I fucking hated underwire.
Brady was already out of the car, and I made a feeble attempt at taming my hair by pulling it up into a high, messy bun. Then I adjusted my glasses and checked the rearview to ensure I didn’t have anything stuck between my teeth.
If Mason wanted to have “fun” with me after this, I’d count it as a miracle.
After grabbing my wallet and phone, I left the car and locked up.
William raised a brow as I approached, and I couldn’t blame him. He’d rarely seen me like this before either. I used to be so prim and proper when I was with him. Now his ex-wife wore green All Stars sometimes.
I’d never claimed every change I’d undergone could be considered an upgrade.
Mason looked like he was going through the mandatory “Jesus Christ, you’ve grown up, kid” talk with Brady, who hadn’t been here when his uncle had visited last time.
“Hi.” I plastered a smile on my face. “Everyone wants pizza, huh?”
Kelly smirked. “I’m pretty sure we’re all here to beat Will at pool.”
I laughed and aimed at Mason. I had to make it look like we hadn’t made out passionately just last night. “Good to see you again, Mason.”
He mirrored the little smirk on my face with one of his own and pulled me in for a quick hug. “You too, darlin’.” He kissed me on the cheek too.
I suppressed a shiver and tried to focus on the others instead. When it came to sports and games, William had two strengths. Pool and swimming. Everything else, he was sort of awful at. He didn’t care either. He was the least competitive person I knew. Kelly and Brady were the opposite.
“You should try to defeat your mother before you take me on, son.” William threw an arm around Brady’s shoulders and ruffled his hair as if our boy was seven. “She’s almost as good as I am.”
“Don’t fuck with the hair!” Brady pulled away from him and carefully ran his fingers through his hair. I shook my head in amusement. “I know very well how good she is. We come here a lot.”
William was surprised, and he turned to me. “You do?”
“I guess it’s a tradition we’ve started.” I shrugged and smiled. “Pool and pizza with Brady, movie dates and running with Aurora.”
Kelly held the door open for me, and I nodded in thanks as I entered the pool hall. I’d come to really like this run-down joint. No muss, no fuss. Cheap pizza, shitty beer, and approximately thirty pool tables in two rows made for a narrow but long establishment I enjoyed taking Brady to every now and then. Especially during the day when it was as good as dead here.
The place came to life on the weekends. Sharon and I had come here a couple times then.
“How many tables?” Brady asked. “Wait, are we playing in teams or going solo?”
William glanced up from his phone with a faint grin. “Well, Aurora called dibs on being on Daddy’s team, so… She’ll be here in five.”
“If my best chance to beat you is through Lissa, I’m with her.” Kelly called dibs on me then, I guessed.
I winked at him.
William narrowed his eyes at me.
I stuck out my tongue, which startled him. Ha!
“Okay, so that’s Uncle Mason and me,” Brady said. “One table. One team eats while two play. Deal?”
Everyone was in agreement, and we decided that Brady—who was “starving”—and Mason would sit out the first game and get their pizza on.
We grabbed a table somewhere in the middle, while Mason and Brady went to order us a few pies. Nine-ball was the only game everyone knew the rules for, so that was easily settled.
“Heads you break, tails I break,” William said, flipping a quarter. “Heads.”
I glanced at Kelly and grabbed a cue for myself. “Are you good at breaking?”
“I could be better. You go first, hon.” He grabbed a cue too, and he threw the blue chalk my way.
“Dad!” we heard Aurora holler. “Wait for me!”
Judging by the small bag from Sephora she was carrying, I assumed she’d been at the mall with a friend.
Soon, everyone had joined us, and Mason had made Aurora blush by saying she took after her “beautiful mother.”
I may have beamed a little.
“All right, show us what you’re made of, Lis,” William said.
“I do like to break balls,” I mused.
Kelly and William chuckled.
“She makes that joke every time,” Brady informed everyone.
“Oh, shut up.” I pushed up the sleeves of my hoodie and got in position along the short end of the table. Mason and Brady had gotten comfortable at one of the tables lining the wall, and they stood up and scarfed down some pizza while I made the first shot. The balls scattered and bounced across the table, and I smirked. I’d managed to block two pockets with the seven and eight balls.
“Remember the rules, princess?” William asked Aurora.
“Yeah.” She concentrated and studied the table. “Okay, my turn?”
He nodded and dipped down to whisper something to her.
I shifted my gaze to Mason and found him watching me.
That was going to get distracting very quickly.
“He won’t get that one, will he?” Kelly asked me quietly.
I shook my head. “Impossible.” We were huddled together in one corner, with William studying the angle of his shot from the other side of the table. “I think he’s gonna try to block the corner pocket.” We waited to learn I was right, and I chewed on my lip. The six ball was going to be difficult to sink. “You’re gonna have to shoot it off the rail so it comes back. Otherwise, it’s gonna knock the nine.”
Kelly stood slightly behind me and clapped me on my shoulders. “Sounds like a great task for you.”
I laughed and conceded. Fair enough. He was sharp as hell for straight shots, but he could use some practice for the angles.
That was where William was the champion. He had a good eye for seeing the exact spot where the white object ball would hit.
“Damn you, Lis,” William said. “I can read your mind. You’re going with the middle pocket.”
I chuckled and chalked my cue. For this, I had to bring out my A game, though. And the bulkiness of my hoodie was annoying, so I rested the cue against the table before I shed the garment. My T-shirt was a size or two too small, but I couldn’t be assed to give a shit. I’d promised Kelly we were going to defeat William.
“Mom, I like to win.” Aurora threw that out there.
“Pick my team next time, then,” I replied.
“Oh-ho!” Brady—and Mason too—burst out in laughter.
“Middle pocket.” I tapped it with the end of my cue before I bent over the table and hoped for two good shots. The first one being a good shot of my ass in profile, something for Mason to enjoy. The second one being…this. I shot the object ball right at the six ball, sending it bouncing against the rail, then straight back into the middle pocket.
Fuck yes!
Aurora groaned.
“Goddamn,” Kelly exclaimed.
I straightened and pointed at the seven for him. It was a simple shot, and then I could take the eight ball.
“You can do it, Kelly,” William encouraged him. “And if you can’t, that’s okay too.”