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“Roll the ball,” he said. “Your turn consists of rolling the ball two times.” Turning to Scooter, he asked, “Mind if Twyla takes a turn?”
“Of course not,” Scooter said. “We just started a new game.” Bowing, he gave a grand sweep with one arm. “Right this way, my lady.”
Twyla grimaced at Scooter as she stepped up to the red line. He’d always been a teaser.
“Not so close,” Forrest said, pulling her back a few steps. “There. Now, when it’s time, you swing the ball behind you—” he swung her arm backward as he spoke “—and take three steps forward and let go of the ball.”
It sounded easy enough, and having always enjoyed games, Twyla nodded. “Got it.” She also gave him the thumbs-up sign before she stuck her fingers and a thumb into the holes in the ball. He grinned and though it was hard to pull her gaze off his dimple, she managed to turn her attention back to the game. While the boys at the other end set up the pins again, she watched the other bowlers. By the time her pins were in a perfect triangle, she was holding the ball before her face. The boy at the end of her lane waved before ducking down and she prepared to swing her arm backward.
This was going to be so simple, and once she proved how easily she could master bowling, she would convince Forrest how much help she could be in his fight against Galen Reynolds.
To her utter surprise, the ball slipped off her fingers. A great crashing noise followed. Twyla spun about, opening only one eye, half-afraid to see who she’d hit. The chairs and little table sitting there had toppled, but Forrest, Jonas and Scooter were all still standing.
“Sorry,” she said, rather sheepishly.
Jonas gathered her ball from where it landed and carried it back to her. “I did that once, too,” he said. “You gotta keep your fingers curled until you let the ball go forward.”
“Gotcha,” she said, taking the ball he held out.
Her first ball rolled directly into the gutter. The second one managed to knock over one pin.
Forrest stepped up to the alley next and with the ease of Babe Ruth throwing a baseball, he sent the ball rolling straight into the pins. All ten toppled.
Her competitive nature kicked in. “There’s something wrong with this ball,” she told Forrest, holding up her ball.
“Is there?”
“Yes,” she insisted. “I’m going to get a different one.”
“Suit yourself,” he said, laughing.
By the time Scooter and Jonas had thrown their balls, she had a new one picked out and stepped up to the line. Then, very carefully, she took three steps backward and hoisted the ball before her face. Taking perfect aim, with her eyes glued to the center pin, she swung the ball back and then forward. It bounced once, but rolled straight down the lane and hit the front pin, scattering the other nine in all directions.
Jumping for joy, she spun around. “See? You’d given me a faulty ball. On purpose, most likely.”
Forrest’s grin widened.
She turned to where Scooter was writing on a piece of paper. “What’s that?”
“I’m keeping score,” Scooter said.
“Score?” she asked, turning her gaze to Forrest.
The gleam in his eyes was as bright as the sun. He nodded.
“No wonder people like this game,” she said. Scorekeeping always made games more fun, and she was all about winning.
Chapter Nine
Forrest waited until Twyla was invested in the game before he snuck away. Once in his office, he picked up the receiver and waited for the line to be connected to the resort. When a voice came on, he paused slightly before asking, “Is Ty Bradshaw there?”
“Who’s calling, please?”
“Forrest Reynolds.”
“Hold, please.”
The next few moments seemed to take hours while Forrest contemplated if he’d made the right choice. Ty seemed to have Norma Rose under control, and therefore, he would be the best one to come and get Twyla. Forrest kept one eye on the door. Though Twyla was focused on winning the bowling game, she’d question his absence and could burst into the room at any moment.
“Ty here.”
“Ty, its Forrest. You need to come get Twyla.”
“Why? Is she hurt?”
“No, she’s fine. She’s bowling right now. I just don’t want her to drive back to the resort alone.” Checking that the door was still shut tight, he added, “A man who’d been in jail with Galen, Nasty Nick Ludwig, was here a short time ago. I’m not sure where he went, but wouldn’t put it past him to follow her.”
“I’ll be there shortly.”
Forrest hung up and arrived back at the lanes just as Twyla was rolling her second ball. She jumped up and down and then spun around when the last three pins fell. “Where’d you go?” she asked. “Jonas bowled for you.”
