Larissa swallowed and said, “Never mind.” She shook her head at herself rapidly. “Sorry. Go out with your friends. Or, I guess, Samantha’s friends. We can talk another time.”
“I’d invite you, but–”
“No, it’s fine. I’m tired anyway. I’ve got a TV dinner at home calling my name.” Larissa grabbed her bag and stood quickly. “I’ll just… I’ll see you later. Have fun.”
She moved quickly to the door and pulled it open.
“Wait. Why are you rushing out of here? We can walk out together. Where did you park? Need a ride to your car? I got a good spot right in front of the building.”
“No, I’m in the lot. I’m good.”
Harlow put her hand on the door handle over Larissa’s and said, “I’ve got it.”
“Okay,” Larissa replied. “Thanks.”
CHAPTER 24
“No way,” she said.
“Harlow?” Laurel replied, looking at her in shock.
Harlow had just entered the bowling alley and had been looking around for Samantha. She’d turned toward the main counter, where she’d pay for time on the lane and rent some shoes, and there was Laurel, her ex-girlfriend from six years ago. Laurel was one of the women she’d moved in with, and just seeing her standing there, looking wildly out of place in a bowling shirt with her name stitched on it, khaki pants that looked designer, and the best tight French braid Harlow had ever seen, brought her back to their breakup for a moment.
“Do they even make designer khakis?” she said.
“What?”
“Nothing. What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to deflect from the fact that she’d accidentally made her khaki comment out loud.
“What areyoudoing here? You bowl now?”
“A friend invited me,” she said and moved to the counter. “I was looking for her.”
“Her? Larissa?”
Harlow sighed and said, “No, not Larissa. Her name is Samantha. I guess she comes here a lot. Maybe you know her orwhat lane she’s on. Well, probably two lanes. She said she plays with seven other people.”
“Oh. Samantha and her friends are on lanes seventeen and eighteen. Yeah, I know them. They’re here once a week or so.”
Laurel pointed to the lanes, and Harlow turned around and found Samantha standing by the screen where they were entering their names.
“What areyoudoing here?” she asked, turning back to face her ex-girlfriend.
“I work here. See me behind the counter, wearing this horrible shirt?”
Laurel tugged on the shirt at the left breast pocket.
“Butwhydo you work here?”
When they were together, Laurel, who was four years older than her, had worked at some big corporation, the name of which Harlow was blanking on at the moment. Laurel had been in events, planning the ones the company held for employees and the other ones like trade shows and conferences.
“I needed a job.”
“And you foundthisone? Sorry; we were together for over a year, and we never went bowling. I don’t think it even came up once as a possible date activity.”
Laurel’s family had been in real estate, but not like Larissa’s dad, who bought beaten-down houses, fixed them up, and flipped them. Laurel’s parents had several properties all over the state and a few outside of the state, too. They didn’t flip them. They added them to their portfolio, or was it called holdings if it was real estate? Harlow didn’t know. Laurel had grown up with money and was supposed to eventually take over the family business and share it with her brother, but if she was working here, that meant something bad had happened.
“I needed a job, and they were hiring. I got laid off from my old one about a year ago, and I tried for a few months to find onein my field, but times got tough, so I started to apply anywhere. This place called, okay?”
