27. Calm Him Down

27

CALM HIM DOWN

“ I knocked down five pins,” Ty yelled. His son turned and ran back and slapped his hand.

“Good job,” Michael said.

“I’m going to get the other five this time. It’s a strike right?” Ty asked.

“A spare,” he said. He looked over and saw Kelly grinning at him. It’d been Ty’s idea to go bowling and Kelly had added mini golf to it afterward. Talk about a kid’s dream day.

They’d go to lunch when bowling was done, then the mini golf and, if he knew Kelly, she’d find a way to get ice cream or some other dessert.

“What’s a strike?” Ty asked, frowning. “If all the pins are down, why isn’t it that?”

Ty picked up his ball as it came back and he helped his son line up to throw it. Not that he knew what the hell he was doing either. He just chucked it down there and hoped brute force knocked the pins down.

“You have to get all the pins down on the first throw to be a strike,” Kelly said.

“Oh,” Ty said. “Next time I’ll do that.”

Ty swung the ball back and forth, then let it go at the line.

Slowly the six-pound ball made its way down the lane. Faster than a sloth but not much more than a turtle spinning in circles.

It bounced off of one pin, knocked it down, which knocked two more.

“Almost,” Michael said. “Good job.”

Ty came running back and slapped Kelly’s hand too.

“I bet that’s better than I’m going to get,” she said.

They let Ty go first. He’d been bowling a few times for kids’ parties and enjoyed it. Michael wasn’t surprised when his son came up with this idea right away.

The fact that Ty was looking forward to spending time with Kelly was more important than anything else in his mind.

“Your turn,” he said to Kelly.

She got up and walked over to pick up a ball. She placed it in front of her, then took about four steps and swung and released it in one fluid motion. She got eight pins down.

“Yes!” Ty shouted.

She turned and grinned. “Just luck.”

“I’m not sure that is luck with the way you walked up and threw it,” he said. It seemed more natural than him.

“Maybe I spent a lot of Friday nights bowling with friends,” she said. “When I was younger. But it’s been years.”

The ball came back and she picked up and walked up to throw her second shot and got one pin.

“Next time,” Ty said.

“I hope so,” she said, winking at his son.

Michael had a feeling he was more nervous over this outing than his child and girlfriend were and he wasn’t sure of the reason for it.

He picked his ball up, took a deep breath, then walked up and threw it hard down the center. He’d grabbed the heaviest ball he could find that fit his hand and just as he predicted, brute force had the pins flying around, but there were three left standing after that.

His second shot got the three pins and he had the first spare of the group.

But it was many frames later that he got another. Kelly had two and Ty was at least knocking pins down on every frame but not many.

“How come I can’t get more?” Ty asked.

“Some of it is where you throw it,” he said. “The other is the ball is light and the pins weigh something too. Kelly and my balls are heavier.”

“Can I use yours?” Ty asked.

He laughed. “You won’t be able to pick it up.”

“How about you roll it between your legs with some help from your father?” Kelly offered.

“Please, Dad?” Ty asked.

“Sure,” he said. He got his ball and went to the line with Ty; they lined up in the center and put the ball between his legs. He and Ty had their hands on the back of it and gave it a shove, his being much more than his son’s.

The ball didn’t stay in the center and he hadn’t expected that it would, but it did knock down six pins which was more than Ty had been getting on his first try.

Their second ball, they got a spare and Ty was jumping up and down and shouting so loudly that there were a lot of eyes on them.

“I did it,” Ty said. “I did it!”

“You did,” he said. “But we have to be a little quieter in our excitement.”

Ty was still jumping but whispering in a shout that had almost hurt his voice.

Kelly was laughing and he had to admit it was cute.

They bowled two games, Ty being proud of his scores of sixty-three and sixty-eight. Kelly had two games in the 140’s and he wasn’t much higher than that but felt manly enough to know he got the highest scores of the day.

“Can we get some lunch now?” Ty asked.

“We can,” he said. “Did you build up an appetite?”

“I did,” Ty said. “I think Kelly should pick out our lunch. Don’t you think so, Dad?”

He hadn’t prompted Ty to do that. “I think that is a great idea. What do you want, Kelly?”

“I think when you go bowling, the best food to have with it is pizza,” she said. “Do you like pizza, Ty?”

“I love pizza!” Ty shouted.

“Shhh,” he said while he laughed.

They’d put their balls back and were walking to the counter to return their shoes.

“Sorry,” Ty whispered. “I’m having so much fun. Are you having fun, Kelly?”

“I am,” she said.

“I’m sorry if I’m too loud,” Ty said.

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “You’re a kid and should be having a great time.”

“Kelly is right,” he said. “But we do have to be aware of those around us also.”

