Page 31

I FLY UPSTAIRS to my apartment, racing into my bedroom and shoving the first sports bra I can find over my head.

It’s not too late to get to Starlight. And it’s not too late to win. The thought of standing center court, clutching a giant check as Freddie Alwin sulks off to the locker room, electrifies me as I move. I add another scenario to this fantasy: Wilson standing off to the side, grimacing as I toss his stupid contract back in his face.

Niko is there too, I imagine. I let myself envision our kiss, the crowd of adoring pickleball fans hollering in celebration, before getting back to the reality in front of me: I have to track down Niko. But I have no idea if he is even still at Loretta’s. Maybe he left for Miami early. I should call him! I think, and then remind myself to multitask—I can dial him while driving to Loretta’s to find him.

I grab my bag, tossing my keys and phone inside, and race back downstairs, locking up at warp speed and dashing outside to where my car should be.

My still-dead, not-fixed, sitting-at-the-shop car.

I refuse to let myself panic, even if this plan was feeling flimsier by the second.

“Niko!” I say out loud to myself. He can drive here, and I’ll explain it all on the way to Starlight. We’ll be late, of course—the tournament will be starting soon—but maybe there’s still a chance we can make it in time to play the exhibition match. I speed-dial his number and pace around the parking lot, waiting for an answer from him. When it doesn’t come, I do the next most logical thing I can think of in the moment.

I text Loretta and then take off running for her house.

One very sweaty mile and a half later, Loretta opens the door before I even have a chance to knock. She must know from the frantic look on my face and the fact that my shoelaces are trailing after me like kite strings why I’m panting on her front steps in a panic.

“Oh, honey,” she says, her face falling sympathetically, “he’s not here.”

I catch my breath on her steps, waving a finger to say I need a sec as I bend over, hands on my knees. My exhale comes with the overwhelming urge to cry. In my rush to her house, I completely neglected to consider what I would do if Niko wasn’t here.

“Crap,” I huff, trying to reset and calm myself down. But that ship has sailed. I am in full-on freak-out mode, and this discovery has only made things worse.

“I think he’s one step ahead of you, actually.” She wraps her good hand around my shoulder. “He left about an hour ago for Starlight. He said he’d meet you there.”

“Goddamnit,” I say with a laugh that cracks with the touch of a sob. He knew I’d show up to play even before I did.

“He takes everything extremely seriously,” Loretta says as she tugs me closer, pulling me into a hug. “I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.”

“I have.” I nod against her shoulder, inhaling the musky scent of her perfume. Everything about her is comforting, and I let myself be held. “Would you believe it’s something I like about him?”

“I would,” she says kindly. “It’s also something you have in common with him, you know? You both do everything from the heart. I get why you’re so good together.”

“Oh god, Loretta, you must hate me,” I say as I step back, choking out another sob-laugh. “I know you wanted the two of us to be together, but it all started as an act. You read the article, I assume?”

She shakes her head no and gives me a resolute look. “I don’t need to read it to know who Niko is, and who you are.”

“But we lied to you,” I protest. Surely I do not deserve sympathy for tricking her into thinking I was in a relationship with her nephew.

“Did you really, though?” she asks. “Maybe the two of you weren’t honest about your feelings for each other, but they seemed pretty straightforward to me, and everyone else.”

She’s got me there. I liked Niko long before I ever admitted it to myself. I was never completely faking it. I was simply hiding it because it felt too terrifying to actually admit the truth.

“Bex,” she says, “he came out to Sunset Springs because he cares about me, in his own protective way. And he rushed out of here this morning to go play pickleball because he cares about you in the same exact way.”

“And I’m here only because I care about the club,” I mutter. “God, that makes me sound so shallow.”

“Shallow to whom?” she asks, ushering me inside her house. The smell of coffee wafts over me, and when my eyes focus, I see Ed packing a bag on the dining room table. He’s here, just like on our game nights, only it’s the morning, and Maureen and Deb are nowhere to be found. Oh. OH.

My heart swells with happiness for them.

“Hey, kid!” he says, giving me a jovial wave. It feels a bit like what I imagine walking in on your parents having sex does, and I’m determined to play it cool.

“Ed! Hey!” I say a little too loudly, and it’s obvious that I am, in fact, not going to be cool about this at all. But it’s not because I’m embarrassed for stumbling upon them in an intimate moment. It’s because joy has flooded my body at the sight of the two of them together, so touched by the obvious adoration they feel about each other.

“We’re driving you to Starlight?” he asks, like I already know the plan.

