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Probably.
But how was she supposed to know if Blake would stay in Serenity? She didn’t have any guarantee that he wouldn’t decide to leave again. Especially since his immediate family—his wealthy immediate family—lived in California.
The thought of her daughter having to spend any significant amount of time away from her gave Charli palpitations.
She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem like she’d have to since Blake still hadn’t put the pieces together, and Jackson had—so far—kept her secret. She was actually kind of surprised about that, but definitely very, very grateful.
“Mom, are you going to bowl now?” Layla asked.
“Yep. I’ll bowl with you.”
“I’m going to assume you three want to play in the lane with the gutter guards,” Jay said. “I’ll go put in the names at the counter. How about you, Blake? Want to bowl with the kids?”
“Sure. I might have a chance at winning with the gutter guards in place.”
“Are you going to bowl with us, Dad?” Peyton asked.
“Nope. Are you kidding me? My ego won’t be able to take it if one of you beat me, and I wouldn’t even have the excuse of gutter balls.”
Peyton laughed as he punched the air. “I’m going to win!”
After he gave Peyton a high five, Jay left them, and within a couple of minutes, their names flashed up on the screen above the lane. Amelia was up first, followed by Peyton, Layla, Charli, and Blake.
Charli settled on one of the hard plastic seats that were connected in a curve behind the set of chairs at the scoring machine, which she’d thought was kind of obsolete since everything was automated nowadays. Layla was sitting in one of the seats at the scoring machine, while Peyton hovered by her shoulder, watching as Blake and Amelia approached the ball return area.
Blake helped Amelia choose a ball, then walked her to the line. He lowered himself to a knee so he was closer to her height, then gave her some pointers. She nodded, pausing for a moment before throwing the ball.
It hit the lane floor with a thud, then slowly made its way toward the pins. Peyton and Layla yelled encouragement while Blake slipped his arm around Amelia and stayed down on his knee beside her.
The ball collided with one of the gutter guards, then rebounded enough to hit a couple of pins when it finally reached them.
“Good job, Amelia!” Layla called out.
Blake helped Amelia with the final two balls of her turn, giving her a high five when she knocked down four of the ten pins. As Peyton went up for his turn, Amelia took his spot next to Layla.
Blake came and perched on the end of the curve of chairs opposite Charli, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his thighs as he watched Peyton.
Charli tried not to feel disappointed that he didn’t talk to her. After all, she hadn’t been thrilled when he’d started hanging out with them. So why on earth was she hoping for a conversation with him?
Besides, what did they have to talk about?
The only thing they had in common was Amelia, and they shouldn’t be discussing anything pertaining to her in a casual setting like the bowling alley, anyway. Especially with her and other little ears around.
“Good job, son,” Jay called out to Peyton at the end of his turn when his balls had managed to knock down six pins.
“Do you need help, sweetie?” Charli asked as Layla got out of her seat.
Layla turned toward her and gave Charli a big grin. “Nope. I’m good.”
Amelia came over to stand with Blake, who straightened and slid his arm around her as she leaned against him. Charli kept her gaze on Layla as she threw her first ball.
When the ball reached the pins without hitting the gutter guard and took down three pins, Layla jumped up and down, waving her hands in the air. With no hesitation, she went to get her second ball, then waited for the lane to clear before she threw it.
The second and third balls left two standing, which meant Layla was at the top. Rather than get upset about losing the lead, Peyton gave her a fist bump.
“Your turn, Mom.”
