Page 17 of Falling For You

I should have left it alone. She was clearly not interested in conversation. Everything about her posture said don't.

But the opportunity was too good to pass up.

I set my beer down on the table and walked up to her.

"You know, I heard a rumor that cops don't know how to read."

She didn't look up. "Well, this one does."

"What's that you're reading?" I sat down on the stool beside her.

She looked up from her book. "What do you want, Brooks?"

"To make small talk?"

She turned back to her book without answering. Behind me, the crew was watching.

"You're striking out, buddy," Travis called from the table.

"Let the man work," Knox said.

I stayed on the stool. Andy kept reading. I didn't mind. She was two feet away and she hadn't told me to leave.

Travis walked over with a dart in his hand. He stopped in front of Andy, smiling ear to ear.

"Look. Everyone knows this is a firefighter's bar. And we're happy to share it with a cop." He paused for effect. "If she can earn her seat." He held out the dart to her.

Andy looked at the dart, then at Travis. "You're joking, right?"

"Why? Scared of losing, Officer Walsh?"

Knox called from across the room. "You're really going to challenge a cop to a dart game? She gets paid to hit targets at fifty feet."

Travis didn't flinch. "Well, it shouldn't be hard for her then."

Knox shrugged. He tried.

Andy closed her book. She stood up, took the dart from Travis's hand, and walked to the line.

Travis followed her to the board. "Okay, so the rules are simple. We play 301. You start at 301 points, and you work your way down. Doubles to open, doubles to close. Best of three legs. Do you need me to explain what a double is?"

"Throw the dart, Travis."

Travis threw first. He wasn't bad. He hit the board with confidence and scored a decent round. Enough to make him turn around like he'd already won.

Then Andy stepped up.

The first throw hit the double twenty. Clean open. The second throw sank into the triple nineteen. The third landed in the triple seventeen. Travis threw well enough, but it didn't matter. Every time he stepped up, Andy stepped up after him and erased whatever ground he'd gained.

By the end of her first leg, half the bar had stopped what they were doing. By the second, Travis had both hands on his head. She closed the third leg on a double sixteen with one throw, dead center, no hesitation.

The crew closed in around her. Gus slid a drink down the bar. Greene clapped. Carl was shaking his head. Someone pulled a chair over and Andy dropped into it like she'd been sitting with them all night.

"I want a rematch," Travis said.

"You sure about that?"

"No. But I'm asking anyway."