Kassie put in a token to play her own game of skee ball.
Before long, they were halfway through their game, and Kassie had been mostly silent the whole time. Except for a few looks his way when she thought he wasn’t looking and when she got a ball in the one-hundred hole. She made a pretty big deal out of that and even included a little one-hundred dance. Damn, I could watch her do that all night.
Kaden interrupted Kassie’s toss. “Kassie, I have to get Ali and Kaleb home.” Kaleb had been crying for the last ten minutes, nonstop. “It’s way past this little guy’s bedtime.”
“Thanks for the night out, guys. We had a great time.” Ali smiled as she rocked baby Kaleb.
“I can drive Kassie home when she’s ready. If she wants to stay, that is,” Luc spoke up. “We are in the middle of a skee ball match.”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks, man. Kass, you okay with that? Up to you, sis.” Kaden answered with a smile, looking at Kassie and nodding his head like it was a fantastic idea.
Kassie looked between Kaden and Luc. Her nose was scrunched up as if she was trying to figure something out. “Sure, yeah. I guess that’d be fine. I still have three tosses left.”
“Don’t worry, Kassie. I won’t bite,” Luc teased.
“Just in case, you do have all your shots, right?” Dom asked with a wink. “Just messing with you, Rock-Star. Or am I?”
“I know karate, so I think I’m good.” Kassie laughed and did a little move with her hands that was supposed to be karate but just ended up making his dick twitch, again.
“All right, that’s settled, I think.” Kaden flashed his sister a curious look. “We’ll catch you guys on the flip side. Don’t have too much wild and crazy family fun without us.”
Dom did a chin nod towards the O’Conners. “Sure thing, K-man. How about next time we all meet up at Mario’s?” Mario’s was a local Pittsburgh bar.
“You got it, Z!” Kaden smiled, and then he and Ali waved before making their exit. “See you guys later!”
Luc tossed one of his last three balls and got the fifty hole. Shaking his head, he already knew how this was going to end. He had yet to get a one hundred, and Kassie had three. And she just threw another.
“Here, Kass, take my remaining two turns. You’ve already got me beat.” Luc stood back, facing the skee ball lanes so his friends couldn’t see him watching Kassie throw her last few turns. He certainly liked the way her jeans fit.
Even taking his last few turns, she still won. Kassie sheepishly smiled.
“Go ahead, celebrate. You know you want to,” Luc said. “I never deny anyone a celly.”
Kassie raised her fist in the air and pumped it up and down, hockey style. Maybe she was mocking them, but he didn’t care; he liked watching it all the same. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and without Kaden around, Luc wasn’t overly concerned how it looked.
Sam’s voice interrupted Kassie’s celebration. “We’re heading to the go-carts. Anyone else want to join us?”
“Luc? Kass? Dare to race us at go-carts? My little sunshine is a mean rally-car driver,” Sam joked.
Luc nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”
“Um, yeah. Why not?” Kassie accepted.
Leaving Hailee and Dom behind at the Dance Revolution machine, the rest of them made their way out to the go-cart course. It was outdoor, and Luc was wishing he had his sweatshirt right now. Fall was trying to set over Pittsburgh. The days were sunny and warm, but the nights were chilly.
Willow ran to the entrance gate, while Trina chased after with her little jacket. “Honey, you need to wear this.”
Luc stood behind Sam at the pay window.
“She’s too small to ride alone,” the teenager taking the money said, in a monotone voice. “And is she pregnant? Yeah, if she is, she can’t ride. Sorry.”
Sam looked over at his wife, and she waved him off. “It’s fine. I’ll take a video.”
“Okay, and the little one is with me.”
“Well, I’ll need you to sign this waiver then. Since she’s so young.”
“There’s no crashing into one another like bumper cars, right?” Sam asked, putting on his concerned parent look.
“No, sir.”
“Okay, then I’m okay with her riding with me.” With that, Sam signed the waiver and paid. Taking Willow by the hand, they walked onto the track. “All right, sunshine! Let’s pick a car.”
Luc was next in line, and Kassie was right behind him.
The gate locked, and Luc raised an eyebrow at the teenager in the Fun for All vest.
“Sorry, sir. This race is full. You two will be in the next one.”
“But there are still four empty cars,” Kassie complained from behind him.
“We group the riders by age. There’s the tiny girl out there, as well as a few other kiddos. This race will have a max speed set that the carts can go. You two will go the next race, no max speed,” the teen explained, uninterested in whether they agreed with the answer or not.
Luc turned to say something to Kassie, not looking forward to making small talk while they waited for their turn. But to his surprise, Trina was standing there, already talking quietly with Kassie.
“Excuse me?” Kassie called to the young worker. “Can I pay now and go stand at the gate with my friend?”
The kid nodded. With a smile, Kassie gently nudged her way in front of him and paid before standing beside Trina to watch Sam and Willow race.
The racing light on the track went from red to yellow to green, and the racers were off. Cars were filled with young kids and parents. Some started out slow and got the hang of it; others were stuck, apparently not knowing where the gas pedal was, and one was driving in a circle.
Another young worker had to help the ones who were stuck until they were racing with the others.
Trina took videos while waving at her daughter, as the two of them sped around the track. Willow giggled uncontrollably the whole time, loving the race. Sam was beaming with pride. He was all daddy mode when he was with his little girl. But to be fair, he was a great dad. Willow was his everything, next to Trina. And the baby they had on the way was another lucky kid.
Luc watched them, mesmerized, until their eight-minute race was over. This was one reason he enjoyed doing the family nights with the guys. Mostly it was because Sam and Trina were like family to him. But he also enjoyed watching Sam go from hockey-bro mode to daddy mode. The smile that little girl put on his face was unlike anything Luc had ever seen. Well, maybe it came close to the smile that Trina put on Sam’s face.
Those two had a love of a lifetime, and as cliché as it may be, it fit them. They were the couple that all other couples modeled themselves after or measured themselves against. They’d recently been through hell and come out stronger than ever, as well as expecting again. Luc was lucky to call them both his friends.
The workers unloaded all of the cars while Luc and Kassie waited to get on.