“Oh, that’s okay, honey,” Ann says, settling a hand on his bare forearm. “I’ll give you a ride.”
Nora and I exchange a glance, and I can see the way her shoulders are shaking with silent laughter.
“Didyou hear the way she said that?” Nora asks as I drive us reluctantly toward Apple Ridge and the bowling date. “I’ll give you a ride. There’s no way she isn’t into him.”
“Maybe she just wants sex.”
“Yes, Cormac. She took one look at Nathaniel’s lustrous beard and decided she wanted to tug it midcoitus.”
“You did say she likes beards.”
She places her hand on my thigh, her fingers idly caressing me.
“Wait until you see how nimbly I can move in bowling shoes,” I say.
“I’m sure I’ll be super impressed. I’ll probably throw my panties at you.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you. Rest assured that I would catch them. And keep them. I’d probably admire them daily while I’m gone.”
She shoves my arm slightly, then lets her hand drift back onto its place on my leg.
I think again about my coffee date with my father. I’d wanted so badly to tell him about Nora and me. To admit that I want to be with her. But surely I need to tell her first.
I’m ready to discuss the future with her, and yet…
It seems like it would be best to wait until after José is a free man.
I don’t like thinking this way, but I’m worried she might change her mind about him once he’s single. Maybe she’ll look at the two of us standing side by side and decide to pick the obvious choice—the smooth, good-looking guy with whom she already spends half of her life.
That uncomfortable thought is still nagging at me as we park in one of the community lots in Apple Ridge and walk to the bowling alley, following Google’s stilted directions.
When we reach our destination, I turn to give Nora a dark look.
It’s called Apple Bottom Lanes.
“Can they not give anything a normal name?”
“Why would they go and do a thing like that?” she asks with a perfectly straight face.
I reach for her hand, holding her gaze. “They’ll expect us to be touching.”
“Let’s give the people what they want,” she says as she squeezes my hand. Then she surprises me by standing on her toes and kissing me, right there in front of anyone who cares to watch.
God, it feels good.
I’m still riding the high as we walk in together and claim our shoes at the front. They smell aggressively of apple air freshener.
“We get it. They grow apples,” I grumble as we carry the shoes to the lane Pansy reserved for us—McIntosh Lane.
Leave it to her to choose an inferior apple.
But my spirits rise as we reach our destination, because they’re not here yet.
I glance at Nora as we sit down. “Maybe they won’t show. They might be breaking up this very minute.”
She smiles at me. “It’s cute how excited you sound about that.”
“Your goals are mine.”
