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“I suppose I might as well,” she said, resting her arms on the high counter.
As the man set the shoes on the countertop, Charli gave him her size, then Jay did as well. After she’d handed the kids’ shoes to them, the trio ran back to the lanes where the other adults waited. She turned back around to wait for her shoes, trying not to think about how the evening might unfold.
“Hey there, Blake,” Jay said.
Butterflies erupted in her stomach as Charli turned to watch Blake approach them. His hair looked slightly damp, and he wore a pair of jeans and a denim jacket over a white T-shirt.
“Was Amelia okay for you?” Blake asked Charli after greeting them.
Blake’s concern for his daughter touched Charli, reminding her of the man she’d thought he was.
“She was just fine,” Charli assured him. “She’s over there putting on her shoes.”
Blake glanced in the direction Charli indicated before looking at her again. “Thanks for helping me out. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Here are your shoes.”
Charli turned her attention back to the employee and took the shoes. “Thanks. Do we pay for this now?”
“Nope. Janessa made arrangements to just pay for everything at the end. You have those three lanes for unlimited games. Just tell people in your group to let me know that they’re part of the Halverson party.”
“Okay. Great.”
“Do you want to get your shoes now?” Jay asked Blake as he picked up his shoes.
“Might as well.”
Though she knew she shouldn’t, Charli lingered around the counter with the men, then walked back with them to the rest of the group.
There was some discussion over whether people wanted to bowl a game first or if they wanted to eat. The pizza was going to be ready in about twenty minutes, so most opted to wait.
Janessa had definitely set this up to be more than just bowling a couple of games and eating a couple of slices of pizza. There were two long tables set up on the same level as the shoe counter, which looked out over the lanes. Most of the adults sat down at the table, while Charli went down to the lower level.
She sat down to swap out her shoes, then put them in the cubbies behind the lanes.
The kids already had their shoes on, ready to bowl. The gutter guards were up on the lane against the far wall, so that was clearly the kids’ lane. And for whichever adults felt the need for added help while bowling. Which might be her, depending on the path of the first few balls she threw.
Amelia turned from where they were looking at the balls in the ball return, her face lighting up when she spotted Blake. “Daddy!”
“Hey, Berry,” Blake said as he joined them at the lane.
After setting his shoes on the ground, he picked Amelia up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Clearly, Blake was doing something right as a single dad, because Amelia adored him.
It was in those moments, when she saw the two of them together, that Charli saw so much of the man she’d fallen in love with. He might have changed since then, but there were still parts of him that she recognized.
When Charli’s gaze moved to Layla, she found her daughter watching the pair. Her heart clenched at the expression on Layla’s face. She wasn’t asking about her dad anymore, but it was clear that it was something she still wanted in her life.
Charli wished she could give her a stepfather. She hadn’t set out to avoid getting married, but the pressure of making sure that any man she dated wouldn’t just make a good partner for her, but also a good father for Layla, had discouraged her. The last thing she’d wanted was for Layla to get attached to someone and then have them walk away.
If she told Blake who Layla was, he might want to have a say in her life. And she wasn’t sure that she could handle that. He didn’t know Layla, and he certainly didn’t love her. So the idea of him taking on a co-parenting role made Charli panic.
Looking away from Layla, Charli tried to push down the pain her daughter’s longing caused her.
Was she being selfish?
Possibly.
