CHAPTER FOURTEEN AT: THE CALL BEFORE DAWN
Damian’s phone rang before sunrise because a restaurant freezer had failed during a busy weekend.
He answered while still half asleep and listened to the owner describe the problem.
He called Niko, arranged an emergency visit, and drove across town with a replacement control module.
The owner met them at the back door and apologized for the early hour.
Damian said equipment did not consult calendars before failing.
Niko inspected the controls while Damian checked the compressor’s operating conditions.
They identified a failed sensor and confirmed that the replacement restored the system’s normal cycle.
The owner thanked them and asked whether Damian had considered selling the company.
Damian said he had received offers but was not interested.
The owner said people sometimes assumed a small business was merely waiting to become part of something larger.
Damian smiled and said he liked knowing the people whose work depended on his decisions.
After the repair, he stopped at a bakery and bought breakfast for the crew.
Yvette called while he was driving back to the workshop.
She asked whether he was free that evening.
Damian said he would be after he finished the emergency paperwork.
Yvette said she wanted to take him somewhere ordinary where nobody would ask about the foundation.
Damian suggested the neighborhood bowling alley.
She admitted she had not bowled since college.
He said that sounded promising.
They agreed to meet at seven.
For the first time in weeks, the plan felt like a date rather than an interval between crises.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN AU: THE BOWLING ALLEY
Yvette arrived at the bowling alley wearing jeans and a jacket that Damian had never seen before.
She looked at the rows of polished lanes and admitted she had forgotten how to choose a bowling ball.
Damian helped her find one she could hold comfortably.
She rolled her first ball directly into the gutter.
Damian applauded with exaggerated seriousness.
Yvette told him to stop encouraging failure.
He said he was celebrating a decisive result.
She laughed and tried again.
Two lanes away, a family was celebrating a birthday with paper hats and a cake.
The sound of children cheering drowned out the music.
Damian told Yvette about his first job repairing refrigeration units at a grocery store.
Yvette told him about the summer she worked as a camp counselor and lost the same canoe paddle three times.
They played two games and ordered fries from the snack counter.
Yvette won the second game after Damian missed an easy spare.
She insisted on keeping the printed scorecard.
He accused her of planning to frame it.
She said she might.
On the drive home, they stopped at a red light beside a bus full of tired passengers.
Yvette looked out the window and said she had forgotten what it felt like to enjoy an evening without trying to prove something.
Damian said he had too.
When he dropped her at her apartment, she kissed him and thanked him for the game.
He said he wanted a rematch.
She held up the scorecard and told him to practice.
