Uncle Sal rolls his eyes. “Whatever. My date will be fun, too!”
“Well, they both sound like fun dates! But we still have to vote.” Nonna stands up in front of the board. “Raise your hand if you vote for the cooking date.”
Of course Uncle Sal raises his hand along with half of his kids. Aunt Kelsey’s four daughters’ hands shoot up, but I’m not sure they even know what they are voting for.
“Raise your hand if she should go bowling!”
It only takes a second or two to scan the crowd before Nonna says, “Okay, so pretty much everyone picks bowling.”
Charlie holds up his phone. “Unanimous over here for bowling.”
Olivia stands. “Uncle Michael, do you need help picking a date for her? Because I might have a suggestion.”
He shakes his head. “I’ve got it covered!”
I pull on her sleeve. “Who is your suggestion?”
She leans forward and whispers, “I’ve been watching you.” She pauses a second and then nods toward the back door. “And I’ve been watching him, too.”
Wes is standing at the back door. He sees Charlie and moves to the bar, sitting down next to him on a stool Banks just vacated. Wes turns toward the room, searching it. When his eyes land on me, he gives me a small smile.
“Yep. Watching you two,” Olivia says again.
Nonna gave us the day off, since we’re tired from our late-night road trip and we need to go shopping. Once it was decided I would go bowling, Olivia pulled Charlie, Wes, Graham, Jake, and Sara aside. As of thirty minutes ago, they’ve called the bowling alley and added their own team. They went back and forth for a while, but finally decided on aGreasetheme with Pin Ladies and T-Balls. We all head to the secondhand store to see if we can find something that will fit the theme, girls in one car, guys following behind.
We’re wandering through the racks when Wes and Charlie come up on the other side.
“Hey, guys,” Olivia says a little too loud. She’s looking at Wes, then me, and then back at Wes. She is not smooth. Not at all.
Wes and I haven’t been around each other since he bailed at the hockey game. He nods when we make eye contact.
I smile and nod right back. “So, you excited for bowling tonight?”
“Yeah. Seen any cheap black leather-ish jackets?” Wes says.
“Because we’re the T-Balls,” Charlie adds, and then dissolves in giggles. He’s such a little kid.
“I’ll help you, Charlie. Come over here,” Olivia says, pulling him to the men’s section on the other side of the store. “Wes, you watchGame of Thrones. Help Soph find something to wear.”
Then she winks at me.
Definitely not smooth.
“I haven’t seen you in a couple of days,” I finally say to break the awkward silence.
He nods. “Yeah, it’s been a little crazy. Charlie told me what happened yesterday with Margot and Anna. I’m glad they’re both better.”
“Yeah, me too. That was super scary.”
He nods. “He also told me about the conversation y’all had before you left with Griffin.”
I let out a laugh. “Conversation is a pleasant way of putting it!”
He grins. “Yeah, I guess. But, Sophie, seriously, I hate that we made you feel like we didn’t want you around. If I knew that’s what you were thinking, I would have…” He trails off.
“What?” God, why do I sound breathless? I’ve got to pull it together.
“I would have made sure you knew how much we wanted you with us.”
