God's Gift - By Dee Henderson Page 0,26

could have conceivably been cool enough she would need a jacket, but Dave’s leather jacket? It wasn’t fashionable. And Dave didn’t exactly just hand that jacket out. Letting a lady wear that jacket was Dave’s equivalent of giving a class ring.

“Nail it, Rae.”

She stopped the swing, the loud call coming just as she began to step forward, the momentum spinning her around. “Would my cheering section please quit interrupting my concentration?” she demanded, amused.

“Why? You bowl better when we interrupt you,” Dave said.

“Your only strikes came with our help,” Lace confirmed, her patent leather shoes resting on the back of the chair in front of the bench. She was shelling peanuts. She looked about sixteen with the outfit she had on—the poodle skirt was vintage sixties if it was a day, the bubble gum had to be interfering with the peanuts, and her hair was in two ponytails. Two. It was carrying cheerleading beyond the call of duty. It did explain the leather jacket.

“How many strikes is that?”

“Two,” James added cheerfully from his seat as acting scoring secretary.

She scowled at him. She was having a rotten game.

“Try to behave, you’re embarrassing my team.”

“They’re okay, Rae,” the rest of her bench chimed in. Dave tipped his can of soda in thank-you for the support. He had bought the first round of soft drinks for the entire league. He was everyone’s pal tonight.

Rae reset her position, considered what Leo would have done in this situation, and laid a blistering twist on the release, crossing her ball over the fifth board. She watched it flair out to the second board, cross the second set of diamonds and promptly hook into a pocket with a vicious pop.

“All right, Rae!”

She walked back to the bench, smiling.

She slapped hands with her teammates and picked up the towel she had tossed on her seat.

“You’re a pretty good player, aren’t you?” James leaned forward across the back of the seat to whisper.

“Sort of,” Rae whispered back. “We promised the league we would make the games competitive this year.”

“So, where are we going from here?”

It was late, and the foursome paused in the parking lot to consider Dave’s question.

Dave had his arm draped around Lace’s shoulders. James could understand why he didn’t want the evening to end. He didn’t particularly want to see the evening end, either.

Rae paused beside him as they considered what they would do, shifting her bag holding two bowling balls to her other hand. He had offered to carry it for her, but she had declined with a smile and a soft thanks. He hadn’t made an issue of it. The symptoms were gone, but she was still being cautious. Either that, or she didn’t want his help. He preferred to think she was still being careful of his wrists. The first time at the bowling alley, weeks ago, he had picked up a bowling ball and the pain in his wrist had made him nearly gasp in pain. Tonight, he bet he could bowl a game and not feel even a twinge.

“James, will a late night be a problem?” Rae asked him in an undertone, confirming his suspicions of what she was thinking.

He appreciated the question, but he really was okay now. “No.”

“We could go to Avanti’s for a pizza,” she suggested to the group.

“Great idea. They have the best garlic bread sticks,” Lace commented.

“Garlic? Lace…” Dave began to protest.

Lace slipped out from under his arm. “Don’t go making assumptions, Dave. I’ll ride with Rae and we’ll meet you two there.”

Dave sighed. “Sure.”

James hid his smile, aware, as was Rae, how Lace and Dave were skirting around actually dating. “Come on Dave, ride with me and give me directions. I’ll bring you back here to pick up your car.”

They walked across the parking lot to the car Kevin had loaned him, listening to the laughter of the ladies as they walked in the other direction to Rae’s Lexus.

James unlocked the car, catching sight of Dave’s expression as he turned to watch them. “She does like you, you know.”

“I thought getting a kiss when I was sixteen was a big deal,” Dave commented. “It’s nothing like trying to get one from Lace. I’ve never met a lady with more contrary signals in my life.”

“She doesn’t want to mess up a friendship.”

“No, it’s not that. Rae was like that. I think Lace just likes to be contrary. I made the mistake of asking her out only after I found out she was dating some tax attorney.