Page 24 of Serenade Me

“Your shoe size, ma’am?” The guy at the counter asks me and hands me my bowling ball.

“It’s um… an 11,” I whisper.

“A what?” Marius snorts, shaking his head disbelievingly, and then looks down at my feet.

“Shush!” I hiss, dropping my handbag down to sit on my toes, trying to hide them from his eyes.

“Oh my god! Are you secretly harboring the Hulk’s feet?” He says, his eyes lit up, as he pushes my bag away.

“No! Go away, don’t make me throw this bowling ball at your head.”

“Miss, that’s against the rules,” the guy at the counter says, dead pan, handing over my stripy red and white bowling shoes and points to a sign on the wall.

Marius squints at it. “No Throwing Bowling Balls At Other People,” he reads slowly. “Huh. So it does. So, I’m safe.”

I pout, playing along, appreciating his efforts to bury the hatchet between us.

“Hey, over here.” Jez waves to us and we wander over to him. We sit down and kick off our shoes, replacing them with the dubious looking and smelling rentals.

“Hey Bozo, nice going with the restaurant choice game,” my brother tells me rolling his eyes. “I love getting dressed to the nines to end up at a bowling alley.”

I shrug, sticking my foot in the shoe, cringing at the thought of who’s foot was in it before mine. “Maybe it’ll teach you guys to stop fighting over something so trivial next time. Then you could be fussing over some unpronounceable French liver dish instead of enjoying the delicious real food they serve here.”

“Dinnerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr is served!” A voice announces behind us, and we turn to see Brad with a tray filled five storeys high with fries and hot dogs and burgers and sodas.

“YUMMM!” Ben yells, clapping as his mother hands him a cup of fries. “Thanks, Auntie Anca!”

My heart warms seeing how happy Ben is and I reach over and steal a fry from his cup. I watch him, waiting for him to throw a tantrum or tell his mom but he just grins and holds it out to me offering me another one.

“Dude. Is Ben the most mature one here?”

Everyone laughs. Apparently, they’ve heard this before.

“He keeps us in line, doncha Benny boy?” Brad says, ruffling his hair, the love in his eyes for the little boy so sincere I feel a twinge somewhere I think my uterus should be.

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Sebastian gets up, shaking his foot as if he’s hoping the shoe will fly off.

“Well, eight of us, how ‘bout two teams?” I suggest.

“Yay! Can I be captain?” Ben jumps up.

“Of course!” Sebastian says. “Who do you want to be Captain of the other team?”

“Hmmm Aunt Anca, cos she let me pick the restaurant.”

“Aww, thanks, Benny. Okay, you go first!”

“Okay… I pick… Uncle Brad!” He shouts and jumps onto Brad’s lap.

“Well, that was a waste of 12 hours of labour,” Emily grumbles.

“Your turn, Auntie Anca.”

“Okay, let me see. I pick Sebastian!”

“Cool, why me?” He asks as he wanders over to join me.

“Um, ‘cos it looks like you might’ve been picked last for teams in high school, and I didn’t want to give you traumatic flashbacks!”