The irritation on Juni’s face was clear. Dex knew she was keepinga lot of choice words about Grace inside at this moment, and she was gratefulfor her restraint. While Emma occupied her mind, she wanted Grace as completelyout of it as possible. Emma was taking over her thoughts in a colossal way, andthe feelings of contentment Dex was experiencing astonished her.
Chapter Fifteen
Emma ran to the car and hopped into the passenger seatalmost before Dex could put it into park. She’d been waiting on the porchdressed in a cute, above-the-knee-length royal-blue dress, flats, and apastel-pink wool coat when Dex pulled up in front of her house. Apparently shewas just as eager to see Dex as she was to see Emma. They’d spent a couple ofnights away from each other, and Dex missed her warmth. The scorching kiss Emmagave her was worth the wait.
She glanced up at the house, noticing the lack of Christmaslights. She’d have to remedy that. She couldn’t have her girlfriend living in ahouse with no holiday spirit. Girlfriend?Is she my girlfriend? She pushed the thought from her head. One step at a time, Dex.
“Which theater?” They had planned to go to a movie, a new factualdrama that Emma really wanted to see.
“Let’s go to the Cineplex. They have those cushy recliner seats.”She fastened her seat belt and settled in. “And the popcorn’s the best.”
“I guess that means we’ll need to get a large.” Dex took her hand,lacing their fingers together, then placed it on her own thigh. Emma squeezedit slightly, and Dex smiled.
They were almost to the movie theater when Emma pointed franticallyout the window. “Ooh!” she squealed. “Let’s go bowling.”
“But I thought you wanted to go to the movies?”
Emma dipped her chin. “Is that where you want to go today?”
“No, but you seemed excited about it. And now I want popcorn. Andyou’re wearing a dress.” Dex took in the legs slipping out from beneath the hemof the dress. Beautiful, shapely legs.
Emma smiled, seeming to catch Dex’s assessment. “I’ll be fine, butwill you?”
The heat in her cheeks rose. “Oh yeah. I’d much rather watch youbowl.” Dex flipped the SUV around and headed back to the bowling alley.
It was fairly empty when Dex and Emma arrived, just a few groupsof people scattered across the place. They stopped at the desk to get a laneand shoes and then headed to number eighteen, a little over halfway across thealley. A few young teenage girls were bowling on the set of lanes next to them,as well as a group of rowdy teenage boys a couple of lanes over from the girls.
Emma started entering their names into the scoring system, and Dexwent straight to the ball return to see if any of the weights would work forher. Several alley balls were left from the previous bowlers, so she hefted afew and then set them back down.
“These are all too small. I’m gonna go look for another one.” Sheheld one of the lighter ones up. “Do you want to try these, or should I findone for you as well?”
“Trying to sabotage my game already?” On the way inside, Emma hadmentioned more than once that she was a pretty good bowler.
“Nope. I’m looking forward to the competition.”
Emma grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Care to make a wager?”
This was getting interesting. “I would.” Dex smiled, slid into thechair next to Emma, and slung her arm behind her. “What do you have in mind?”
Emma stared into her eyes for a few moments before she cleared herthroat and glanced at the keyboard in front of her. “If I win, you put up theChristmas lights at my house?”
Dex nodded. “And if I win?”
Emma smiled at her as though she knew it wasn’t going to happen.“I’ll make dinner.”
“Deal.” Dex held out her hand, and they shook on it.
The ball return had stolen Dex’s ball early in the first game, andEmma had beaten Dex by twenty-plus pins. Dex obnoxiously blamed the loss on themissing bowling ball, even though Emma had definite bowling skills.
They were in the middle of their second game when Dex caught Emmawatching the teenage boys a couple of lanes down. She followed Emma’s stare tothe phone in one boy’s hand, which was discreetly pointed at the girls bowlingnext to them. When Dex glanced back to Emma, her eyes had narrowed, and shelaunched out of her seat like a missile. She was charging their way, and Dexscrambled to follow.
The first thing she heard out of Emma’s mouth was, “What are you, ten?” Sheplucked the phone from the boy’s hand. “It’s notokay to film someone without their permission.”
That got the girls’ attention. They stopped bowling and camecloser. The tallest of them took the phone from Emma and played the video. “Ifyou dare post any of this on Facebook, Kyle MacGregor, I’ll hate you forever.”
“I won’t. I promise.” The boy’s face went white as he bolted upfrom his seat. He even looked a little terrified. “I was going to show it toyou later.”
“Really? Why?” the girl asked.
“You’re really good at bowling.”
Dex and Emma both stared up at the scoreboard, wondering if whathe’d said was true. One-thirty-five in the sixth frame. She was good.
The boy said, “I thought maybe you could help me.”
In the midst of Kyle’s embarrassment, each of the other girls hadslipped in beside one of the other boys.
Emma shook her head, rolled her eyes, and turned to Dex. “Ugh.”
Dex chuckled. “Seems like the morals police aren’t needed hereanymore.” She put her hand on the small of Emma’s back and motioned her to leadthe way back to their lane. “Looks like they’re friends,” Dex said as she satdown next to Emma.
Emma shrugged. “Seems so now. I wasn’t sure earlier. The girlshadn’t even acknowledged them since we got here.” She watched them intently.The girls had moved to the lanes where the boys were, and they were alllaughing and bowling together now.
“Playing hard to get, you think?”
“Seems that way.” Emma