“Yes, we are,” Loretta answers for me as she rushes around the kitchen industriously, turning off the coffee and swiping the milk from the counter and shoving it back in the fridge. “We need to hit the road. Do you have the shirts?”

“They’re in the trunk.” Ed nods as I look between the two of them, utterly confused.

“What shirts?” I ask.

“Honey, did you check any of your messages from us?” She stops what she’s doing and stares at me, and I can’t tell if she’s alarmed or about to burst out laughing.

“No,” I reply. “I didn’t read anything because I wanted to make a decision about the club with a clear head.”

Loretta lets out a laugh like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“Oh boy,” Ed says, as he guzzles whatever is left in his coffee cup and slams it down on the table. “Today is going to be fun!”

“I thought we already had fun.” Loretta’s voice is as mischievous as her grin, which sparkles from the kitchen. She opens up a cabinet and grabs a box of crackers, tossing it into Ed’s tote bag.

These two are obviously baiting me, and I bite the inside of my lip.

“Oh, we did,” Ed says with a wink, giving her a peck on the cheek as he grabs the bag and heads toward the front door.

“My god,” I blurt out, unable to keep it in anymore. “Are the two of you going to just keep saying inappropriate things in front of me? I know what you’re doing!”

“And we know you and Niko have feelings for each other.” Loretta tries to say this with a serious face, but she cracks into a smile. “Even if you both think you were pretending for the sake of some stupid article!”

They’ve got me there, and I keep quiet as the two of them putter around the house for a couple more minutes, grabbing sun hats and pulling phone chargers out of sockets, tossing them into the bag. They move with comfort, like they both feel unconditionally safe in the other’s presence. It’s absolutely wonderful to see them together like this, not just enjoying each other’s company but existing in it.

Once we’re in the car and I’m strapped into the back seat with nothing to distract me, my nerves turn back on at full blast, and I gnaw on a fingernail, staring out the window in between glances down at my phone. There are still no messages from Niko, and a nagging doubt starts fogging my thoughts. What if he’s not there after all? What if he is there and is now mad at me?

What if he is there and mad, and we play the matches, and lose?

“We’ll get you to the game, Bex,” Ed says reassuringly, sensing the anxiety obviously radiating off me. “This isn’t just important to you, you know. It’s important for all of us.”

“Thank you,” I say softly. “It means a lot to me too.”

“Have I ever told you how I found pickleball right after Terry died?” Loretta asks, as she turns around in the front seat to give me a tender look. “It was the only thing that brought me joy for that first year or two. I spent all of that time either crying or playing pickleball.”

“Oh, Loretta, that sounds so hard.” She talked about her husband often, but I’d never completely connected her loss to her time at the club until now, and her grief feels familiar, even if it’s not the exact same as mine.

“Thank you, honey. It was,” she says. “But it’s also how I got really, really good at pickleball.”

Ed laughs and reaches his hand across the console, finding hers. It’s a simple, comforting gesture. He’s checking in, making sure she’s okay, and I long for Niko to be here next to me, for me to be able to do the same with him.

“Running the club definitely helped me after my mom died,” I say, the realization hitting me. “It’s given me somewhere to channel all that sadness, you know?”

Loretta nods in agreement. “I should say that I may have started playing to distract me from my grief, but now I’m there to kick ass and destroy the very fragile egos of the retired men of Sunset Springs.”

“And I enjoy watching you do it,” Ed adds with an affectionate glance.

“But my point is, Bex, the club saved me,” she continues. “The place is a gift. And we’ll do whatever we can to help you hold on to it.”

“Especially because I literally count on it to keep me alive,” Ed adds. “My doctor told me to play pickleball because it’s good for my bones and depression.”

“You two are amazing,” I tell them. “And I appreciate it. But I don’t have a plan anymore. It was stupid to think I could bank the future of the club on winning some game.”

“It’s what any person who loves their community would do,” Ed says. “You’re figuring out your own way as a business leader.”

I try not to let out a self-pitying laugh at his assessment. If anything, I am still lost, not leading. But maybe I can change that today.

“Well, I appreciate you two not taking me to task over it,” I say. Then I remember the other half of our little friend group and let out a groan. “Though I suspect Deb is going to have a field day.”

Ed hmm s in agreement.

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Loretta says with a chuckle. “She’s already at Starlight, ready for you with her tripod all set up.”

“What?” I squeak, practically bouncing out of my seat. “What is she doing there?”

“Oh, honey, just you wait and see.” She gives me an easy grin, like a person with their mind made up, who’s not worried about anything stopping them. “We’re all here to help you save the club, no matter what happens today.”