"Not often. But once in a while."
Louisa fidgeted while Ange inspected her ball, slid her fingers into the holes, frowned, and inspected the ball closely .
"The way it goes, I think she's unnerving her team captain more than anyone else," I whispered.
"That’s the problem,” he whispered back. Then he stood up. “You've got this, babe!" he called.
Ange nodded and finally got ready to throw her ball.
It barreled down the lane in a straight, sweet line, only swerving a tiny bit at the end.
A hushed silence fell.
The last pin wobbled. We watched with bated breath as it teetered.
"Fall," Louisa screamed. "Fall, you stupid thing!" Everybody was looking at her. "Sorry," she mumbled.
"It's down! It's a strike!" Mimi jumped up and clapped enthusiastically.
Linda followed suit. It was as if they were both trying to outdo each other.
Ange strolled back to our table. "It was nothing," she said.
I grinned at her. "That's the impression that I got."
"Louisa’s up next," she said. "Why don't you take her seat?"
I found myself next to the handsome stranger. "We haven't met yet," I said to him, for want of anything original. "I'm Bex Merriweather."
"I know who you are. Don't you remember me?" He grinned at me.
I stared at him in confusion. "Umm, should I?"
Jimmy chuckled. "That's my boy. Sam hasn't changed that much."
That was Jimmy's son? I remembered him as a gangly teenager. I hadn't seen him often because, when I moved in for good with my aunt, he was already in college. We were just far enough apart in age to not spend a lot of time together.
"My dad's been telling me a lot about you,” Sam said.
Jimmy twinkled at me. It dawned on me that all along he hadn't tried to offer his son’s assistance on me for nefarious reasons. The sly old fox was trying to play matchmaker.
"Do you still live around here?" I asked Sam.
"I returned a couple of years ago. I'm a conservation biologist, so when an opening in Cannon Hill County came up, I jumped on it. I'd spent enough time as a rolling stone."
"Wow." I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"He's been working everywhere," his dad said. "Even in the Amazon forests."
“That’s amazing.” I couldn’t help an envious note in my voice. I’d always longed to see the world.
"I could tell you more over dinner," Sam suggested. "If you're interested in maybe joining us? There are a couple of projects, and we can always use interested volunteers."
“Right.” Was that a pang of disappointment I felt? Had I been wrong about the matchmaking and Jimmy had simply been trying to pull me in as muscle for his son? On the other hand, I did love wildlife, and it wouldn't hurt to explore the great outdoors with someone like Sam, who knew what he was doing.
"I'll keep you posted about when I'm free," I said. "At the moment, as you can imagine, with me taking over from my aunt, I have a lot on my plate."
His face grew solemn.
