"Which jail do you need me to bail you out of?" he answered on the second ring.

The laugh that exploded out of me was loud. "Oh, please!"

Frank chuckled on the other end. "I'm just kidding, baby. How are you?"

Settling onto the couch, I peered at the picture on my side table of the both of us at my high school graduation. "I'm good, dad. Are you okay?"

"Cool as a cucumber, Kitty. I'm waiting for my next customer to get home and trying not to fall asleep in the meantime. How are the girls?" he asked, knowing I understood that he included Josh with that group.

"They're all good. Nikki is getting married, did you know?" I already knew that he probably did. The old man stalked his Facebook account every chance he got and Zoey was always posting something on there.

"I just got the invitation a few days ago. I made plans to go to the casino with Mike that weekend but buy her something from the both of us," he said before telling me all about the trip he was taking with his best friend to Louisiana. I told him a little more about Nicole's wedding in Vegas, and then about finishing up my book. We talked easily for a few minutes before he dropped the bomb on me. "No new boyfriend, Kitty?"

I groaned as a response. "Not a boyfriend, just a new friend."

My dad snickered loudly. "Men can't be friends with pretty girls unless they have feelings for them, baby. "

"Well this one seems to be an exception. Trust me."

He made a noise like he was thinking before exhaling. "Whatever you say, but if you want me to knock some sense into him—"

"Dad! You wouldn't hurt anyone if I paid you to," I laughed, remembering the times he'd gone out of his way to avoid getting into arguments with people.

"I wouldn't, but I know people!" the silly man answered.

Chapter 37

"Girls versus guys."

Nicole let out an unladylike snort. "More like girls versus bitches."

Josh cackled as he tied his bowling shoes. "In that case, I'm on the girls' team."

Tristan turned to look at Calum who sat next to him, smelling his pair of shoes with a face that was a little too curious and not enough disgusted. "You're definitely a bitch, Cal."

"Babe, do you think I'm a bitch?" Calum's deep voice asked Nikki, who was sitting in front of the keyboard typing names away for each of the lanes.

"Baby, I promised you I would never lie to you, so please don't ask me to start today," she said without blinking, her eyes locked on the screen in front of her.

Zoey, who was sitting right next to me on the lane we'd designated for the females, laughed and gave me a high-five at Nicole's response. Tristan and Calum were sitting on the opposite side of the lane and bickering over who was a bigger bitch. "This is going to be fun," she announced with a big smile on her face.

She'd been gone for a little over a week, and I'd missed her pretty face. The night before, Josh and I had gone to pick her up from the airport, before staying over at her apartment to watch the first three Harry Potter movies back to back. Yes, we were an overgrown bunch of geeks who banded together to read all of the books and cried when Dumbledore and Dobby died. I think Josh had a secret crush on one of the characters from the movies but he wouldn't admit which one.

"Kat and Joshua, you're up first," Nikki said.

"I'm going to kick your fanny, Booger," Josh claimed, going up to the center to retrieve his ball at the same time I did.

"You probably are considering all the experience with balls you have," I snickered with a wink.