“I don’t know…”
Selena took what she thought was an intimidating step forward and used her firmest voice to snap her friend out of her pity party. “Hey, you made me come here and face my demons. You bullied me into taking a pointless position on the reunion committee when I didn’t want to, and now here I am, standing in the parking lot of a damn bowling alley that probably should be condemned and counting down the minutes until I can meet up with James and have yet another eventful and sexually satisfying evening.” She smiled. “I have you to thank for that.”
“I would think you’d be thanking James,” Jen said with her own grin.
“Very funny. The point is that you forced me out of my comfort zone, and things have worked out pretty damn well. You made me take a risk, and now I’m glad that you did. I really think you should take a chance and go see Mike.”
“What if he says no?”
“What if he says yes?”
Jen grimaced. “It’s hard to argue logic like that.”
“Don’t I know it,” Selena agreed. “Now go and be brave and call me tomorrow to let me know how it all worked out.”
“Why can’t I call you tonight?”
Selena reached for her keys and looked over her shoulder. “Because with any luck, we’ll both be otherwise occupied and unable to talk.”
Jen watched as Selena got in her car and drove away with a cheery wave. “Yup, hard to argue logic like that.”
* * *
“You’re kidding, right?”
Selena shook her head. She and James were sitting on the sofa in her hotel suite enjoying a late dinner while watching The Bachelor and the Bobbie Soxer on TMC when she told him about the upcoming bowling party. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s something a ten-year-old does for his birthday,” James said as if he were humoring a child.
“Well, it seemed like a lot of fun, and almost everyone who responded to the reunion is actually going,” she said, nonplussed by his complete lack of enthusiasm. “I just thought maybe you’d like to go with me, that’s all.”
“So you’re going to bowl?” he asked with a knowing smirk and watched as Selena’s spine stiffened and her hands folded primly in her lap. “Are you sure about that?”
“Just what exactly are you implying?” she asked without looking at him.
The urge to pat her on the head was nearly overwhelming, but he had a feeling that if he did that, he’d be driving home very shortly. Alone. “While you’ve always had a great many talents, bowling wasn’t one of them.”
“Maybe I’ve gotten better,” she said defensively. Back when they had dated, they used to have to put up the bumpers for her just so she’d have a hope of knocking down even one pin. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been a way to protect other bowlers from her when the ball happened to get away from her.
“Have you gotten better?” he asked, his voice deep and rich next to her ear, and he almost laughed when her shoulders drooped and she bowed her head.
“No.”
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “Then why torture yourself?”
Selena pulled back and swatted him on the chest. “Because I’m head of the damn reunion committee. I’m supposed to be there. I don’t have a choice but to be there! Believe me, I can think of about a thousand things I’d rather be doing than bowling. But I’m stuck.” She flopped back on the sofa and crossed her arms over her chest with a pout. “If I don’t bowl, then everyone is going to think that I chickened out.”
“So your attempts at bowling were legendary, huh?” he teased, hoping to make her smile.
The pout stayed. “It’s humiliating to admit I can’t do something that, as you say, a ten-year-old can do.”
James stroked a hand over her cheek. “It’s not the worst thing in the world to not be able to bowl, Selena.”
“But I should be able to.”
Knowing that he had to distract her before she depressed herself even further, James leaned over her. “A thousand different things, huh?” he asked. “Am I in any of them?”
Selena snaked an arm around his neck and pulled him down for a quick kiss before releasing him. “You’re in all of them.”
Well, damn, he thought. “So if I go to this…bowling thing with you, you’d kind of be in my debt then, right?”
She saw where he was going with this and enjoyed playing along. “I suppose you could say that.”
“And what about the reunion itself? Do you maybe need a date for that?” he asked as he nuzzled at her neck. She nodded. “Hmm…I suppose there’s some kind of event planned for Sunday too?” Again she nodded. “That would be a whole lot of debt owed to me,” he said as if he were considering his options.
“Yes, it would.” Sitting up, Selena swung a leg over his lap until she was straddling him. “What did you have in mind?”
His mind raced with at least a half a dozen snappy comebacks and sexual innuendos. “Come home with me for the weekend.” The words came out before he could stop them. He had been wanting to bring Selena home but couldn’t seem to find the right way or the right time to ask her. Apparently, his mouth thought that the right time was now.
Selena pulled back. “You mean stay with you at your house this weekend?”
James nodded and then watched as pure delight washed over her face. “I mean, it’s not a big deal,” he said, beginning to backpedal. “It’s not that my house is great or anything; this suite has been just fine. I just thought that maybe you’d like…that is…you know, to save you some money…” Oh Lord, he was botching this up. Before he could make more of an ass out of himself, Selena placed a finger over his lips to silence him.
