her up, Alma squealing with laughter. It's chaos and perfection all at once, and Mrs. Watts watches from the side indulgently until she sniffs the air and says, "Is something burning?"

"The cookies," Beth says, before depositing her daughter back on the floor and rushing over to the kitchen. She hadn't heard the timer beeping over the music, and when she pulls out the tray, the cookies are all marked with dark-brown, some verging on black, splotches.

"They don't look that bad?" Benny offers, pushing his hair away from his face. His face is flushed and he still hasn't quite caught his breath. She feels a sudden rush of love for him that is so strong that it almost hurts.

"Let's dance more," Alma says, tugging on Beth's hand. Beth looks over at Benny with a slight grin.

"Looks like we're dancing now."

He grins and walks backwards into the living room doing a little shimmy. She laughs and bounds after him, teasing, "Is it weird that I've never been more attracted to you?"

"Make perfect sense. I've got moves."

He does a sort of waving thing with his arms and Beth snorts. "Sure, you do."

Alma runs in after them and then they have no choice but to dance wildly and freely, mirroring the sort of freeness that only someone under the age of ten can fully inhabit. Mrs. Watts watches from the doorway, grinning when Benny picks up Alma and swings her around. She turns back to the kitchen and throws away the burned cookies, quietly setting to work on the next batch.