Page 28 of Kiss My Glass
“Happy to say I have neither,” says Danny.
“New sports store in Verity,” says Nate. “Called Ball’s. With an apostrophe.”
“Because it’s owned by a Mr or Mrs Ball?” Danny asks.
“If only,” says Nate. “Anyway, what else?”
“Uh—” Danny scans the list. “Beer tasting! Now you’re talking.Shopping for vintage clothing, okay… Lindy Hop. What isthat?”
“A dance!” says Shelby. “Like swing and jive. Super fun.”
Danny narrows his eyes at me. “Seriously?”
“Are you suggesting I don’t look like a dancer?”
“No-o,” says Danny, evenly. “But that definitely sounds like you need prior training.”
“You’ll catch on.” My smile is only slightly evil.
“What’s Danny making you do, Frankie?” Nate asks.
“Hiking.” I’m not smiling now. “On the trails.”
“We’ll skip the scroggin.” Danny is grinning from ear to ear. “Given your nut aversion.”
“Go karting,” I continue. “Could be fun. What’s next? Karaoke!!”
I look up and glare. “Who does karaoke these days?”
“You used toloveSingStar when Chiara brought round her PlayStation,” says Shelby. “You shrieked if we tried to take the microphone off you.”
“I was eight years old!”
“Karaoke?” Nate’s giving Danny the side eye. “Since when?”
“Since I ended up drunk in a bar a couple of years back. Seems I can sing.”
“Drunk singing isn’t singing.”
Danny smiles tightly. “Think you can do better?”
“And lastly—” I interrupt before this escalates. If Danny’s going to compete to the death with anyone around here, it’ll be me. “The final item on the list is … twitching…”
I squint just in case I’ve read it wrong. I have not. “Twitching?”
“Bird watching,” says Danny. “Particularly rare ones. It’s the British term but I prefer it.”
“Uh huh.” I’m not convinced he’s for real. “What kind of rare birds are around here?”
“Western tanager,” he says. “Yellow billed loon, sage thrasher?—”
“You are making this up!”
“Google it,” he says. “I started noticing birds when I was out hiking. Became a little bit obsessed.”
“This is the Durant way,” says Nate. The two of them fist bump.
“We can’t come and watch any of this, can we?” Shelby sounds disappointed.
