Eight pins toppled at the end of Anna’s lane. She stomped her foot. When she spun back to wait for her ball, her face screwed up with gritty determination. Adorable woman.
“Your daddy would’ve liked her.”
“Been thinking that a lot lately.”
Miss Ophelia stepped up next to Anna. The two of them talked angles of attack for the split she had to tackle. If ever there was a woman who could knock those pins down with sheer willpower, it was his Anna Grace.
“I’m no expert on love outside the pages of a book,” Mamie said, “but seems to me the best husbands and fathers are the ones who can look at all the downsides and hardships of love, but decide to love somebody anyway.”
“Military life’s rough on families.”
Mamie tsked at him. “You’re halfway through your career. Day’s coming when the military can’t be your family anymore.”
Anna picked up the bowling ball and stared at the pins. Looking at how to put them in their places.
He wondered where she thought she’d fit once she was done with school.
“Never understood why Daddy wasn’t enough for Momma,” he said. “Best man I ever knew, and he couldn’t keep her happy.”
“She wasn’t the one he was supposed to make happy.” Mamie’s voice was soft, but it echoed in his head louder than all the bowling pins in the building. “You think your daddy’dbe happy knowing you found somebody you want to make smile every day the rest of your life, but you were too chicken to go for it? Sugarplum, they got married for you. Now I ain’t ever pushed it, because I thought you’d be doing better finding a nice girl from back home, but a girl who makes you look like that don’t come round all that often.”
Anna Grace balanced the ball in her hands, her head cocked so her hair brushed her shoulders. She did that hip-swinging thing and drew up to the lane. Her arm dropped, the ball swung back, then she yanked it forward and let it go so smooth it barely made a sound on the slick surface of the lane.
“What if I’m not enough for her?” he said.
Mamie patted his knee. “That’s not a question the likes of me can answer for you, sugarplum.”
Anna’s ball connected with the outside edge of the first pin. It shot sideways into the second pin, knocking it down and picking up a spare.
He jumped into the air, fists pumping and hollering. Anna spun around, laughing, arms high. “Yes!”
Jackson met her halfway. He wrapped her in a hug and spun her around. “Beautiful, Anna Grace.”
“I know.” Her big, infectious grin glowed brighter than the score board. “And I can bowl too.”
Sure could.
She’d bowled him right over.
Jackson wasquiet on the drive to the hotel. Anna’s exuberance over the night slowly faded.
This meeting-the-family thing had a flavor of commitment to it.
And it tasted more like strawberry shortcake than stewed okra.
Not good.
They checked into the hotel. Jackson insisted, of course, on carrying her bags. But he didn’t claim his momma’d have hishide if he didn’t. The clerk greeted him by name, though the happy twang in her voice dropped when she spotted Anna. Still, she gave him a wink and an upgrade.
Apparently he’d been serious about not staying often at his momma’s house.
Up in the room, he gave her alet’s have a talklook. A heart-in-his-eyes, contemplating-the-L-word kind of look.
Also not good.
She stumbled back a step. “Does an upgrade mean a whirlpool tub? Because I think that’s the only thing I miss about my old life.”
He humored her with a half-grin. “Yep.”
