Page 39 of Hitting the Gap

Kendall wrapped her arm around Bailey’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine.”

“So dinner for eight on Ken when the girls lose?” Gonzo said.

“Whoa, whoa.” Kendall held up her hand. “We aren’t going to lose. What do we get when we win?”

“You’re not gonna win,” Ryan said.

“You don’t know that. I used to kick your ass all the time when we were kids.”

“Gonzo’s a fantastic cook. How about he cooks dinner for everyone if we win?” Bailey chimed in.

“You can cook?” Kendall asked.

“Of course I can cook.” Gonzo rolled his eyes. How the hell did she think he ate?

“Well, I mean like cook, cook, like properly cook,” Kendall continued.

“Yes, Kendall, I can properly cook.”

“He’s really good,” Bailey gushed.

Kendall’s gaze darted back and forth between him and Bailey. “Interesting.”

“What’s interesting about it?” he asked.

Kendall’s raised shoulders matched her eyebrows as she smirked back at him. “It’s just interesting that you’ve cooked for her, and we didn’t even know you could cook.”

“I knew he could cook,” Ryan interjected.

“See.” Gonzo looked at Kendall. “I just haven’t cooked for you.”

Kendall’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, that’s just rude.”

He snickered. “Then maybe you should be nice.”

“I’m always nice,” she squawked.

“Eh,” Ryan replied.

Bailey stepped closer to him. “I really like your friends.”

He set his arm around her shoulder as he watched the siblings squabble over how they were going to decide who got which colored darts. “Yeah, I like them too.”

“Ha, I won.” Kendall threw her arms up in victory. “Pass over the gold ones.” Kendall held out her palm and wiggled her fingers until Ryan set the gold darts in her hand. She stepped toward Bailey and handed her their darts. “You go first.”

Bailey accepted the darts and exhaled a deep breath.

“Hey, Bay?”

“Yeah?”

Why did she look so nervous? It was darts. No one was going to be throwing them at her. This was supposed to be fun. “I’m not going to let you win like I did when we were kids.”

“Let me win? Oh my god, like you’ve ever let anyone win anything,” she scoffed. “You’re going down.”

Bailey walked up to the little tape line on the floor. She set the tip of her left shoe on the line, then wiggled her back leg until she was in position. He crossed his arms and leaned against the table as he watched her get set up.

Kendall set her beer down on the table beside him and turned to watch Bailey. “I like her.”

---