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A small smile touches my lips.
“That’s why I took your hand, but now that I think about it, I want to see you go off. And Caleb got a head start on me, so this might have been payback.”
She guzzles half the bottle, exhales, and then stares at me. “What payback?”
For getting to know Harper first and then taunting me for weeks. But saying that will only make me sound petty, so I shake my head instead.
“It’s nothing you should worry about. I don’t know if I should say this, but I feel like the ball was supposed to knock down more pins. It looks like there is something wrong with the lane you used. It would have worked if you rolled the ball in my lane.”
What are you talking about? Is the way she looks at me.
I don’t know either, but if I can do anything to make Harper feel better, I’ll do it. The smile on her face when I knocked all the pins down stuck with me, and I want to see it again.
“You think?” Her facial expression is gloomy.
I nod. “I don’t think. I know. Do you bowl often?”
She chews on her bottom lip. “No.”
I put on a face of assertion. “I come here frequently. So, believe me when I say that these things happen.”
The gloominess disappears, and I see the excitement start to come back. She glances at the bowling area. “Then I have to try again.”
I grab her hand as she turns. “Don’t.”
Harper’s brows are furrowed when she turns back. She looks down at my hand and then up at my face. “What do you mean?”
Gesturing with a forward tilt of my head, I show her Caleb and Mira, standing by each other and rolling the balls half-assed. They look like they are having fun despite the fact that they suck at bowling, with Caleb’s arm around Mira’s waist, and her giving him kisses.
“We might have invited them out, but it looks like they don’t need us to have fun. If you go, they will be forced to behave themselves, and you’d be the third wheel.”
Harper groans. “I was going to repair my reputation. Now I have to watch two love birds take away my chance.”
“What about doing something else?” I suggest.
“What?”
***
We end up at a golf club, and Harper whispers in my ear, fifteen minutes after we get on the course, that she doesn’t know how to play and is not about to embarrass herself.
I laugh. “Why don’t I teach you? You’re a fast learner, so you only need a few lessons and thirty minutes.”
Her eyes widen with glee, and I swallow an amused chuckle. Who would have thought that this woman—formidable in the workplace -- could have this childlike wonder in her eyes when trying new things?
Heading to the golf cart nearby, I take out two golf clubs and a golf ball.
“We will work on your swing,” I explain as I hand her one of the clubs. “Having a good swing is all about positioning. You must know how to hold the club, or you’ll lose your swing even before you start.”
I can tell she’s a little nervous when responding, but she’s also trying her best to act casual and confident. Like it’s no big deal.
“Okay, you have to hold it like this,” I gesture.
Harper looks like she’s trying to strangle the club with the death grip. With a soft chuckle, I step behind her.
“I am going to show you. Is that all right?”
She nods.