“I’ll be quieter in the restaurant,” Ty said. “But it’s noisy here too and this way you can hear me.”

“Sounds logical to me,” she said.

“Don’t take his side,” he said playfully.

“I’ll take anyone’s side that is right or it makes sense,” she said, nudging him as they walked out.

They climbed into his SUV and he drove to a pizza place that Ty liked, then went in and got seats. It wasn’t even noon yet, but that was fine. Mini golf wouldn’t take much time and then he’d have to decide how long he’d have Kelly over.

She wouldn’t be spending the night. It was too soon for that. He hadn’t offered and she hadn’t asked. To him it was just unspoken that it wouldn’t happen.

“What do you like on your pizza?” Ty asked Kelly.

“I’m not too fussy. I just don’t like onions or anchovies.”

“What are those?” Ty asked.

“Stinky slimy little fish.”

“Ewwwww,” Ty said, wrinkling up his nose. “Who eats fish on pizza?”

“Not us,” Michael said. “And we never will.”

They were brought to a booth and took a seat. Their drinks and pizza and wings were ordered and they had time to quietly sit and just talk.

“You’re going to start kindergarten next year, right?” Kelly asked.

“I am,” Ty said. “With my cousins Cam and Regan. Dad said you know them?”

“I do,” she said. “I work for Cade so the twins come into the office at times.”

“You might not go to the same school as them,” Michael said. “We don’t live in the same district.”

He’d tried to explain this to his son, but he didn’t seem to understand it.

“But I want to go with them,” Ty said. “Can we move next door to them?”

He laughed. “I like the house we are in,” he said. No way he could afford to live by Cade. He might make good money but not enough to get into that new development with massive houses.

“I like our house too,” Ty said. “Where do you live, Kelly?”

“I live in an apartment,” she said.

“Are you going to move in with us?”

She looked at him and quickly said, “No,” she said. “I like my apartment.”

“So we’re not going to be a family?” Ty asked, frowning.

Michael wasn’t sure what this was about and had to tread carefully. “Kelly and I just started to date, but we do love each other.”

“You do?” Ty asked. His son had sat next to him with Kelly across from them. And Ty was looking at his girlfriend.

“I do love your father very much,” she said. “But we know this is new to you. It’s new to me too. We are taking it slowly.”

“You said you liked kids,” Ty said. “Do you want more kids? I like playing with kids. I want some brothers.”

Her eyes had gotten a bit wide and Michael hadn’t expected this at all. It was going well but a bit uncomfortable.

“I do like kids,” she said. “I’d like to have some kids of my own too, but not right yet.”

It was the best answer he could have hoped for. Keeping it simple was for the best for everyone.

“Did you tell Kelly that you’ve never been mini golfing before?”

“No,” Ty said. “I haven’t but have wanted to go, so thank you for choosing that.”

“I’m glad,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. I’m not very good. I just go up and whack the ball and it lands where it does.”

“That’s the best way to do it,” he said.

“I like to whack things,” Ty said. “I do that at Mom’s. She lets me throw things around the house.”

“Throw things like what?” he asked.

“Like paper balls. I just get paper from magazines or junk mail and crinkle them up. Then I line things up and try to knock them down with the paper balls. It doesn’t work and tires me out trying to throw it harder and harder.”

He kept the roll from his eyes. He wouldn’t judge. Ty was an active kid and he’d rather his son do something like that than watch inappropriate things...like sharks eating people.

“I think it’s fun to play with your imagination,” Kelly said. “It sounds like you do that a lot.”

“I have to at my mom’s because she doesn’t play with me. She said it’s stupid and she’ll watch TV and want me to be quiet. So I go in my room and do it. But I can’t be too loud or then the neighbors get mad too.”

Now he was pissed. But what was he going to say? He couldn’t tell Electra she had to play with their son.

“I have to be quiet at my place too so people don’t get mad,” Kelly said. His girlfriend was looking at him and he felt her foot on his leg almost trying to rub it and maybe calm him down.

He changed the subject back to mini golf, then their food was brought out and they ate and laughed.

Thankfully Ty didn’t seem to be bothered by half the things he said that upset Michael.

When their food was done, he paid and they were off to the mini golf course. It was busy since it was such a beautiful early May Saturday afternoon.

But they weren’t in a hurry so had no problem waiting in line while Ty watched what was going on around him.

“I think it’s going great,” Kelly said quietly to him.

Ty had moved a few feet away to look at some of the holes.

“It is,” he said.

“Sorry that he says things about his mother that upset you. But I’m sure you’re used to it by now.”

“I am,” he said. “I just have to move past it all. Not much I can do about it at this point.”

“It’s the right attitude to have,” she said. She grabbed his hand and threaded their fingers together. It was the first time she’d done that. The first he thought he held hands with a woman as an adult.

It felt right.