Page 57 of Hollywood

Okay, so apparently, I wasn’t hiding my crankiness as well as I’d thought.

“He’s probably driving,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Otherwise…”

Otherwise, he wasn’t coming back.

But I didn’t say that. Couldn’t. My throat closed up too tight. I’d just begun letting him in again. What if historyrepeated itself? What if he’d decided whatevertalkwe should have would be easier if we just…didn’t?

“Stop it,” Joyride said, smacking my stomach with the back of his hand.

I flinched. “Stop what?”

“Stop thinking the worst.” He stood up, taking Ruby with him. “Let’s just head over to the Redemption Road meeting. Tex can meet you there.”

I wanted to protest, but if we didn’t leave soon, we’d be late. “Okay. Roo, are you ready to go bye-bye?”

She perked up a little, eyes growing curious. “Go?”

“Yep. Let’s go for a car ride. We’ll see some friends.”

She squirmed until Joyride put her down, then ran over to grab her bunny from the corner of the sofa. She sank her teeth into a raggedy ear and chewed.

I grimaced. The thing was getting a little worse for wear. That couldn’t be sanitary. But she was finally happy, so I let her have it. Maybe I could sneak it into the washer while she slept tonight.

We went outside and Joyride climbed into his eye-glaringly yellow Hummer. I buckled Ruby into my Toyota Corolla, which was a much more sedate shade of blue.

I let Joyride pull out first, then followed him out of the trailer park and onto the highway. Lucky Strike was a ten-minute drive. It was a little weird to meet at a bowling alley, but Redemption Road was funded by grants and there wasn’t enough money for a formal meeting space.

Matteo bought us pizza and soda every week, probably out of his own pocket, and we sat in plastic booths in the bowling alley cafe.

I liked it. I’d always loved bowling, so I could get my fix while we waited for the meeting to start.

I pulled into a parking space beside Joyride. Knight’smotorcycle was out front. Matteo’s sedan. Ghost’s rough-running Jaguar. There was no sign of Tex’s pickup.

It wasn’t surprising. If he’d gotten back already, he would have come to the house instead—or called. I hoped.

I unbuckled Ruby and followed Joyride into the dimly lit building. There was the echo of pins crashing to the floor. At least one bowler was using Lucky Strike for its intended purpose. Sunday afternoons were pretty slow, though. The bowling alley was deteriorating, and there was a much nicer Fun Zone that included bowling, an escape room, and some arcades. Lucky Strike didn’t stand a chance against competition like that.

Ghost had already parked his butt in one of the plastic booths. He never mingled much. Knight was chatting with Matteo as they set out pizzas.

“Want to bowl a couple of frames?” Joyride asked.

I grinned. “Hell—o. Of course I do.”

I’d almost said hell yeah, but I was working on not cursing in front of Ruby. Joyride laughed as if he knew exactly what I’d intended to say.

While he went to get shoes, I showed Ruby the bowling balls and the pins, explaining the game to her even though she probably wouldn’t understand everything.

When we were ready to play, I found my favorite ball, swirled with blue and weighing fifteen pounds with large finger holes. I handed Ruby to Joyride, then lifted it, testing its weight, and approached the lacquered floor. I’d bowled on a league in high school, and muscle memory kicked in. I drew my arm back, dropped a hip, and let the ball fly down the lane.

It hit the pins dead center with a satisfying crash. They scattered. One pesky pin wobbled theatrically before staying upright. Damn it.

Ruby squealed and clapped her hands, eyes bright.

I waited for my ball to return and took my second shot, getting the spare. Then we switched, me taking Ruby, holding her at an angle that gave her a good view of the lane.

Joyride’s ball went into the gutter. The kid couldn’t bowl to save his life, but he always wanted to try.

“You need to visualize the ball’s path,” I said. “And you’re drawing your arm back at too much of an angle. It’s causing the ball to go wide.”