Free Slow Hands by Lauren Bach

insulting."
    He grimaced. "I understand how you'd feel that way. And believe me, I've tried to come up with an alternate. But given our past, nothing else fits. And it has to be 100 percent convincing. Griggs will find anything less suspicious. He'll be expecting traps, looking for the unusual, so we have to make it look sincere. Which also means making everyone in town think we've buried the hatchet and have rekindled our relationship."
    Keira shut her eyes against the cruel bite of his explanation. She'd known from the beginning Alec would need a cover, a reason to justify his return. She would have never guessed this one.
    And even as part of her recoiled in objection, part of her recognized the truth: Alec returning for her had the sort of fairy-tale quality people naturally wanted to believe. Which ticked her off.
    "So you just show up out of the blue and beg my forgiveness, huh? And just like that"—she snapped her fingers—"I forgive you?"
    "We'll let people think we've been corresponding by e-mail," Alec said. "I contacted you. You told me off, but in spite of the harsh words, we made a connection. And I've come back to prove myself."
    How many times had Keira played that scenario over in her head ten years ago? It hurt just recalling it.
    It also bothered her that everyone assumed she was available to play the part.
    She crossed her arms over her chest. "What if I'm sort of involved with someone?"
    "Sort of?" He scoffed. According to Scarlet, Keira hadn't had a steady boyfriend in over a year. Yes, he'd pumped Scarlet for information while they danced. "You'll need to sort of break it off for a while."
    "What if I don't want to?"
    Tough, he wanted to say. "It's temporary, Keira, remember?"
    The words stung. "You and Scarlet were pretty chummy last night. She might make a believable cover." God knows she'd be willing.
    "Not as believable as you and me."
    Tina interrupted, coming across on the intercom. "Walt Pelter's on line two. Growling like a bear."
    "I need to take this call," Keira said.
    Alec stood, picked up his coffee cup. "One last thing. You've sworn Franny to secrecy, right?"
    She would have loved to throw an indignant "How dare you" in his face. Instead, she nodded.
    "We might need to clue Franny in so she can back up our story about the e-mail."
    Franny would love that. "We'll see. I need to think about this."
    "Fine. We'll talk more tonight."
    'Tonight?"
     
    "The reunion bowling party," he clarified.
    Scarlet had no doubt invited him. "Maybe." She shrugged, noncommittal, and grabbed the phone.
    And maybe she needed to have her head examined for agreeing to Miles Ostman's request in the first place.
     
    It was dark by the time Keira pulled into the bowling alley. Judging by the lack of parking, she was probably the last to arrive.
    The Pin Palace II was Freedom's sparkling new bowling alley. The original Pin Palace had met its demise two years earlier when a fire burned it to the ground, taking with it a small strip mall that housed the Church of Good Souls.
    The church fathers and the bowling alley patrons had been feuding for months over the Pin Palace's desire to expand. The bowling alley wanted a bigger, full-service bar. The church wanted the alley's current beer-and-wine license revoked.
    Under city law, no alcohol could be served within one city block of a church or school. But since the bowling alley had been there first, they were grandfathered in by a special proviso. Which the Good Souls' pastor claimed rankled the Lord.
    Keira smiled. The Lord must have really been pissed when that same pastor was arrested for arson.
    The new Pin Palace was twice the size of the old. A game room and pool tables had been added along with the new bar. Monday through Thursday, the senior citizens' bowling leagues ruled.
    But on Friday and Saturday nights, the place converted as Cosmic bowling took over. The standard-issue, black house balls were replaced with neon-colored balls in pink, blue, yellow, orange,