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Hudson slipped his arm around her and said, “You’re not that out of touch, babe.”
It wasn’t long before the kids were done eating and ready to bowl some more. Since she’d played with them already, Charli didn’t rush to join them again. Jay figured out who wanted to bowl next, then went up to put the names in for the scoreboard.
This time, Jay had names for two lanes, and soon it was just her, Blake, Kayleigh, and Hudson at the food table. Charli shifted so she could watch the bowlers while she finished her pizza. She also listened to Kayleigh and Hudson chat with Blake, though his attention was also split between their conversation and Amelia as she bowled with the other kids.
For some reason, she rarely remembered that Blake also came from a wealthy family—though probably not quite as rich as Hudson’s. Still, they were both from that world.
“Are you going to bowl, Charli?” Kayleigh asked.
“I already bowled with the kids,” Charli said as she wadded up her napkin and put it on her empty plate.
“Did you win?”
“We didn’t finish the game. The kids ran off to eat before we were done.”
“You played with the gutter guards?” Kayleigh asked.
“Yep. Pretty much the only reason I ended up with the score I did was because of that.”
“Maybe I’d better play with them, too.”
“The kids make it quite fun, to be honest. They’re not as competitive as the adults.”
“Definitely the people I want to bowl with then.”
When the games finished up, Charli and the others left the food table and joined the rest at the lanes to play another game. Kayleigh and Misha decided to bowl with the kids, then the rest of them were split between the other two lanes.
Charli wasn’t surprised that when Jay told the guy the names for the display, she and Blake ended up on the same team. It seemed her siblings were determined to put her and Blake in close proximity to each other.
A few weeks ago, she would have been adamantly opposed to that.
Now? She wasn’t sure how she felt.
Blake wasn’t the same man she’d fallen in love with, and she certainly hadn’t pined after that man all these years. But there was still enough of the guy she’d loved back then in who Blake seemed to be now to draw her to him.
But she could resist the draw, right?
Surely she could resist falling in love yet again with the man who’d once promised her the future she’d always wanted, then left her behind.
Right?
For the first time since Blake’s arrival back in Serenity, Charli wasn’t one hundred percent certain about that.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Blake had tried to give Charli space as they bowled, but it got harder and harder as the evening went on. He was already enjoying himself, because seeing Amelia having a blast made him happy. Being there with Charli was like icing on the cake.
“Should we have people pair up for this next game, so that their combined scores determines the winner and losers?” Jay asked after he’d won their first game with the adults. “That way it’s not just the best player winning.”
“How’re we going to decide the pairs?” Janessa stared up at the monitor. “Maybe Jay should be paired up with the person who got the worst score.”
“Lucky me,” Misha said with a laugh.
Jay slipped his arms around Misha. “I won’t argue with that setup.”
“That means that Will gets Charli, Blake gets Hudson, and Jackson and Janessa are paired together.” Kayleigh said, having already declared she wasn’t going to bowl again unless it was with the kids.
“I don’t like that,” Janessa announced. “I want to be with Will, and I think Hudson and Blake both need handicaps more than each other. Blake should get the worst between Charli and Jackson, since he was better than Hudson, then Hudson gets the other.”
