Page 113 of Story of My Life
“Go, Isla,” I yelled as Laura’s daughter ducked out of the reach of one of the members of Lake It or Love It and skirted through a traffic jam of bodies. With her brothers blocking for her, Isla’s lanky gazelle legs ate up the distance, bringing her back to her mother.
Laura grabbed the dauber and with a flourish stamped a card. “Bingo, bitches!”
The crowd, which was already at Super Bowl–touchdown noise levels, lost their minds, drowning out the Sanitation Supervisors’ salute to her trash talk. The Bishop brothers—and their father, who had closed the general store to be there—were jumping up and down, hugging each other. On the pickleball—er, bingo—court, Team Bishop celebrated by swinging their jerseys over their heads.
“This is thebestsport ever,” Zoey howled.
I cupped my hands and woo-ed until my throat hurt as Team Bishop received a full trash-can-lid salute from the Sanitation Supervisors.
The bingo officiant raised both hands in a V. “The win is verified,” she announced.
“And that’s the game,” Darius shouted over the celebratory noise.
I found myself high-fiving everyone within a three-bleacher radius.
Spirits were high as the teams met at center court to link arms and partake in one final ceremonial shot. The bingo players faced the crowd and lifted their plastic shot cups. “Ultimate,” they shouted in unison.
Everyone around us shot their arms into the air and hollered. “Bingo!”
As if conjured by the chant, Goose soared majestically over the lake.
The crowdoohed.At least, they did until the giant bird spotted a kid with a hot dog and swooped in for the kill. Obviously a long-standing Story Laker, the kid threw the hot dog in one direction and ran in the other.
The Sanitation Supervisors clanged their trash lid cymbals together one last time. The applause was loud and long.
“Well, that was worth leaving the house for,” I said, clapping along with everyone else.
“This should be televised,” Zoey said to Darius.
He threw up his arms. “That’s what I’ve been saying for years.”
Cam turned away from the pickleball court and swept the crowd with his gaze. When he locked eyes with me, I sucked in a breath and immediately choked on my own saliva.
Without looking at me, Zoey handed over her Mermaid Sharts drink, and I sucked some down.
Cam inclined his head toward the parking lot. I gave one last cough and pointed to myself.Me?I mouthed.
He rolled his eyes. Yeah, that was definitely meant for me.
“I’ll be back,” I said, leaving Zoey and Darius to discuss the finer points of televised bingo.
My progress was hampered by Lakers stopping me every few steps.
“Good to see ya, council lady.”
“Enjoy your first bingo?”
“That Goose sure ain’t dead, is he?”
I smiled, nodded, and returned the greetings all while keeping an eye on Cam, who appeared to be wading through his own greetings.
This was the small-town life I’d spent my career writing about. Where no one was a stranger and people stopped you in the street to chat. I liked it, I realized. Better than the anonymity of city life.
Cam had disappeared by the time I hit the grass. His brothers and father were still holding court by the fence. Well, Gage and Frank were. Levi looked like he’d had his fill of fun for the month and kept trying to back away.
I looped around the bleachers, where the crowd had thinned, and was just starting to think I’d been abandoned when a naked arm reached out and grabbed me, pulling me into the shadows like some bleacher troll in a fairy tale.
I let out a high-pitched squeak.
