One More Time (Ruby Falls #2) - Aurora Rose Reynolds Page 0,37
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