Page 66 of Protected from Malice
“Alright, Brain.” Rafe urges me forward. “Don’t open your eyes yet. Just another few seconds…”
The door shuts behind us with a little snick.
As soon as we walk insidewherever, I’m hit with a blend of familiar scents.
Wood polish. Rubber. A faint tang of disinfectant. Popcorn. Pizza.
“Rafe?” I clutch his arm. “What is this?”
He turns me slightly and says, “Open your eyes and see for yourself.”
The instant I do, my breath catches.
Tears burn behind my eyes.
We’re in a bowling alley.
A small but perfect one, with two lanes just for us.
The wood gleams beneath the overhead lights, and the scoreboard is all lit up and ready to play. Two pairs of bowling shoes are set on a counter near the front—one small and one large. Off to the side, a popcorn machine is filled to the brim with popcorn, and beside that, a little spinning heater has slices of pizza inside it.
There’s no one else here. No hotel guests. No employees. Just us.
“Rafe,” I manage through a constricting throat. “How?—”
He turns me so we’re face to face. His expression softens. “I remember going bowling with you that time in Boston. You said how much you loved it, how you and your dad used to go all the time. But you didn’t have any friends who’d go with you.”
My nose prickles. “I asked. But they thought it was silly. Childish. And I didn’t want to go by myself.”
“I remember how much you enjoyed it. How excited you got when you scored that strike.” A beat, and then more softly, “You looked so cute. Jumping up and down. Cheering. And your smile…”
“My smile?”
Rafe stares at me, his expression unreadable.
Or maybe it is.
Maybe, just maybe, he’s feeling the same thing as me.
He touches my cheek. “It was everything.”
I’m afraid to hope. Afraid I’ll be disappointed. That if I ask, I’ll ruin this special thing Rafe planned before it even starts.
But I have to ask. “Everything?”
His eyes close. When they open, the emotion within hits me square in the chest. In a low, husky tone, he says, “Ah, Eden. Don’t you know?”
“Maybe.” It’s barely a whisper. “I know what I hope it is.”
For the first time since I’ve known Rafe, he looks nervous.
“I thought about it all the time. Your smile. When we were overseas on an op, it was right there. Reminding me why I was fighting. Reminding me why I needed to make it home.”
“Rafe.”
“I’d do anything to make you smile, Eden.” He tears his gaze from mine to cast a quick glance around the bowling alley. “I know this isn’t much?—”
“It is,” I interrupt fiercely. “This is amazing, Rafe. That you remembered, and you set this all up…”
