Page 12 of The Girl Out of Time
“Push the disks into the marked fields. They score the number they land on—the bigger, the better,” she explained as the blonde did so, laughing at herself when her disk went far off-mark.
Leon gave Emmeline a small smile and nod, which warmed her chest much more than this type of appreciation usually would.
Emmeline went next. She’d played shuffleboard enough times with her brothers, but never on a ship. The slight sway of the giant vessel became clearer when she tried to focus on a good swing.Steady, swing—the disk went scuttling along the wood, a touch too far.
“Darn it.” She moved aside to make space for Leon. “No pressure.”
He positioned himself at the line and squinted at the marked area with a judging, calculating frown. Then, he made a simple swing—and sent the disk straight to the end cap, scoring ten points.
“Yes!” Emmeline jumped. “Nicely done!”
“Not bad,” John agreed. “But let me show you what the experts can do.”
The brothers went next, keeping a solid score. When Emmeline prepared for her turn, John walked up to her.
“Allow me to provide some pointers, miss?”
“Uhm … all right,” she wavered. No reason to be rude, even though she only needed practice, not advice.
John moved closer and led her hands, holding the cue, into a slightly altered position that could hardly make any change. “Like this,” he said. “And swing gently …”
Oh, please, as if she didn’t know how to swing a cue.
“I think her grip is perfectly fine,” Leon’s voice came from the side. She hadn’t heard him approach, but he was only a couple of feet away, inspecting John with narrowed eyes and mouth pulled into a firm line.
“The lady asked for help.” John’s mustache twitched over a smile.
Emmeline furrowed her eyebrows and sent the disk flying, not even caring when it stopped at a lousy two. “Here, done.” She shook John off and moved to the side, supporting her chin with the end of the cue stick.
Leon didn’t follow. John went to score, landed a nine, and raised a smirking eyebrow at Leon; he went next and, with almost furious precision, scored another ten.
“My turn,” John’s brother said, but John held his stick back as if to stop him.
“Let me do it,” John said. “Your elbow is still a little sore, isn’t it?”
His brother squinted but didn’t object.
What in the world is going on?
John went, and then the ladies, who had to wiggle themselves between John and Leon and made their shots while the two men stared at each other as if they were reenacting the duel inThe Lord of Two Hearts.
“My turn!” Emmeline shouted. “Actually, I might be owed two turns.”
John’s expression instantly cleared. “Certainly, miss.” His eyes flicked over Leon’s washed-out clothes. “We wouldn’t want the less deserving to be stealing our turns, would we?”
Leon tightened his grip on the stick, but said nothing and only moved away to give Emmeline the space for her swing.
“John, can we call it after this one?” the blonde said. Both women were leaning on the railing, twirling their sticks in utter boredom.
“Then this one counts.” John tilted his head at Emmeline. “You’re nine points behind us.” He tapped the floor with his stick. “What do you say—if we win, you owe me a stroll around the deck?”
She shouldn’t even consider it, but a rebellious fury within her made her say, “And if I win?”
John shrugged. “As you wish.”
“You apologize to my friend.”
His eye twitched. “Deal.”
