Page 18 of Tackle

“Go.” She gave Emerson a light push on the shoulder. “I have everything under control.”

Like before, it felt strange leaving, sure the place would fall apart if she wasn’t there, but she needed to get over that. Time away was good for her. Funny how that hadn’t seemed to matter until Oz had appeared on the scene.

“Bowling?” Emerson tried to hide her surprise as Oz pulled into a parking lot and the fifty-foot bowling pin, which sat atop the Lucky Strikes building, came into view. Not that she was opposed to bowling, it was just something she would’ve never guessed Oz would want to do.

“The owner did me a favor, closing down for a few hours. We’ll have the place to ourselves.” Oz turned off the car and got out, going around to her side. “Do you like to bowl?” he asked after opening her door and helping her out.

“I haven’t been in years. The only thing I remember is getting a lot of gutter balls.” She flashed him a smile. “But that could have been because of the Guinness my brother kept supplying me with.”

Oz chuckled, moving them toward the back of the SUV instead of the entrance to the bowling alley. He pressed a button to open the hatch.

“You have your own ball?” Again, he surprised her when he grabbed the handle of a blue and white bag the shape of a wide but squat backpack, pulling it out.

Looking a bit sheepish, he said, “My mom and I bowled a lot when I was younger. We didn’t have a ton of money, and with her working two jobs, she didn’t have a lot of time, but our local bowling alley had two-dollar Tuesdays. They stayed open late and she always made it a point to take me. Looking back on it, I’m sure she’d been exhausted. Makes that time we’d spent together feel special.” He shrugged, looking embarrassed, as if he didn’t mean to share so much, but Emerson gooed like a melted popsicle, right there, splat, at his feet. “When I got older, I joined a league in high school. Played all four years but had to give it up in college because it interfered with football.”

“You must be good then.”

“I don’t play nearly as much as I’d like to, now, but yeah, I don’t suck.”

Emerson laughed. “Maybe I’ll just sit on the sidelines and cheer you on.”

“Not a chance. Besides, I don’t date cheerleaders.”

She raised her brows. “Never?”

“Nope, never. Not once.”

Satisfied contentment took her by surprise. Was it unfair to be thrilled about that little tidbit? Hell, yes. She had no right to be jealous of past conquests, real or imagined, but that didn’t stop her from being happy he wasn’t traveling or socializing with one.

Oz gained her attention when he tugged her hand to pull her through the door.

The place was eerily silent. She’d never been in a bowling alley where the thump of balls being dropped and the crash of pins being hit wasn’t competing with loud piped music and raised voices.

“I have a feeling you’re going to mop the floor with me.” She really was a bad bowler. Embarrassingly so. Maybe it was a good thing there was no one else around to witness her slew of gutter balls. “Hey, what about those bumper guard things? Maybe we can ask to have them installed.”

She received a firm look, complete with narrowed eyes. “No.”

Well, she tried.

They reached a counter with a man standing behind it.

“Oz! Good to see you, buddy.”

“Hey, Derek. Thanks for doing this.”

“With the money you’re paying, no thanks are necessary.”

The way Oz’s cheeks turned red, Emerson had a feeling that cat was supposed to have stayed in its bag.

“What size shoe do you wear?” He quickly changed the subject.

Going with the flow, though she was a bit curious how much it cost to rent out a whole bowling alley, she said, “Seven.”

Derek handed her a pair of red, green, and puke-beige shoes and then told them which lane to use. They sat down and Oz unzipped his bag, pulling out a pair of all black shoes that looked like sneakers but with a thinner sole.

“Hey, no fair. Why do you get cute shoes and I’m stuck with these?” She waved the offensively ugly shoes in the air.

She gave him brownie points for looking sheepish. “They purposely make the rentals unappealing so people don’t steal them.”

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