shoe size?”
“Take off your boot.”
He sat on the ground, slipped off one of his cute little snow boots and handed it to her. “Looks like he’s a youth size one,” she said.
A moment later, the clerk handed her two pairs of oh-so-attractive bowling shoes. “You’ll be in lane six,” he said.
Lucy found a bench and helped Christopher into his shoes.
“Why do we have to wear special shoes?” he asked.
“Regular shoes might damage the floor,” she said. “Plus, these are supposed to help you bowl better.”
“Do they have magic powers?”
A legitimate question. “Not that I know of, but we’ll have to see.”
Soon they were both ready to go. They stowed their own footwear in a cubby, then selected a couple of balls she thought would be sized right for them before heading to their designated lane.
In some corner of her mind, she had been hoping she and Christopher would be positioned on the opposite side of the bowling alley from Rodrigo and José, and the two Navarro brothers would never even know she had been there.
She should have known fate wouldn’t be that kind to her. Lane six happened to be right next to their lane. Naturally.
Oh, this had been such a mistake.
With a sigh, she made her way over to their lane, which was already set up with bumpers for Christopher.
She had just set her ball into the return when Rodrigo spotted her. “Lucy! You came bowling with us!” Rodrigo hurried over and enveloped her in a huge hug, joy radiating from every pore.
José didn’t look nearly as thrilled.
His mouth was set in a line, his eyes dark and cloudy.
“It sounded like so much fun that Christopher and I decided to come, too. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No!” Rodrigo assured her. “But we’re almost done. I won one game and José won the other one. He’s really good.”
Yes. She could attest to that, at least if she were judging the way he kissed.
“This ball is so heavy.”
She glanced down and saw Christopher red faced, arms straining to hold the bowling ball.
“Sorry, kiddo.” She quickly took it from him and set it on the ball return along with hers. “Should we bowl?”
He threw a fist up in the air. “Yes! Winner gets an ice-cream cone. That’s what you said.”
“That’s right.”
For the next while at least she was able to focus on Christopher as she taught him the basics of bowling—how to line up the ball and release it at precisely the right moment and with just the right momentum.
Each time his ball made any contact whatsoever with a pin, he jumped around as if he’d won an Olympic gold medal, which she found adorable.
She had just taken a turn when she heard a shout of happiness from the next lane over.
“Winner winner chicken dinner,” Rodrigo crowed, dancing around his brother.
“You rocked it, dude,” José said good-naturedly. “Somebody’s been working hard on their bowling game.”
“It’s me.” Rodrigo held up a hand. She had to smile. Rod was a lucky guy, actually. He was loved and supported by his family, who all worked hard to help him live his best possible life.
Differently abled people in some of the other parts of the globe where she had worked didn’t always have the same opportunities, sometimes facing prejudice and even superstition.
“How’s it going over here?” José asked, interrupting her thoughts. She was glad to see that he seemed to have put away his annoyance for now.
“Chris is a natural, aren’t you, bud?”
“I knocked down six different pins on my first try!”
“Wow. That’s terrific.” José smiled down at the boy and she felt something catch in her chest.
“And on my second try, I knocked down two more. That’s—” he counted on his fingers “—eight all together.”
“Good job.”
“Can we watch Lucy play?” Rodrigo asked his brother.
José looked torn. She could tell he didn’t want to but he looked at Rodrigo then back at Lucy and Christopher and shrugged. “Sure. We still have a little while before I have to take you home.”
This felt much worse, having him sit behind her when she tried to bowl. She was ultra aware of him, long legs stretched out as he talked to Christopher and Rodrigo, who were apparently the best of friends already.
Still, she managed to make it through the match with a respectable score. It wasn’t as good as Christopher’s, though, since he had the advantage of the bumpers, which were lifted for her.
Seeing the jubilation on his features took away any sting of defeat. “I won!” he exclaimed.