Chapter 6
Esther stuffed her phone in her pocket and grabbed a small blue and pink swirled ball from the line of them on the ball return machine.
“Did you see that?” Steve asked. “I don’t know why I don’t go bowling more often.
This is fun.” He came to stand in front of her.
“And not just because I’m currently running the highest score I’ve ever had.
” He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose.
“The company I’m keeping makes it pretty awesome. ”
Esther shook her head and smiled. She was having a good time. Maybe not as good a time as Steve appeared to be having, but he wasn’t wrong. This was fun.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, while remaining directly between her and where she needed to be to take her turn.
“Nothing’s wrong.” The half shrug that accompanied her words was a reflex and wasn’t going to convince anyone that the worship team schedule hadn’t made her heart pinch.
“You looked troubled by something on your phone a minute ago.” He gave her what she would call a dad glare.
She had seen him use that same look with Madison many times.
It was a look that said he didn’t believe her and thought she was hiding something.
Usually because Madison was hiding something – kind of like Esther was doing right now.
She sighed. “It was just the new worship team schedule. Fred’s changed things around and suggested we need to be prepared for more changes after the holidays are over.”
“You don’t like change?”
She shook her head. “Not overly much.”
Especially since the main change was that she wouldn’t be singing with Fred any time soon.
She had only ever NOT sung with him when he was on a trip or sick – or when she was at university.
Standing on stage at Hatfield Falls Christian Church without him just felt wrong, and now, it appeared that she was going to have to feel that on the regular.
“It’s just…” She watched herself spin the ball she held slowly between her hands. “You get used to who you’re serving with. You know how they are going to play. How long the intro will be. Their nods and looks about continuing the chorus.” She shrugged. She knew all of Fred’s cues.
What if she didn’t catch the cues from others? She’d look like the kid with the new clarinet in band class who only knew how to squeak when everyone else knew how make the thing play music. She had no desire to go back to that.
“Ah, so there are going to be new things to learn.”
She nodded as she stopped spinning her ball and instead passed it from one hand to the other.
“You must be good at learning new things. You’re a teacher. Right?” Steve’s tone was optimistic.
“Yeah. I guess.” She chuckled. “But I’d really like to pout about having to do so.”
Steve laughed. “How about taking out that displeasure on those poor, unsuspecting candlepins down there instead?” He tipped his head toward the lane.
She arched an eyebrow at him. “You know, I’m not seven, but nice try attempting to redirect my attention back to the game.”
“Meh,” he said. “We’re all seven-year-olds on occasion. And sometimes seven-year-olds can be much wiser than their toothless grins would suggest.” He took a seat at the scoring table and picked up the pencil.
“Oh, don’t I know it,” Esther agreed. “My class surprises me frequently, and they’re not even seven yet.” She stepped forward while swinging her arm back and bent to let the ball go.
“I’m pretty sure they get their wisdom from their parents or grandparents,” she said as she tipped her head and watched her ball curve toward the gutter. Thankfully, it still managed to take out two pins.
She turned and held her hands up. “I think you have sucked up all the good luck from this lane.”
“I doubt it.” He came to stand next to her as she grabbed her next ball. “Show me how you’re holding the ball.”
She held it up for him.
“I saw this online, and so far, it seems to be working.”
“You studied for a date?” she asked in surprise.
He smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t want to look bad.” His soft admission felt sweet as it registered in her mind.
“Which, as you are finding out, is hard to do when bowling with me.” She laughed. “So, how do I fix my game?”
“What I read said to make sure that this finger,” he stepped so that he could place his hand under hers and tapped her middle finger with his, “is pointing where you want the ball to go when you release it.”
She barely refrained from looking to see if anyone was watching them.
“But, don’t look at the ball,” he continued. “Make sure you’re looking where you want it to go.” He pulled her hand back gently and brought it forward as he finished speaking.
She drew a breath. Was she supposed to feel this worried about someone seeing them standing as they were?
Or was she supposed to be so overwhelmed by his closeness that nothing else mattered?
Because she was worried. Not overwhelmed.
Maybe if she wasn’t a teacher and he wasn’t a parent of the friend of some of her students it would be different?
“Thanks. Um. I’ll try.” She took a half step away from him.
“That’s all you can do.” He gave her a questioning look. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just that there are some grade three kids down on lanes one and two.” Which was ten lanes away from them.
“I’m pretty sure they’re too busy playing and eating cake and candy to care,” he assured her. “But I can take a hint. I’ll keep my hands to myself.” He placed them in his pockets.
“No, you’re right. I’m allowed to be a normal human outside the classroom. It’s just that…” She paused. She couldn’t finish her thought as it had entered her head. There was no way she wanted to insert doubt about their future into what was just a second official date.
