Page 35 of In It to Win It

“Grandma’s here now,” Elizabeth tells Ava. “You have to come home.”

“Okay.” Ava bounces up and down, then hugs Taylor. “’Bye!” She waves at us all and takes off across the sand.

“Thanks for keeping her busy,” Elizabeth says to Taylor.

“Hey, no problem. See you later. ’Bye, Ava!” She turns to the rest of us and cocks her head. “One more game?”

“I’m done,” Lacey says. “I need a drink.”

“Me too.” Théo throws an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go have lemonade.”

I eye Taylor. Well, I’m not going up against her myself. She’d probably nail me in the face with that ball. “Sounds good.”

She shrugs and we all walk over the sand toward Théo’s place, where Lacey serves us glasses of cold lemonade and sets out a bowl of snack mix.

“I need to work out more,” Lacey says, sprawling out in a chair on the patio.

“I told you . . . come to yoga with me.” Taylor grins at her friend.

“Yoga’s not a workout,” I scoff.

She gives me a chilly look, but her tone is mild and polite. “Sure it is.”

“Phhht.”

“Have you ever done yoga?”

“I stretch all the time.”

“That’s not the same.”

Lacey’s eyes are ping-ponging back and forth between us.

“Lots of hockey players are doing yoga,” Théo says. “Some teams have hired their own yoga instructor. I’ve talked to Eddie about it. He says it’s good for hockey players.”

“Have you done it?” I ask him.

“No.” He shrugs. “I’m not playing, remember? But I’d try it.”

“You canalljoin me for paddleboard yoga,” Taylor says with a grin. “But then again, maybe you should try it on dry land first. Not that there’s anything wrong with falling in the water.”

“It can’t be that hard.” I narrow my eyes at her.

“Saturday morning. Ten o’clock at the marina.” She tosses her hair back. “I bet you can’t do it without falling in.”

A challenge. It’s on. Yoga’s not that hard and I have good balance. I play a demanding sport on blades that are a tenth of an inch thick. I mentally review our schedule, and we’re home next weekend. “Might have a practice,” I reply.

“Sure, sure.”

My jaw tightens.

“Maybe the next Saturday,” she adds, in a tone of voice that clearly indicates she thinks I’m making up excuses. Then she pulls out her phone and checks the time. “Oh hey, I better get going.”

“Right, you’ve got a date tonight.” Lacey stands, as does Taylor.

Date?

Is Martinez in town? I don’t know the Preds’ schedule. My back teeth grind even more.

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