Page 20 of In a Pickle

“Shoot me now,” Will muttered. Then, to the table, he said, “Putting up with this guy all night calls for carbs. I’m gonna go order pizza. You guys want?”

“Oooh, oooh!” Zoe cried. “Mushroom truffle pizza for me, please. Extra truffle oil.”

Will shook his head. “You know that last time, they charged me $2 extra for one more tiny splash of truffle oil?”

“So?” Zoe shrugged. “You can afford it, Mr. Big-Shot Lawyer.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Anything for Her Majesty.”

Zoe batted her lashes. “You’re the best.”

“You two are insufferable,” James cut in, having arrived back at the table with their first round of trivia clues. “Will, I’ll come to the bar with you.” He leaned down to Liana. “Want anything?”

“That plain focaccia with olive oil and salt would be amazing. Thank you so much.” She pulled out her credit card, but James put his hand over hers and gave her a look.

“Don’t try that,” he said, low in her ear.

Liana watched him walk away toward the bar, and she couldn’t help staring for a moment at his legs, flexing calf muscles visible below the workout shorts he still wore. She still couldn’t quite get over the fact that this Greek god of a man was interested in her — and that he was going out of his way to accommodate her.

“He’s quite a catch,” Isaac said, startling Liana out of her reverie. Her cheeks flushed; no doubt Isaac had caught her staring after James. “And he’s super into you.”

“Really?” she asked hopefully, and then, “It’s still early. It’s our first date.”

“He hasn’t stopped talking about you since you first showed up to his class. It’s super annoying, really.” Isaac smiled. “But seriously, I don’t have to tell you that he’s truly an amazing guy. One of the good ones.”

“He is,” Liana agreed.

“And I suppose we’d better get the talk out of the way.”

“The talk?”

“Yeah, the obligatory one where I tell you that our boy has been through a lot in the past few years, between losing tennis, losing his nightmare of an ex, and never being good enough for his father. So don’t hurt him, yeah? If you fuck with him, you know,” he gestured to his friends, “you fuck with us.”

“I don’t plan on hurting him,” she said honestly. “But it’s still super early, and we’re just kind of seeing how this thing goes. We’re not official or anything.”

“Early or not, trust me when I tell you he wants to be official,” Isaac said. “That’s why I’m talking to you now. He’s already developed feelings for you, and if you don’t feel the same, it’s best that you stop now before things go further. James falls hard and fast, and once he chooses you as one of his people, he’s fiercely loyal and reluctant to let go. That’s why he let that thing with Mary Grace go on for so long, years longer than it should have.”

Liana’s mind was reeling. Sure, she liked James too, but this was still their first date. This conversation was a lot to digest, and Isaac was bringing up things James hadn’t opened up to her about yet.

After a moment, she said, “I’m not sure if this is serious or not. But I’ll do my best to be honest and communicative with him at every step.”

“That’s all I ask,” Isaac said. “Just be open and honest. He’s an open book. Wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s one of the things I respect about him the most.”

James and Will choose that moment to return to the table, and the conversation shifted to the first round of trivia, but Liana was still watching James closely, promising herself to be honest with James about her feelings. And that meant being honest with herself. Right now, she knew she already had feelings for this man. It was too early, but still, they were there, making her chest flutter every time he looked at her.

???

“That was epic,” said James as they got back into the car a couple of hours later. They’d placed second to a team called Lord of the Drinks, who clearly played trivia every week. Liana was proud of their team’s showing; they’d done particularly well on the 2000s pop music round and the “obscure” sports round — clearly, James not only about pickleball, but also about everything from bowling to cricket.

“I had so much fun,” Liana said. “How do you know so much about cricket?”

“My college roommate’s family was from Pakistan, and he watched it religiously, every game that Pakistan played. He bought some kind of world cricket TV package so he could watch the Indian league, too.” He paused. “That’s actually a big part of why I decided to stick with pickleball. The way my roommate was so passionate about cricket, even though the rest of our friends didn’t understand it — he taught me that it’s okay to be into a sport nobody else around you cares about.”

“I think that’s an admirable quality,” Liana said. “Liking what you like, and not being afraid to own it.”

“That’s funny you say that,” James said, “because I always thought that about you in high school. Mary Grace wasn’t the nicest to you — I’m not blind, and I regret not speaking up for you — but you just seemed to brush it off. And you didn’t care about being popular, or doing what the other kids liked —”

She scrunched her nose. “Yeah, yeah, I know I was a nerd in high school. Don’t remind me.”

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