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S ebastian limped to his car after coming out of his physical therapy session at the sports club, but his face lit up when he saw her walking across the parking lot.

Endy’s slender build moved gracefully—he couldn’t get enough of seeing her dark, shiny hair hanging across her shoulders and her long legs under her short tennis skirt.

But she looked distracted and seemed to be chewing at her thumbnail, so he moved silently behind her. When he got close enough, he grabbed her from behind and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

“Gah!” she screamed but swatted playfully at his arms when she realized it was him. “There you go again, being a strange man approaching someone in an empty parking lot.” She wrapped her arms around Sebastian’s neck and lifted her chin to look into his eyes.

Sebastian chuckled. “I’m not so strange.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she replied, laughing. “Kiss me so I can decide whether you are or not.”

Sebastian pulled Endy closer and pressed his warm lips against hers. He sucked at her lower lip as his hand traveled from her waist down her hip and tugged at her short skirt. “Here I go, being a strange man making moves on a gorgeous someone in an empty parking lot,” he whispered against her lips.

Endy leaned into Sebastian’s kiss then pulled back with a sigh. “Maybe not so very strange, but I’m still a little undecided. Could we take this back up later tonight? I can order a pizza, and we can watch a movie or something,” she offered, tilting her head and giving him a seductive wink.

He kissed her temple, then draped his arm across her shoulders, and she reached up, intertwining their fingers. Sebastian frowned and shifted his weight. “Damn, Endy, I wish you would have asked me earlier. I can’t tonight since I already have dinner plans.”

They headed toward Sebastian’s car, but he stopped short and dug his phone from his pocket as it buzzed with an incoming text. When he lifted the screen to read it, Endy saw the name SHORTY across the front.

“Plans?” Endy pulled away from Sebastian and asked, her voice guarded. “Are you going out to dinner with Sloane?”

“Well, yeah,” Sebastian said. “There’s a group of us, but yeah.”

Sebastian saw Endy’s face fall, and then she nodded and looked away. “Huh. Well, have a good time.”

“Sorry about tonight. It’s just that you haven’t been available after work,” he said, reaching for her hand. “So, I went ahead and—”

Instead of offering her hand, she crossed one arm to the other and rubbed up and down, as if to keep off the cold. “Don’t worry about it, Sebastian. I’m fine,” she replied with a small frown.

Sebastian squinted at her, pretty sure she was lying to him, especially when she reached her hand to her mouth and started gnawing at her thumbnail.

“Are you sure, Endy?”

“I’m sure. I wouldn’t be good company tonight anyway… . I have a lot on my mind.”

Sebastian studied her while an owl hooted above them, hiding among the jacaranda trees surrounding the dark parking lot. A Toyota truck passed by, and a girl’s thin arm waved out the window. “Hiiii, Ennnndddyyyy!”

Endy pulled out her phone and checked the time. “I gotta go,” she said, smoothing her skirt over her hips. “Picklers starts in a few minutes.”

Sebastian leaned close, lowered his head, and softly touched his lips to hers. “I’m sorry about tonight, but you’re needed for Picklers, and that’s way more important.” He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “You’re the pickleball girl.”

Endy tensed. Her eyebrows furrowed and she tilted her head as she stared at Sebastian. “What did you say?”

“That I’m sorry about tonight?”

“No, after that.” Endy frowned. “You called me pickleball girl.”

“And …?”

“Well, there’s only one person who calls me that … and she’s about to ruin my life,” said Endy.

“I’m not following. What are you even talking about?” asked Sebastian.

“The only person who calls me pickleball girl is Barbara Tennyson, and she—”

“Bibi?” asked Sebastian. “What’s up with you and my grandmother?”

Endy’s jaw dropped. “Your grandmother is Barbara Tennyson?”

“Uh, she was last time I checked,” replied Sebastian.

Endy’s shoulders slumped; she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. And then she said, “Fuck.”