the back of my knuckles down the side of her jaw. “Any new bruising?”
She shook her head.
Her right eye had a black, raccoon-like ring around it. The swelling on her cheekbone looked the same size as Thursday night, except now a dark purple bruise bloomed beneath her pale skin. I touched it with just the tips of my fingers, and she jerked back. “Sorry. Did that hurt?”
“It just surprised me. It’s okay though.”
Taking her jaw in my hand, I tilted her head slightly. My stomach bottomed out when I got an up-close look at her lip. Still split, still puffy, a dark mark below it and bruising above it. However, it did look a little better. “How bad does it hurt?” I murmured, softly stroking the skin between her jawbone and the bottom of her lip.
“It smarts when I smile. So I’m smiling less than normal.”
“You’ve been icing it properly?”
“Last night I held a quart of Häagen-Dazs raspberry chocolate on it until the ice cream melted and I had to eat it.”
I grinned at her. “That’s an excellent example of dual-purpose thinking.” I forced myself to stand back, even when I wanted to continue to hold her battered face in my hand.
Gabi handed me a cup of coffee. “I didn’t bother with makeup today. You think I’ll scare any of these kids away?”
“No.” Impulsively I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “And you’re not scaring me away either, Gabriella.”
I strode to the front entrance and shoved the key into the lock. No security system. Then again, a brick through the glass door or any of the multitude of windows would render any security system worthless.
After passing through the outer entrance, we were in a glass-walled entryway with another glass door that opened up into the bowling alley proper. Most places in Minnesota had this feature, giving customers a place to keep out of the elements while waiting for a ride or for their vehicle to warm up. Didn’t make economic sense to me, though, trying to heat spaces that were mostly glass walls.
The tiled floor that led to the counter was pitched at an odd uphill angle. I wondered how many bowling balls had careened down that incline.
“Wow. This is totally retro. I’d love to see what magic Dallas could work with a place like this.”
“It’d need a lot, but it looks a million times better than it did yesterday. Amazing what gallons of bleach can do. The only place we didn’t allow the industrial cleaning crew was the mechanical area behind the lanes.” I frowned. “I hope Curtiss shows up today because I have no earthly idea how to turn any of the pin setting machines on. That’d be just my luck—”
Gabi gently placed her fingers over my mouth. “Stop obsessing. It’ll be fine. If Curtiss doesn’t show up, then we’ll YouTube it. You can learn how to do anything on there.”
I started to respond, but her thumb was lightly sweeping over the swollen spot on my bottom lip and I sort of forgot how to breathe.
“This looks better too.” Then her blue-gray eyes met mine. “Have you been icing it properly?”
“Yes.” I puckered up and kissed her thumb. “With a tumbler of scotch on ice.”
“Whatever works.”
She retreated and sipped her coffee, but I felt her watching me.
Which made it hard to focus. My phone buzzed and I answered it without checking the caller ID. “Nolan Lund.”
“Morning, boss. I’m headed to the bowling alley. Just wanted to make sure you’re on your way since you’re the only one with keys.”
“I’m already here.”
That surprised Sam. “Oh. Aren’t you an eager beaver this morning?”
“Are you even using the phrase ‘eager beaver’ in the right context?”
Gabi blushed.
Why did I find that so damn cute?
Sam sighed. “Since you’re so contrary, I’m eating your muffin.”
I snickered. My mind was on one track today—I didn’t dare look at her again.
“Never mind. See you in fifteen.” He hung up.
“Sam is on his way. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do because he’s got the lists.”
“I don’t want to bowl you over with my suggestions, but we could go back into the mechanical room and flip some switches.”
“Hilarious. Let’s put a pin in that idea for now.”
She smirked at me.
“Come on, I’ll let you watch while I find some lights.”
“I never asked how many kids signed up for the event.”
“A hundred and fifty. Above our initial projections.”
Gabi continued to stroll around, checking everything out. “Since this is a LCCO event, will there be media coverage?”
I shook