Page 67 of This Time Around
“Yeah, because you were on the winning team,” Tyler pointed out.
“What happened?” Keeton asked, looking around the table.
“I might’ve led them to think that my wrist was so limp that I could barely roll a ball,” I explained. “They assumed I wasn’t good at bowling, and I wanted them to continue thinking it until it counted. I deliberately bowled horribly during warmups.”
“Andy was all ‘it’s okay, baby’ and then BAM! Milo kicked our ass. Twice.”
“I wish I could say that I was faking a lack of talent, but I’m seriously no good,” Keeton said.
“We would still love to have you join us.”
“Could I bring a friend to even the teams out?” Keeton asked, sounding both hopeful and anxious.
“Absolutely,” Ollie said. “You guys email me with your open nights for the next few weeks, and I’ll set something up.”
“Can’t wait,” I said excitedly, rubbing my hands together. Look, I was a competitive person. Drag queen competitions could be ruthless, and I was no shrinking violet.
When we got home, Andy surrendered his dreams to me, and I made them come true in the end, just like the song said.
“Oh my God, could you be any perkier?” Maegan asked when she arrived at work fifteen minutes after I did. “Tone it down a little bit. The overhead lights are glaring off your teeth.”
“Someone sounds awfully sour this morning,” I said. “Is the ghost interfering with your sex life?”
Maegan snorted. “Only the world ending could keep me away from Elijah,” she said wryly. “Even then, I’m going out with a bang.”
“You mean during a bang?” I asked.
“There’s nothing wrong between Elijah and me, or problems with my new lovely house.”
“Then what is it?” Maegan wasn’t one to get down about much, and she was clearly upset about something.
“It involves Elijah, but it’s nothing that he’s done wrong. I shouldn’t even be upset about it.”
I handed Maegan a chai vanilla latte and a blueberry scone. “Tell your big brother what’s wrong. Maybe I can help you fix it.”
“Older by a few minutes,” she reminded me.
“Those few minutes made a significant difference though, didn’t they?” I asked. “We don’t even share a birth month, let alone a birthday.”
“Well, I’m light years ahead of you in the maturity department,” Maegan said smugly. Then her face fell. “Then again, maybe not when it comes to this.”
“What ‘this’ are you referring to?”
“I closed Books and Brew last night while Bonnie closed Curious Things. Just before we were ready to leave, Katie from the animal shelter shows up. I’d forgotten to lock the door. She didn’t want to buy anything, she had a favor to ask. Katie said that they were organizing the photoshoot for the annual calendar to raise money for the animal shelter.”
“Oh, that’s a big hit each year. I wonder what sexy men will appear?” I started growling playfully.
“Katie wanted to know if we would be willing to sell the calendars in our bookstore for them. I agreed, of course, and that’s when she dropped the bomb on me.”
“Bomb?” I thought I knew where this was heading, but for once I let Maegan get to the point at her own pace.
“Katie said it was great since Elijah agreed to do the shoot.”
“And you’re upset because you felt blindsided by it, not because Elijah is a grown-ass man and can make his own decisions,” I said.
“Of course,” Maegan scoffed. “I would’ve preferred to hear it from him, but he hadjustagreed to it. She caught him off guard when she approached him about it while he was picking up dinner at Emma and Edson’s diner.” A smile slowly crept across her face. “The best part is that he didn’t know he would only be partially dressed in the photo.”
“She asked him to pose for the animal shelter calendar and he agreed without asking questions?”