“I would love to spend the weekend at your house. And not because I’m trying to save money or because your house is so great, but because I just want to be with you. How does that sound?”
He leaned in and kissed her. There was no urgency, no need to rush to take it to the next level. It was just a gentle meeting of their lips as his hands caressed the softness of her cheeks and he inhaled the sweetness of her perfume. “Thank you,” he said when he lifted his head.
“For what?”
James looked deeply into her eyes and then studied her face, the face that had haunted his dreams for far too long. The face that he knew almost as well as his own. “For just being you.”
It was the sweetest compliment she had ever received.
* * *
The sun wasn’t even up when Selena heard her phone go off, alerting her to a new text message.
He said yes!
Selena’s eyes were mere slits as she read the message, and it took a full minute for her to comprehend what it was about. James rolled over and pulled her back against him, spoon fashion.
“Everything okay?” he asked, his voice muffled sleepily against her back.
“It’s Jen. Let me just answer her.”
You do realize that it’s only five in the morning, right?
I do but I couldn’t wait to tell you.
I’m glad it worked out. You’ll have to tell me all about it later.
I’m just so psyched! When are you coming back here?
Would you be pissed if I said that I wasn’t?
I can’t believe I’m losing out to room service.
Ur not
Oh? Oh, really?
James asked me to stay with him this weekend.
And you said yes??? That is so…
James pulled the phone from Selena’s hand and sent a message of his own.
As much as I’m enjoying this chat, Selena has to go. Bye Jen
And then he tossed the phone to the floor.
“Hey!” she said over her shoulder, only mildly annoyed at his interference. “That phone cost me a lot of money.”
“I’ll buy
you a new one,” he said as he rolled her over and pinned her beneath him. “I had other plans for how we were going to wake up this morning and texting with Jen about her love life was not it.”
“I didn’t want to be rude,” Selena said with a purr as James nibbled his way across her cheek and her neck. “That would be… Oh, that feels really good… I just wanted to make sure…”
“Selena?”
“Hmm?”
“Stop talking.”
And she did.
* * *
There was no way to truly look cute—or dignified—when wearing bowling shoes. Selena looked down at her feet and sighed. All day she had run around making sure that everything was going to be perfect for their reunion bowling party, and to think that the outfit she had agonized over was now accessorized with multicolored bowling shoes just sucked.
“I don’t know why you even bothered to get them,” James said, coming up behind her and placing his chin on her shoulder. “You know you’re not going to bowl.”
Selena shrugged him off and turned to face him. “I might,” she said, but not very convincingly. “I could bowl if I want to.” The latter was said under her breath, and she was pretty sure no one but her heard it, but it made Selena feel better just to say it.
She had done a late checkout at the hotel earlier in the day, and all of her luggage was in her car. The plan was to come and bowl and socialize and then follow James home after it was over. He had offered to bring her stuff over to his place, so she could get ready there, but Selena had been so frazzled with last-minute emergencies and keeping the chaos under control that she had opted to simply get ready in the employee lounge of the bowling alley.
Not an experience she was anxious to ever repeat.
“Want me to meet and greet with you?” he asked, but his tone clearly conveyed that he’d rather be having a root canal.
“Go play,” she said and grabbed Jen as she was walking by with Mike. “Why don’t you guys grab a lane while Jen and I man the front table?” Mike agreed and promised to get Jen a beer when she was done. “Sooo…” Selena prompted when the men were out of earshot. “How’s that all going?”
“He’s almost too good to be true,” Jen said but was cut off from expanding on that as the first round of classmates walked in. “We’ll talk later.”
For almost thirty minutes, it was nonstop greeting and talking and overall pandemonium as everyone tried to get caught up on each other’s lives while standing in the entrance to the bowling alley. Selena wished she had a recording she could just keep playing to remind people to keep it moving. When there finally seemed to be a lull in the action, Jen found them some replacements and dragged Selena to the only quiet spot in the place—the employee lounge.
“I don’t think we’re supposed to be back in here,” Selena said as she watched Jen close the door.
“Nonsense, you got changed in here earlier.”
“Don’t remind me.” Selena looked around and remembered not to touch anything—too many sticky surfaces and suspicious stains. After a disdainful look around, she focused on Jen. “What are we doing back here?”
“Well, between the brick throwing, James, Todd, the hotel, and Mike…you and I missed out on our time together. And now you’re going to spend the rest of your time here with James, and well…I’m a little bummed.”
Selena grabbed her friend in a fierce hug. “I know, and I’m sorry. I never expected it all to work out like this. I mean, I guess on some level I thought if James and I ever saw each other again, we’d talk, hash things out, and…move on. I’m still a little overwhelmed at how it’s all going.”
“So are you guys back together?” Jen asked hopefully.
