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He smirked. “Your answer affectsmyanswer.”
I thought about it for a moment. None of this was normal. It was totally new to me, but they were used to it. And since they had been totally honest with me about everything, I decided that I owed them the same.
“When I met Logan, he was dropping off his dogs for boarding. My ex-boyfriend Trip showed up, and we got into a fight. Logan intervened, and practically threw him over the fence. Afterwards, Logan claimed he acted that way because Trip almost kicked his dog, but I could tell he was being protective of me. It was…” I struggled to find the words. “I’m notunattractedto Logan, I’ll say.”
Christian gave me a knowing smile. “Yeah, Logan’s got a way about him. He doesn’t protect a lot of people, but when you’re one of them…” He shook his head. “Thanks for giving me an honest answer. Logan hasn’t said much to us about the whole thing, but if he acted that way around you, then I can promise you he’s interested. But he’s been hurt before, so it might take him some time to find a way to show it. Braden and I have talked about that a lot. We’re worried about him.” Christian hit another button on the computer, which made a satisfying beep. “Okay, the food is ordered. Let’s bowl.”
“You’re up first, Chrissy!”
He stuck his tongue out at me, a gesture that seemed all too childish for the series quarterback. He selected a bowling ball from the rack—a sixteen pounder, the heaviest weight—and stepped up to the line.
“No pressure,” I said. “Just ignore the dozen fans to our right who are watching.”
“Compared to eighty thousand fans in a stadium, this isn’t bad.” He held the ball, cradled in his left hand, in front of his face, and then took six slow steps forward. He lowered the ball in an arc to his right, pulling it back, and then sent it forward. The motion was so smooth that the ball made almost no noise as it made contact with the alley, rolling down the lane with just a hint of curve. It struck just to the right of the first pin, making explosive contact. When the noise and chaos died down, no pins were left standing. The screen above us announced that Chrissy had gotten a strike.
“You said you weren’t good!” I protested.
Christian smiled to himself as he returned to the seat next to me. “I guess my definition ofgoodis skewed.”
25
Beth
Christian’s opening strike was hard for me to follow, and I promptly rolled the ball into the gutter. My second roll was better, but it still only knocked down seven pins.
“You just needed a warm-up frame,” Christian said. “I think you’re going to crush me, now.”
“You’re being awfully friendly to the opponent who wrote Chrissy into the computer,” I said.
“If you think that’s bad,” he said while picking up his ball, “you should hear the trash talk I get on the field every Sunday.”
“I bet I can do better.”
He snorted. “Trust me. That’s not a competition you can win. I’ve heard some truly vile things.”
As he lined himself up and began to bowl, I yelled, “You bowl like my grandma!”
His bowl was almost perfect, just like the first frame, but this time one pin remained. He turned around and gave me a smug look. “I’m begging you not to try to compete with the defensive linemen who try sacking me.”
“Okay, fine,” I said. But as soon as his ball returned and he prepared to make his next shot, I said, “Christian Baker? More like ChristianFaker.”
This time, he started laughing as he swung the ball. It dropped out of his grasp and landed on the ground with aTHUD. I had to cover my mouth to stop from giggling.
“See! I can compete!”
Christian picked up his ball before it could roll down the lane. “You’re going to get us in trouble!”
“You’re the quarterback of the River City Colts. You can get away with a lot.”
“On the contrary. If some random guy makes a scene at a bowling alley, it doesn’t make the news. But if I do it, my face is printed on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with the headline:Colts Quarterback Kicked out of Bowling Alley.”
“I’ll stop if you admit that my trash talk was effective.”
He lifted his chin defiantly. “Never.”
“So be it.”
This time, I didn’t say a word as he bowled. But he was obviouslyexpectingme to, and that anticipation was enough to ruin his concentration. His ball rolled wide of the last pin.
