Chapter 44

“It’s okay if she is. I like her. She’s kinda cool.”

Football had never been Will’s favourite sport. He wasn’t quick, not very agile and didn’t have great ball skills, so running around a muddy field in shorts and a thin nylon top on a rainy afternoon was not very appealing. Keeping goal while the other players fired pot-shots at him was even less so. He hated rugby even more—he didn’t have the physical presence for it. He found cricket dull and had never taken to any racquet sports.

Golf, snooker and ten pin bowling, however, were three sports he enjoyed and was good at. He enjoyed the precise control each sport required, whether it was the wrist control need to hit a straight drive, the positioning of the cue ball to make the next shot easier or the accuracy with which you had to fire the heavy ball down the alley. They were his kind of sports.

The bowling alley on Westmouth’s South Pier regularly held special promotions and the latest offer was a package deal of two games with a meal served at the lane in between. After they had been allocated a lane, Sophie quickly slipped on her bowling shoes and raced away to set up the scoring computer.

Amy held up the red and blue shoes she’d been given in exchange for her high heels. “These things are hideous. And how many other people have worn them do you think?”

“They get disinfected.”

“But still? Who knows what the last feet inside them were like?” She shuddered then sat on the nearest bench to put them on. Will put his on standing up.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said. “Do you know the last time I went bowling?”

“No idea.”

“Back when we were together. And I wasn’t even very good then. This is going to be so embarrassing. I bet you’re really good, aren’t you?”

“I’m not bad. But Sophie’s really good for her age. We come most of the times she’s down here.”

“I’m going to get beaten by a teenager? Great.”

“Come on, just relax and enjoy it. It’ll be fun.”

“If you say so.” She finished tying the laces and stood up. “Okay, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go see how bad I am at this.”

At the lane, Sophie had already entered their names into the computer and collected a range of balls of different weights. Will liked to use a slightly heavier ball for his first throw than his second. Sophie had recently graduated up from a six-pound child’s ball.

“I didn’t know, like, what size ball you’d want, Amy, so I, like, got you an eight and a ten. I use an eight right now, but I think I’m, like, going to try a ten for a few frames today. Dad says it’ll, like, give me more power but I don’t see how.”

“Why not?” Will asked.

“Cause it’s, like, heavier isn’t it? I, like, won’t be able to swing as quick so it won’t, like, go as fast.”

“You’ll be surprised. The extra weight will give you more momentum on the down swing.”

“I think I’ll use whatever you’re using,” Amy said. “I’m not very good at this.”

“Whatever. I’m up first. Dad, can I, like, get a new top if I get a strike with my first ball?”

“No. But I might get you that DVD you’ve been texting me about all week.”

“Cool. Watch this.”

Her first ball wasn’t a strike. She left two pins standing although one of them did wobble precariously before settling back onto its base. She did pick up the spare and Will agreed to buy the DVD anyway. Amy proved to be not as bad as she thought. She wasn’t up to Will or Sophie’s standard, who were both getting strikes and picking up spares regularly, but she did get a spare late on in the first game. They broke for lunch with Will having scored the highest. After eating, the scores in the second game were lower, with each of them finding it more difficult to bowl on a full stomach.