Improvisation by Karis Walsh Page A

with a confident whack, followed by a tricky bank shot to drop the fourteen. Tina’s attention returned to the game as two more stripes fell in succession.
    “And a little physics,” Jan added as she put some backspin on the cue ball so it snapped to a halt on the edge of a pocket instead of dropping after the nine. Lining her up for an easy shot on the ten, and then the eleven.
    “Eight, corner pocket,” she said, pointing with her cue. “Might want to get that twenty out.”
    Tina stared at her, openmouthed, as she made the shot. Jan was sexy. Jan leaning over a pool table was incredibly sexy. Jan handily winning the game took Tina’s breath away.
    Peter and Chloe walked over just in time to witness Tina’s disgrace as she gave Jan a twenty. “Looks like she trounced you, Cousin,” Peter said. He looked at the table with most of the solid balls still scattered on it. “Did you sink anything ?”
    “Shut up, Cousin ,” Tina said, jabbing him in the ribs with her stick.
    “You played a good game,” Jan said. “I thought the strategy of leaving all your balls on the table so they got in my way was brilliant.”
    Tina was tempted to chase Jan around the table, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to control herself once she caught her. “Is the music starting again?” she asked instead.
    “In a minute,” Peter said. “Some people are going to Coeur d’Alene this Saturday to see a local Irish band play. The Boise Banshees. Chloe and I thought the four of us could go.”
    Tina stayed quiet, expecting Jan to be the first to back out of anything resembling a double date. “I’m in,” Jan said instead. “I’m teaching a seminar for some grad students at U of I in the morning, but I can hang around town until you get there.” She shrugged at Tina as if to apologize for accepting the invitation. “Dad won’t be home until Monday at the earliest, so I’d rather be out than sitting at home.”
    “We’re leaving after I’m through with work in the afternoon,” Peter said. “So we can take you with us, Tina.”
    “Oh, our first road trip,” Chloe said, in the same cooing voice Tina and Jan had mimicked earlier. Tina groaned. She was starting to like her cousin. But her cousin in love was a bit much to take.
    “Or you can drive with me,” Jan suggested. “We could get lunch or something after my seminar.”
    “Thank you,” Tina said with relief. A few hours with Jan—in the safety of a public place and broad daylight—plus a chance to hear a new band sounded oddly appealing. Only because her previous weekend had been so boring, and she was anxious for a chance to get out of Spokane, even if only for one day. Jan’s company was a minor inconvenience, and certainly not the reason Tina said yes.
     
    *
     
    Jan let herself into the dark, empty house and leaned against the closed door. Her dad had only been with her for a week before he was back in the hospital, but already the place seemed lonelier than it had before he had come. She’d survive the loneliness, though. She always had. And once she had all the pieces of her life in place, she would start the search for someone to share it with. Not before. Not while everything was so topsy-turvy she could barely make it through a single day without a feeling of vertigo.
    Too many loose ends. The house was a great investment if she had the time to do the renovations on her long to-do list. If she had to sell in the near future, so she and her dad could move to a better city for his care? Then it was nothing more than a liability, a huge setback in her plan to build a real home. She moved through the house, turning on as few lights as possible while she prepared for bed. She didn’t want to see the harsh lines of reality tonight, when the memory of the dimly lit bar and Tina’s presence were so clear in her mind. A night or two with Tina would be a pleasant side trip, a break from her fruitless attempts to reach her goals, but how much more lonely