Page 57 of Love at Second Down

“Do what?”

“Show up here and act like I’m all you want, then go on dates with other guys.”

I swallow, watching him carefully. “What if I said I’m only here for you?” I ask.

He stares straight ahead, his expression unreadable.

Encouraged by the answering silence, I add, “The girls told me what you and the guys had planned. That you were going to start dating again and looking to double date. So, we set this up.”

“Of course you did.” Damon drags a hand over his face, chuckling lightly, and I wonder if maybe I’ve gone too far. Then again, when it comes to Damon, I’ve never been good about boundaries.

He shifts his attention to the ball return and picks up a dark gray sixteen-pounder from the rack, striding toward the top of his lane, and I try and think of something to say to make him understand. With the sweep of the arm, he releases the bowling ball in one powerful, effortless motion, knocking down all the pins in one go. Another strike.

Swallowing, I step closer, blocking his path as he returns with his head down, jaw tight. “I might be rusty, but you always were better than me,” I say.

“Avery, what exactly?”

A bark of female laughter interrupts whatever he is about to say, and when his gaze lifts toward the sound, his mouth curves into a frown.

I follow his gaze to find Travis and Liz talking by the snack bar. Liz waves her arms animatedly, both of them laughing at whatever she’s saying.

“Remember that night junior year?” I ask, pulling his attention back to me. “When we convinced the manager of Strikesto give us the whole place to ourselves if you won State?”

He stares at me for a moment, and all at once his gaze softens, lips twitching like he remembers, before he says, “We bowled in our socks, and you slipped on the waxed floor, taking me down with you.”

I shake my head, biting my lip at the memory. “You landed on your elbow and wouldn’t stop whining for a week.”

“Because it was practically broken,” he deadpans, but there’s a warmth behind his voice now?a playfulness I’ve yet to hear from him since I arrived in Ann Arbor.

“You dislocated it.” I roll my eyes.

“I had to wear a sling for three weeks!” He laughs, and the sound fills my chest with something dangerously close to hope.

“Hey, I felt really bad about that.” I poke him in the chest. “Remember how I signed it?”

His expression darkens slightly, his smile fading, and I wonder if I’ve ruined the moment when he murmurs, “Sorry I made you fall for me.”

I swallow, and my heart leaps into my throat. “I thought you blocked me from your mind? That I was the only one that remembered all the moments we shared?”

There’s a beat of silence, the sound of pins crashing echoing around us, but neither of us looks away.

“I never said I blocked you. I just didn’twantto remember,” he says, his voice soft, barely audible over the clatter of pins and music. “I remember everything, Avery.”

My heart flips. “We had a lot of good times, didn’t we?”

He nods, his throat bobbing as he stares off into the distance.

“It doesn’t have to be over, you know, if you’d just give me a chance. I promise it’ll all make sense when I explain.”

“Ifyou explain. So far, you seem to have come up short in the explanations department.”

“I can and I will. I just . . . I need to be sure you’re ready to hear it first, because I’d be risking everything by telling you.”

His gaze jerks to mine, and his eyes soften, as if seeing me for the first time. Then Travis calls my name, and the sound of him at my back is a reminder that Damon and I aren’t here together but with other people.

Everything about it feels wrong.

“I got extra cheese,” Travis says proudly, but when I don’t answer or even so much as glance his way, he asks, “Avery?”

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