Nolan said with an easy smile. “Heredity in action. Boys aren’t usually done growing yet at your age.”
He frowned at them. “What about girls?”
“Mostly girls are, I think,” Allie told him apologetically. “Not all. I had a friend who was teeny tiny because she didn’t reach puberty until she was almost sixteen. So she grew after that. But I was done by the time I was twelve.”
“Well.” He looked at her kindly. “You kind of got stuck.”
Allie stuck out her tongue at him, and he laughed.
“What were you guys arguing about?”
“None of your business,” Nolan said bluntly. He groaned. “I suppose I should start dinner.”
Please, Allie thought. Maybe he’d quit asking her questions. “Yes, you should. Since you insisted on making this a big deal by inviting my mother.”
Sean twirled the ball on a fingertip. “Is she, like, not that nice or something?”
“What?”
“Well...” The ball fell into his hands and he looked uneasy at her tone. “’Cause you didn’t want us to meet her.”
“Of course she’s nice! I didn’t not want you to meet her....” She floundered. “It was just...”
They both waited politely.
“Meeting the family is kind of...” Nolan’s eyes narrowed, unnerving her. “It’s not something you do when you’re first dating someone, that’s all.”
“But he wanted you to meet me right away.” Sean evidently saw something on Nolan’s face and gulped. “Um, I guess you kind of had to, when we live together and stuff.”
She swiveled to look right at Nolan. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was hurting your feelings.”
His expression softened. “No. I was impatient, that’s all. I’m not usually,” he added ruefully.
Allie only nodded. Her hands, she discovered, were clasped together so tightly she wasn’t sure she could pry them apart.
I should have told Mom I’ve slipped a few times. So she doesn’t contradict me.
Too late. And, heaven help her, Nolan was sure to grill her mother.
“Do you want to shoot some baskets?” Sean asked Allie.
Heaving himself to his feet, Nolan glanced at her with amusement. “Do you think you can throw the ball up that high?”
“I could get the stepladder,” Sean chimed in.
“Is that a challenge?” Allie stood and dusted off her behind. “How hard can it be to put a stupid ball through a ring?”
They both laughed.
“And to think, I was going to offer to help with dinner.” She grinned at Sean. “You’re on.”
She strolled down the steps, snatched the ball from the fourteen-year-old’s hands and carried it to the free-throw line. Now, if only she hadn’t lost her knack.
Nolan, she was aware, had grabbed Cassie by the collar and pushed her into the house, then lingered on the porch himself, still amused. Sean sauntered toward her with a shit-eating grin on his face. Allie dribbled the ball a couple of times to get in the zone, letting it come back up to smack her hands. Then she lifted it, jumped and let the ball slip off her fingertips. It made a perfect arc, dropping through the net with a swish. No backboard.
Sean gaped.
Nolan let out a hearty laugh and went inside.
Allie retrieved the ball, dribbled away from the garage, turned and shot. Swish.
“You conned me.”
“No,” she said. “If I’d suggested putting some money on whether I could make a free throw, then I’d have been conning you.”
“You can’t have played basketball.”
“Because I’m a girl?” She shot right over his head. Swish.
His mouth dropped open again. He closed it with a snap. “Because you’re short,” he said indignantly.
Allie relented enough to smile at him. “No, I didn’t play varsity or anything, because I am too short. But we had to play in PE, and for some reason I always had a really good shot.” She shrugged. “I’m good at bat, too.”
His eyes grew calculating. “You wanna play horse?”
“What do I win if I beat you?”
“You don’t have a lawn I could mow.”
“I could teach you to cut out fabric. Saturdays are busy in the store. A little extra help would be great.”
The appalled expression on his face made her day.
“No way I’m going to be seen in a fabric store!”
“Well, then?”
“Five bucks.”
“Five bucks it is.”
She won the first game. Grimly determined, Sean shot from farther and farther out during the second game, eventually beyond her reach. “Horse!” he declared triumphantly.
“No fair,” she said. “Play-off, and you can’t use your height advantage that way.”
“Fine. You start.” He bounced the ball to her.
They were midgame when she heard a car in the driveway. Sean had been dribbling in preparation for a tricky side-court shot when he