“For now,” Selena said, but her voice was laced with uncertainty. “I mean, we’re spending a lot of time together and—”
“I’m sure the sex is amazing…” Jen interjected.
“Not going there,” Selena retorted. “But we haven’t talked beyond the here and now. I leave on Wednesday, and we haven’t discussed it. Actually,” she said with a frown, “he hasn’t even asked about my itinerary. Don’t you think that’s odd?”
“I think that, like you, he’s just winging this. It seems like you’ve found a little bit of peace and happiness, and maybe he doesn’t want to think about it ending. It could be that’s why he asked you to stay at his place this weekend, you know, so you guys can talk about the future.”
It made sense in a weird sort of way, but Selena wasn’t completely convinced. “If he wants us to discuss where we’re going from here, it shouldn’t matter if we’re in a hotel suite or his living room.”
“So if he asked you while we’re bowling, you’d be okay with that?” Jen asked sarcastically.
“Well, no, but…”
“Or let’s say that we’re at the actual reunion tomorrow night, and you’re getting ready to go up on stage and make announcements, but he comes out on stage and wants to talk about your future, you’d be okay with that?”
“Okay, I see where you’re going with this, but you’re deliberately being obtuse.”
Jen held up her hands in surrender. “This isn’t a discussion that should be taken lightly. You haven’t seen one another in years, Selena. You both have separate lives to consider. It would be kind of foolish for the two of you to jump into anything right this minute. It’s too emotional. You need to take the time to get to know one another again.”
“There hasn’t been one discussion that James and I have had over the last week that’s been taken lightly! Everything has been so damn intense and dramatic, and to tell you the truth, it’s been emotionally draining! I would like nothing more than to just relax and have fun and not have it followed up with some sort of deep confessions or secret revelations. I just want to enjoy being with him. Is that too much to ask?”
Oh, if only you knew, Jen said to herself. “I have no way of knowing what other surprises may be in store for the two of you, but you have to realize that long-distance relationships are going to come with their share of surprises and emotional issues too. You need to be prepared for that.”
“I know, I know, it’s just that I feel like we haven’t had a whole lot of time to just…be. And it’s not going to get any easier when I go home, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I have a business back in North Carolina that I need to get back to, and he’s got a career here. It’s going to be hard to find the right balance.”
“Are you open to trying to find the right balance?”
Selena studied the hopeful look on Jen’s face as she considered the question. “I am,” she said, surprised at her own response. “I really am.” They screeched in unison and jumped up and down while they hugged. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m actually thinking about a future with James—again!”
Jen pulled back and smiled. “I think if you’re being honest with yourself, you never stopped thinking about a future with him.”
“I think you’re right. Do you think it’s even possible?” Selena asked, uncertainty lacing her tone. “Do you think that maybe too much time has gone by? That we missed our chance?”
“Why are you looking for trouble? Why can’t you just let yourself be happy?”
Selena shrugged. “Probably because I don’t really know how to be.” She sighed and then realized what a major downer she was sounding like. Waving away the negative thoughts, she straightened and cheerfully looked back toward Jen. “So tell me how you got Mike to come with you.”
“Well, I did what you suggested and baked the cookies and took them down to the station. It just so happened that Mike’s shift was ending, and he was on his way out as I was on my way in.”
“Nice.”
“I know!” Jen said excitedly. “So we talked out in the parking lot and I gave him the cookies…”
“Yeah, you did,” Selena teased.
“You didn’t!”
“I so totally did! I’m telling you, I am a complete spaz with stuff like this. But as corny as it was, it totally worked.”
“So he called you when he finished the cookies?”
“He called me from his car five minutes after we left the station.”
“No!
“Yes! I’m telling you, Selena, it was quite possibly the most romantic thing any guy’s ever done for me.”
“Just because he called you?”
“No, because he didn’t wait to call me. We went out for dinner and then he came back to my house and we shared the cookies while watching a movie on Netflix.”
“What movie?”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Like I was even paying attention.” They laughed and hugged. “Wouldn’t it be great if we both got to be happy at the same time?”
Selena couldn’t think of anything she’d like more.
The door to the lounge flew open as one of the employees came in. “Sorry,” he said. “The boss was looking for you and wanted to know if we can take down the welcome table and use it for something else. It looks like a full house out there, so you probably won’t need it anymore.”
The two women looked at each other and then to the teenage boy awkwardly standing there. Selena walked up to him and thanked him. “Duty calls,” she said as she left the room with a little spring in her step.
Jen watched her leave and pulled out her cell phone and made a quick call to William Montgomery. “Miss Lawson!” he said as he answered the phone. “I hope you’re calling me with some good news!”
She liked him. She really and honestly liked this man. He loved his family so much that he was willing to go through all of this nonsense just to make sure James was happy. “You know what, sir? I do believe that I am…”
Chapter 11
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