“There was a teacher when I was in high school, who was married, but that didn’t stop everyone from talking about how she had been seen making out with her husband in their car after a hockey game.” She shrugged. “The playground gossip game is no joke.”
“And you’d rather not be part of it?”
“Well, that’s kind of impossible since we are dating, and my class knows it.” She threw her ball, making sure to try to aim at the right spot. No curve. She clapped her hands as it hit just where she had wanted it to.
“It worked!” She said as she turned to him. “It really worked.”
“You doubted?” he teased.
“Only a little,” she admitted, before picking up her third ball.
“So, you don’t mind being part of the playground gossip machine because we’re dating, but public displays of affection would make it unbearable? Which means I shouldn’t have kissed you on the nose earlier and probably should refrain from giving you a real kiss when I win?”
Her head turned just as she tossed the ball, causing it to find the gutter before it had even travelled down half the lane.
“Oops. Sorry.”
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. He didn’t look sorry. Not even a little. In fact, he looked rather pleased with himself.
“Are you cheating, Mr. White?” She used her best teacher voice.
He merely shrugged. “Reset the lane for my last go, please.”
She pushed the button, and he came to where she was.
“I promise not to be distracting during your final attempts.” He took a step closer to her. “And I’ll leave the making out for in front of your house.” He winked.
“I don’t make out,” she whispered while her heart raced. He seemed to be very into touching her tonight and being flirty. Apparently, he was surer about their relationship than she was.
“Kissing, then?” he amended.
She blushed. “I suppose one or two would be okay.”
“Just not where anyone can see it,” he said with a nod of his head. “Got it.”
She shook her head. “Think about it. Would you want Madison to see us kissing in the bowling alley? Or imagine if she saw some other teacher doing something very un-teacher-like. You’d never hear the end of it.”
Steve chuckled. “You have a point.”
“And if there is gossip, she’s going to hear it.”
“Another good point, Miss Adams. I can see why you’re such a good teacher. You’ve got all the issues thought about before they happen.”
“As long as there is no glitter involved,” she said with a smile. “Then, all bets are off. Now, go win this game.”
“That seems to be a rather defeatist attitude.”
Esther held up the score sheet. “Have you seen this? You work with numbers for a living. Surely, you realize that even a perfect frame from me and three gutter balls from you would not help me win this game. Therefore, I am just being realistic.”
“But there are two frames left.”
“Even so, we both know enough math to know I’m not going to win.”
“But you’re not giving up, are you?”
There was a note of disbelief in his tone.
What was it with guys and their need to feel like they had vanquished a formidable force?
The Bennett boys had been the same. Not even Fred had ever let her bow out of a competition.
Of course, he had been known, on occasion, to cheat to help her nearly beat his brothers at something.
“No. I intend to lose with as small a margin as is possible.” Eddie would be proud. Those were always his words when his older brothers were trouncing him in some game or another.
And thanks to Steve’s instruction on best bowling practices, she made a respectable showing.
“We should do this again,” Steve said, as she was removing her shoes. “Maybe once more without Maddie so you can perfect your game, and then, with her?”
She glanced up at him. “You’d be okay with that?” He had been the one to not want to bring Madison with them tonight.
“Well, it’s not like we’re going to go bowling tomorrow and bring her with the day after. We’ll do a few other things between now and then, so things should be more…” He shook his head and looked like he couldn’t quite decide what to say.
“We’d know better if this was a long-term thing,” she supplied.
He expelled a breath that sounded a lot like relief. “Yeah. That’s what I meant.” He took her rented shoes from her and let her carry the score sheet to the front desk where he paid for their games.
Then, when they got to his car, he stood close to her with his hand on the door handle. “You know, I don’t normally go around kissing people,” he whispered. “I don’t even talk about doing it.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.
A small tingle of something skittered up her spine. Was it anxiety that they could be seen, or was it how she enjoyed the fact that he was eager to kiss her? Maybe it was both?
“But with you it feels right. Like maybe we’re meant to be together,” he said before kissing her a second time. This time it wasn’t just a brushing kiss but longer and more determined as his free hand cupped the back of her head.
That skittering something slammed into Esther’s chest, making her want to rub it while she was still in the midst of kissing him.
This was only their second date, and he was talking about … no, hinting at … forever? She should be happy about this. It was what she wanted, right?
She was the one who had wanted to bring Madison with them so they could bowl like a family. She was the one who had talked to her friends about being Madison’s mom. She was the one who had wanted Steve to ask her out.
He broke the kiss, and after a lingering moment of studying her face, opened her door.
She drew a calming breath as she slid into the car and hoped her concerns had not been written in her expression. After all, it was good to know that he wasn’t just dating her to have a good time. She should be overjoyed to know that this thing they had going was of a serious nature.
Then, why, when she was getting exactly what she wanted, did she feel as if her heart was going to break?