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And that’s when Ally’s blood began to boil. Why did he get to decide she was too young? Or he was too old or…whatever? Why did he get to give her advice and tell her how things were done? Why could he assume that she would be careless where her job was concerned or that she couldn’t operate her seat belt or that she hadn’t played much basketball? Maybe it was time someone showed Tag James a thing or two, that the world wasn’t always just as he saw it.
Maybe, Ally thought, she should be that someone. And perhaps she should start with a basketball game.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GARETH AND CODY jogged over to her, and both boys gave her hand a quick shake.
The taller one said, “I’m Gareth. Good to meet you.”
“You, too. You’re Tag’s cousin, right?”
“Yep, my mom is Janie. My stepdad is Aidan.” He hitched a thumb toward his companion. “This is my friend Cody. We play on the high school team together.”
Cody smiled, and Gareth wasted no more time getting down to business. “I’m assuming you’ve played at least a little if you’re willing to subject yourself to one of our family melees?”
“Some.” She added a smile because he’d managed to figure this out and Tag hadn’t.
“So, looking at the teams today, Tag, Freddie and Brittany are going be our main competition. It doesn’t matter who Tag plays with—he almost always wins. But, with any luck, we won’t be playing his team until the championship game, anyway.”
He went on to give a quick rundown on the strengths and weaknesses of the best players.
Ally was impressed. “Got it.”
“Do you think you can handle the ball? Dribbling and stuff? I mean, I was thinking since you’re shorter maybe you could play point?”
Should she ease his mind and tell him she was more than a decent player or just wait and let him figure it out? As usual, she decided to let her actions do the talking. “I think I can handle it.”
The teams drew straws to see who would be matched up for the initial loser-out match. Unfortunately, luck was not with their team, as Gareth and Tag both drew the short straws, meaning they would play Tag’s team first.
They flipped a coin for first possession, and Tag’s team won. His teammate, Freddie, began the game with the ball at the top of the court. Ally allowed him to pass it to Tag, who made a simple jump shot, putting his team up by two.
Ally started play for her team. She easily moved around Freddie to pass the ball to Cody. Brittany was all over him, and Tag was on Gareth. Ally got around Freddie, and Cody called out a play and passed it back to Ally. When Gareth moved around Tag, she fired the ball to him, and he put the ball through the hoop and tied the game.
They went on like this for a few minutes, with Tag’s team scoring and theirs tying it up. Ally held back, assessing the skills of everyone on the court. Tag was just as good as Gareth said, probably better. Like her, she felt he was holding back. But, she suspected, not nearly as much as she was.
A few minutes in she could see it would eventually come down to an under-the-basket matchup between Tag and Gareth if she didn’t do something. From what she’d seen so far, this wasn’t a strong bunch of three-point shooters.
She called a time-out.
Gareth looked concerned. “Hey, what’s up? You okay?”
“Yep, good.”
“You can obviously handle the ball a little better than you let on, huh?”
“A bit.” She added a grin. “I just need to know how bad you guys want to win?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve seen enough to know that we can win this game if you want to, or we can just keep playing, and you and Tag can duke it out under the basket and see who comes out on top.”
Gareth peered at her and lowered his voice. “You’re a three-pointer shooter.”
It sounded like an accusation and Ally laughed. “I am. And I can handle Freddie. But what’s going to happen is this—I’m going to sink a couple of threes before Tag figures out that I can play. He’s going to call a time-out and then he’s going to guard me. That will put Freddie on you and free you up under the basket. Then we can have some fun.”
