Ex, Why, and Me Read Free Page A

the last person I asked, but that’s because I haven’t seen you around.”
    “It’s been busy around here.” Ryan gestured at the Pins & Pints. His family’s bowling alley was located in an old Turner hall that the first German settlers had constructed over one hundred fifty years ago. While it still served its purpose as a community center, Ryan worked constantly to keep the alley making money and prevent the building from crumbling down around them.
    “Yeah, I know.” Danny rubbed his forehead. “Everyone is busy. I get that. Most of the guys I asked can’t get the time off.”
    Ryan knew he could use the same excuse. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the scavenger hunt. He didn’t like puzzles and he wasn’t a festival kind of guy.
    But if he worked during the celebration, that wouldn’t give him the chance to see Michelle face-to-face. He wouldn’t find a way to keep that disastrous night from hanging over his head. It didn’t happen too much anymore, but when it did, it was always at the worst moment.
    On the other hand, accepting Danny’s offer would give him a lot of opportunity to humiliate himself. Again. Compound the disaster instead of erasing it.
    It was a toss-up, either way.
    “I know it’s a lot to ask for,” Danny continued, “but I would owe you big. Vanessa and Michelle would, too.”
    Owe him. The deafening noise faded into the distance. That was a new take. Would that mean Michelle would owe him a chance to say he was sorry? To forgive and forget?
    Probably not. And why was he even thinking about that? That was four or five years ago. He had moved on. So had Michelle. Why try to correct something that they both felt was better left ignored?
    He knew the answer to that. Because it was Michelle Nelson. The one woman he had never thought he could get and the one who couldn’t get away from him fast enough.
    “But it’s just a couple of events a day, right?” Ryan asked, the surroundings roaring back at him, brighter and louder than ever.
    “No.” Danny winced as if this might be the deal breaker. “The contestants are working together on the hunt the entire time.”
    She wouldn’t be able to get away. Then again, neither would he. “I would have to get the time off…” That wasn’t going to go over well. His parents relied on him more and more these days.
    Danny’s eyes widened. “You’ll do it?”
    He wanted to. Strange as it sounded, he’d find a way to make it work. “Count me in.” Ryan gave Danny a firm handshake.
    Danny kept pumping his arm. “Michelle is going to be relieved.”
    Not the word Ryan would have used. “You want me to tell her? Is she in town already?” Without warning, anticipation sparked right underneath his ribs.
    Danny looked at his watch. “No, not yet. She’s flying in. I’ll tell her tomorrow before the hunt begins.”
    Yeah, that was one display of fireworks Ryan didn’t want to miss.
     
    Michelle strode into her parents’ small but tidy kitchen Friday morning. She was bone tired and would have rather stretched out on the linoleum floor and slept for another hour. But she was determined to snap out of this pervasive fatigue. Being home would energize her. It always did. And if she didn’t feel it immediately, she’d fake it until the energy came roaring back.
    Her mother paused from dabbing a napkin to the corner of her mouth, watching her sit down at the table. “You’re not leaving the house like that, are you, Michelle?”
    “Good morning to you, too, Mom.” Even to her ears, Michelle’s voice sounded rough and lined with exhaustion. She had to work on that.
    She had thought that returning to her childhood home would perk her up. Why she had thought that, she had no idea. Even going to bed in her old room didn’t make her feel rested. Quite the opposite. Probably because it wasn’t her room anymore. Nope, now it was Dad’s dream media room.
    She didn’t begrudge the man his electronic toys. After all, he had