Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“You okay, babe?”
“Yeah.” I smile at him, feeling more relaxed with him close, then look at Colton and hold Gino out toward him. “I’m going to guess you want him.”
“Always.” He grins at me.
“Angel,” Tide calls, and Olivia turns to look at her dad while my heart sighs, hearing her nickname. “Come here. I want you to meet Aria.”
Her eyes come to me as she hops off Gia’s lap and walks toward her dad, looking a little nervous but not scared or annoyed, which is a relief. “Hi.” She lifts her hand toward me, and I grab it as I fight the urge to wrap my arms around her.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Olivia. Your dad has told me so much about you and shown me a million pictures. He’s very proud of you.”
“He showed me pictures of you too. You’re really pretty.”
“Thank you.” I smile as I reach out and touch her birthday crown. “Are you having a good birthday so far?” Today, she had school, so Tide went to have cupcakes with her and her class, and since Anna has her for the weekend and is having a party for her, she allowed him to have this evening. I know that after school he planned on taking her to see her grandparents before meeting Gia and me here, and I guess somewhere along the way, he picked up Colton, who must have gotten someone to cover the bar for him.
“Yes.” She looks at her dad. “Are we still going bowling after pizza?”
“We are.”
“Do you want to be on my team?” she asks me.
Oh God, I’m going to cry.
“I would love that, but I think I should tell you that I’m not very good at bowling.”
“It’s okay.” She grins. “We get bumpers, so we’ll win anyway.”
“Cheater,” Tide mutters, and she looks at me, shrugging one shoulder, which makes me laugh. “All right, trouble, how about we order our pizza?”
“Okay, Dad,” she agrees but soon loses interest in me, deciding what she wants to eat, then Gino starts to coo and laugh as she makes funny faces at him.
“Told you it would be okay,” Gia says, and I roll my eyes at her, which makes her grin. I rest against Tide’s side and watch his daughter with Gino, picturing her with a little brother or sister of her own and wondering if Tide wants more kids. It’s not something we’ve ever talked about before. There hasn’t been a time when the topic of children has come up, but after seeing him with Olivia, I know it’s something that is going to be on my mind now.
“She likes you,” Tide whispers in my ear, and I turn so we’re face-to-face.
“I think she is probably the kind of kid who likes everyone, which means you’ve done a good job with her.”
“No, she likes you. Normally, she’s really shy meeting new people. She just knows good people when she meets them.”
“You always know what to say.”
His eyes drop to my mouth, and I lick my lips before I turn away to grab the menu, not wanting to be tempted to kiss him, which is something I’m always tempted to do when he’s close.
________________
“No way!” I cry when my bowling ball bounces off the bumper, ending up in the gutter on the opposite side of the lane. It wouldn’t be so bad if that was the first time it happened, but this is the fourth time I’ve been up to bowl and the fourth time I’ve had a gutter ball since we started. And worse, I’ve only knocked over seven pins in total. Spinning on my bowling shoes, I turn to face Olivia and toss my arms in the air. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She laughs, picking up her ball. “We’re still winning.” I give her a high-five when she walks past me, then watch as she rolls her ball like a pro down the middle of the lane, knocking down all the pins and getting another strike. I clap and dance around, not caring that I look like a dork, because she’s laughing, and I like the sound of her happiness.
“Great job.” I look at the scoreboard and smirk, because she is beating all the adults and really doesn’t even need the bumpers. I just think they make her feel more confident. “I vote to be on your team every time we bowl.”
“I vote to be on the girls’ team next time,” Gia says, mock-glaring at her teammates as she carries her ball down to the edge of the lane before holding it between both her legs and throwing it like a little kid would. When she knocks down all but three pins, I decide to try throwing it like her next time, and surprisingly it works, because I knock down ten pens, which means I end up dancing again. I turn around, expecting to find Olivia as excited as I am, but my dancing comes to an end and my stomach bottoms out when I see Anna standing with Olivia, Tide, and Colton on the upper level of the alley.