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.”
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.”