“I’m never going to take my children bowling,” she declares. “Problem solved. Crisis averted.”
“Good luck with that,” I say while turning up the heat. “Kids have bowling parties all the time for their birthdays. How are you going to tell yours they can’t go?”
Allie crosses her arms, partly due to the cold but I’m guessing there’s a little indignation in the mix. “It’s a good thing I don’t have kids yet, so I don’t have to worry about this right now,” she tells me.
“Fine. Bowling is out. I would normally suggest going for ice cream, but I don’t think either of us could handle more food. How about a late movie?”
“The last show starts at eight during the week,” she says.
“That’s a weird thing to know.”
“I’ve taken myself to a lot of movies since I’ve been home.” She sounds sad.
“There really isn’t a lot to do in Elk Lake at night, is there?” Then I remember, “How about the beer garden?”
“How about if we go back to my place and watch TV?” she suggests. “I can rent a movie, and we can lie back and digest our suppers.”
“Isn’t Margie sleeping on your couch?” I ask. The thought of hanging out with AllieandMargie is nowhere near as enticing as spending some time with Allie alone.
“Shoot, that’s right. And she’s been going to bed early. This pregnancy is taking it out of her.”
“We could go to my house,” I suggest. I didn’t propose that before because I didn’t want Allie to think I was up to no good.
Leaning her head back against the headrest, she says, “I’m pretty tired, too. I think I’d better just go home and catch up on some sleep.”
While I’m obviously disappointed, I try not to let it show. “You’re coming to basketball practice tomorrow, right?” I ask her.
“I’ll be there at ten,” she says. “But I have to tell you, the girls are getting sick of playing with the boys.”
“Yeah, the boys are tired of the girls, too, but what else can we do? You can’t set up a scrimmage with only seven girls on your team.”
“How about if we split up the teams? I could take your JV guys on with us.”
It’s not a bad idea except for one major problem. “They’ll all quit if I do that.”
“My girls are better than every last one of them,” she declares proudly.
“That’s the reason they’d quit.” Starting the car, I put it in reverse and back out of our spot. “Why don’t you try to build up some awareness about the girls’ team and see if you can’t do some recruiting?”
“Everyone here already knows there’s a team from the current players. This isn’t Chicago where I can start cherry-picking kids from other districts.”
I make a noncommittal sound deep in my throat. “Maybe once everyone sees how good your girls are, they’ll start trying out.”
“Which will certainly help for next year,” she says. “But what do I do this year?”
“I’m afraid you keep practicing with the boys,” I tell her. The thought briefly crosses my mind that Allie is trying to change the practice schedule so she doesn’t have to see me as often. I immediately tell myself that can’t be so. She may not want to date me, but I’ve certainly not done anything to put her off.
When we reach Allie’s apartment, I pull over to the side of theroad and put the car in park. I’m about to turn it off so I can walk her in, but she stops me. “You don’t have to walk me to the door.”
“What if I want to?” I ask.
She exhales so loudly, it’s clear she’s annoyed. “I’m fine, Noah. Thank you.”
“Allie,” I say hesitantly, “I know you’re not looking to date, and neither am I.”Liar.But even though I want to date her, I don’t want to lead her on, only to leave her.
“But …”
“How do you know there’s a but?” I ask.
