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“I like it when a project is done and I get to see the fruits of our efforts.”
The car slowed and he pulled into the parking lot of the bowling alley. As casually as he could muster, he glanced at her to see her reaction. Not till he pulled into a parking space in the nearly empty lot did she glance up and see the sign.
“We’re going bowling?” From her tone he couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing.
“Unless you’d rather not?” Fifth guessing kicked in.
She spun around in her seat, her eyes sparkling and her smile wide enough to touch her ears. “I love bowling.”
“You mentioned that.” Suppressing a delighted grin at her enthusiastic response, he undid his seatbelt and circled the hood, reaching her door before she was fully out of the car.
On her feet, she blinked at him, and then her grin dimmed to a soft smile. “You remembered.”
He bobbed his head and hoped his cheeks weren’t burning bright red from the delightful way she looked at him.
As they entered the bowling alley, the normal hum of balls rolling, people chatting, and the clattering of falling pins was blatantly missing.
Kate stopped short at the front desk, scanning the surroundings. “Don’t people bowl anymore?”
“Sure they do.” No point in mentioning that he’d bought out the alley for the afternoon. It had taken a little doing, something about league games, but one of the perks of being a Baron was not counting pennies.
A young man who looked like a giant on the elevated center check in desk smiled down at them. “Renting shoes? Or have your own?”
Craig’s first instinct had been to pop over to the pro shop and buy them each a pair of shoes, but common sense reminded him that most of the bowling population rented shoes and none to his knowledge had dropped dead from cooties. “What size do you wear?”
At her response, the clerk handed her a pair of fairly new-looking shoes. “Do you need socks too?”
“You rent socks?” Craig couldn’t hide the incredulity in his voice.
The kid laughed. “No, sir. We sell those.”
“We’ll take two pairs.”
Bowling had changed a lot since the last time he’d graced an alley. Everything was electronic. No papers, no need for scorekeepers, no arguing over how many points a turn took, and definitely no cheating.
“You ready to get your butt whipped?” Kate stood at the edge of the alley, her feet lined up with the dots on the wood planks. Concentrating for a moment, the ball in front of her, she took three long strides, her arm swinging back and the ball hit the wood deck and rolled straight, curving just in time to strike the sweet spot by the head pin. “Strike!”
Normally, that much enthusiasm would only succeed in egging on his competitive streak, but it looked so darn cute on her all he could do was grin.
It had been ages since he’d bowled, but surely it was like riding a bike, you never forget. Lining up center lane, he held up the ball and stared down the lane. It had really been a long time. He reminded himself to mind his steps, the direction of this thumb, and before he could make a move Kate giggled behind him.
“Need some pointers?” she called out.
He didn’t say a word, just turned and over his shoulder delivered the Baron death glare. “Now you’re on.”
For the next couple of hours they were neck in neck from one game to another. She’d won the first game. He’d called that practice. Then he’d won the second and now they were on the best two out of three. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun. The competition had been more playful as they laughed and slapped high-fives, and teased, and snacked on decadently greasy foods. Competition with his family had always been high pitched, tense, and often involved grumbles and even a little cussing. This was perfect.
More than once he’d had to step back and resist the urge to pull her into his arms and offer a congratulatory kiss.
“Oh drat.” Kate looked at her watch. “How did it get to be so late?”
“They do say time flies when you’re having fun.”
Leaning over to untie her shoes, she glanced up at him. “This really was fun. Thank you so much.”
A few more minutes and they were in the car and heading back to her house.
“I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoyed bowling.” Kate pulled her hair back and stuck a clip to hold it off her neck. “I wish I didn’t need to finish that darn report or we could have played longer.”
