“I would love that, but I think I should tell you that I’m not very good at bowling.”
“It’s okay.” She grins. “We get bumpers, so we’ll win anyway.”
“Cheater,” Tide mutters, and she looks at me, shrugging one shoulder, which makes me laugh. “All right, trouble, how about we order our pizza?”
“Okay, Dad,” she agrees but soon loses interest in me, deciding what she wants to eat, then Gino starts to coo and laugh as she makes funny faces at him.
“Told you it would be okay,” Gia says, and I roll my eyes at her, which makes her grin. I rest against Tide’s side and watch his daughter with Gino, picturing her with a little brother or sister of her own and wondering if Tide wants more kids. It’s not something we’ve ever talked about before. There hasn’t been a time when the topic of children has come up, but after seeing him with Olivia, I know it’s something that is going to be on my mind now.
“She likes you,” Tide whispers in my ear, and I turn so we’re face-to-face.
“I think she is probably the kind of kid who likes everyone, which means you’ve done a good job with her.”
“No, she likes you. Normally, she’s really shy meeting new people. She just knows good people when she meets them.”
“You always know what to say.”
His eyes drop to my mouth, and I lick my lips before I turn away to grab the menu, not wanting to be tempted to kiss him, which is something I’m always tempted to do when he’s close.
________________
“No way!” I cry when my bowling ball bounces off the bumper, ending up in the gutter on the opposite side of the lane. It wouldn’t be so bad if that was the first time it happened, but this is the fourth time I’ve been up to bowl and the fourth time I’ve had a gutter ball since we started. And worse, I’ve only knocked over seven pins in total. Spinning on my bowling shoes, I turn to face Olivia and toss my arms in the air. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She laughs, picking up her ball. “We’re still winning.” I give her a high-five when she walks past me, then watch as she rolls her ball like a pro down the middle of the lane, knocking down all the pins and getting another strike. I clap and dance around, not caring that I look like a dork, because she’s laughing, and I like the sound of her happiness.
“Great job.” I look at the scoreboard and smirk, because she is beating all the adults and really doesn’t even need the bumpers. I just think they make her feel more confident. “I vote to be on your team every time we bowl.”
“I vote to be on the girls’ team next time,” Gia says, mock-glaring at her teammates as she carries her ball down to the edge of the lane before holding it between both her legs and throwing it like a little kid would. When she knocks down all but three pins, I decide to try throwing it like her next time, and surprisingly it works, because I knock down ten pens, which means I end up dancing again. I turn around, expecting to find Olivia as excited as I am, but my dancing comes to an end and my stomach bottoms out when I see Anna standing with Olivia, Tide, and Colton on the upper level of the alley.
I pull my eyes off them and look at Gia, watching her press her lips together as she shakes her head. Not sure what to do, I go to where she’s sitting with Gino and take a seat next to her. “Is everything okay?”
“She just showed up, Tide spotted her, then he and Colton went to meet her, and Olivia followed right behind them.” I look at them again and realize why Tide chose Anna. They fit together, both of them tall and beautiful, which isn’t surprising, since they made a kid as cute as Olivia. “Hey,” Gia says, nudging her shoulder into mine. “You have nothing to worry about when it comes to her and him. That ship sailed a long time ago.”
“They fit though. Don’t they?”
“Obviously that’s not true, because they aren’t together.”
“I guess you’re right,” I agree, reminding myself that he told me to trust him. “Should I go up there?” We both look that direction.
“Do you want to go up there?”
“Not really.”
“I wouldn’t either.” I hear the frown in her voice when Anna grabs hold of Tide’s bicep. “Why do women do that?”
“What?” I dig my nails into my palms as my stomach knots with jealousy.
“Fight for a man they have never fought for in the past, when they know that man is moving on?” She turns to look at me. “Colton’s ex did the same thing, and I just don’t get it.”
“Maybe they realize what they’re going to miss out on.”
“Or maybe—” She covers Gino’s ears. “—they are just assholes.”
“Maybe.” I can’t help but smile.
“Babe.” Tide’s deep voice startles me, and I tip my head back to look up at him as he comes to stand in front of me with Olivia at his side. “Olivia is gonna head home with her mom.”
“Oh.” I try to hide my disappointment as he holds out his hand to help me stand. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine. Anna was in the area and thought she’d save us the trip of driving her home and just stop by here to pick her up.”
A million things are on the tip of my tongue to say, but I hold them in, knowing they won’t help right now. And judging by the twitching of his jaw, they will only make things worse. Looking down at Olivia, I take her hand. “I had so much fun with you.”
“Me too.” She looks over her shoulder, and I glance that way, seeing Anna standing at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at Colton, who seems to be blocking her way. “Your balloons and gift are in your dad’s truck. Do you want to take them with you?”
“I’ll give them to her when I walk them out,” Tide cuts in, squeezing my hand.
Right. I focus on Olivia. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye, Aria.” She gives me a quick hug around my hips, and before I can hug her back she runs off to her mom. I tip my head back to look at her dad, sure that he’s pissed, and surer there isn’t anything I can do about it.
“I’ll wait here with Gia.”
“Be back in a minute.” He dips down to brush his lips against mine, then heads up the stairs ignoring whatever it is that Anna is saying instead focusing on Olivia. I watch them go and then help Gia buckle Gino into his carrier and load up the diaper bag. After we return our shoes, we head to the front of the bowling alley to wait for the guys and end up spotting a sparkly blue unicorn hanging on the wall in the arcade that we agree Gino needs. When we see that we only need five hundred tickets, we try our luck at Kill the Toad or whatever it’s called. You would think that two grown women would be good at knocking out some object when it pops out of a hole, but as Gia and I lose game after game, we learn quickly that’s not true. With each of us taking turns holding Gino, who is mesmerized by the lights and music, we toss our money into the machine, becoming more determined every time we lose. Even when Tide and Colton come back in and find us, we don’t give up.
“Are you and Gia gonna need rehab for this new habit?” Tide asks against my ear while wrapping his arms around my waist, causing me to shiver and miss one of the toads when it pops up, and I end up losing the game.