Her smile slips slightly, and a prickle of self-consciousness sets me on edge. Did I go too far? Was even that too much?
Then Pansy’s voice rings out over the ambient sounds of strangers’ chatter, balls hitting pins, and a popcorn machine at the refreshments counter. “There you are.”
“I need a drink,” I announce.
Nora pushes up onto her toes and kisses me, and even though we’ve been kissing a lot over the last few weeks, part of me fears this kiss was forthem.
“I’ll have a cider,” she says.
“Traitor,” I quip as I step away, nodding to José and Pansy as they join us.
They don’t look any happier today than they did on our first disastrous double date. He has the hollow-eyed look of someone who hasn’t been sleeping, and his clothes, usually immaculate, are wrinkled. Pansy, on the other hand, has a hyped-up, near-manic energy. She’s wearing her hair in pigtails and is dressed in a white minidress that seems like a strange choice for a bowling alley. Everyone except for José will have to look away when she bends over.
“You’re getting drinks?” she cries out. “José, please go with him. I need a drink.”
José grits his teeth but follows me to the counter.
He doesn’t say anything to me this time. The silence is so uncomfortable I find myself making an inane comment about the weather.
“It’s not as hot today, huh?”
Oh God, who have I become?
He grunts, which I take as agreement about the weather, and then we head back to the lane and pass out the drinks.
Within five minutes, the four of us are playing a listless game of bowling. José is the only one who’s any good, but he looks about as pleased with his strikes as Nora is with her gutterballs.
“You’re doing it all wrong,” Pansy snipes the third time Nora rolls a ball straight into the gutter.
“I’m playing for fun,” Nora says, although she doesn’t sound like she’s having a good time. None of us are, but I have to admit the cider is surprisingly good. Maybe they’re onto something with all those apples.
A few minutes later, José glances down at his phone, whistles, and turns to face Nora. “Jeff down at Twenty-Seven Flavors wants to talk to us.”
“Right now?” she asks, looking at me with concern. “We take Mondays off.”
“You don’t think it’s worth hopping on a quick call if we can get distribution with them? They have forty locations across the state.”
“Forty-two,” I say, because I overheard their ad on the radio, and pointless information has a way of sticking with me sometimes.
“Are you okay with this?” Nora asks.
I bend to kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear, “Reluctantly.” Then I smile and give her a tiny push. “Go be brilliant. Pansy and I will practice.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Pansy insists with a wide smile. “You talk business. We’ll be right here waiting.”
Something about the way she says it puts me on my guard, but I don’t say anything. If she’s up to something, it’ll become clear quickly enough.
José and Nora leave the building, my gaze trailing them, and as soon as they’re out of sight, Pansy wraps her hand around my arm.
I flinch and turn toward her.
“José set that up for me.”
“Why?” I try to tug my arm away, and she digs her fingers in, her nails scraping my flesh. I wince as I pull myself fully free.
“He thinks I’m going to apologize for trying to get you interested in Pads by Pansy.”
“But he’s mistaken?”
