Page 51 of The Pickleball Girl Finds Her Match

He leaped in the air for a chest bump with Sebastian. Paco stomped his feet and howled, “Aaah-roooooooooooooh!” And he and Sebastian tumbled into each other like young wolf pups.

Endy threw her head back and burst out laughing as Steven dropped his paddle in surrender. “Well done, boys,” he called out, raising a clenched fist.

“Aaah-roooooooooooooh!” howled Sebastian.

Endy’s heart squeezed in her chest. She had missed Sebastian. And while watching him, thought that perhaps she had made a huge mistake in breaking things off with him. Maybe she was overreacting to Sloane’s presence and misconstruing the situation with Barbara’s formal complaint.

If Barbara Tennyson was coming around to accepting pickleball due to her grandson Sebastian, then could the program at Whisper Hills be spared? Endy felt a glimmer of hope bubble through her veins. But when Endy looked over to the bench next to the court, her huge smile dropped from her face.

The bench was empty. Barbara Tennyson had taken her leave.

Endy’s shoulders sagged. She had thought that maybe by coming by to watch Sebastian play, Barbara would change her mind about pickleball. But she couldn’t have been more wrong.

It was obvious that Barbara Tennyson was at the pickleball court supporting Sebastian solely because she cared for him. And Sloane seemed to be at Whisper Hills Country Club for the same reason.

Endy rubbed her forehead and shook her head. In a competition against those two, Endy knew for certain she couldn’t win.

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Hidden by a dense screen of red bird of paradise shrubs surrounding her patio, Barbara continued watching the pickleball game being played on the court across from her home. When she had been sitting on the bench watching Sebastian play with the others, she’d felt so comfortable, so at home. She had spent many hours sitting on that same bench, except her memories were of Clive playing tennis on what everyone considered his own personal court.

When he had retired and left the tour, they had stayed in England to raise their children. Clive managed the money he had earned as a professional, and their investments allowed him to continue being involved in tennis, albeit from the sidelines. But his love of the game made it so that he still played every day, which kept him connected to his partners, and Barbara to their wives and families.

It was his hitting partner’s idea to attend the newly formed tournament in California at Indian Wells, so the four of them had booked a long stay in the desert. Barbara hadn’t been back to the United States since her parents had passed away, and she looked forward to spending time in the Golden State again.

Stepping off the plane at the Palm Springs airport, Barbara’s first impressions were of the blindingly bright sun and the air that immediately warmed her, fading the ever-present chill Barbara had felt for the past twenty years. She breathed deeply, savoring the dry, dusty smell perfumed with hints of sage and orange blossom.

“Clive,” she’d said, holding his arm. “I love it here.”

Clive surprised Barbara one day, driving her to the middle of a huge empty expanse of desert, just a couple of miles from Sunnylands, the Annenberg estate. They were met in this emptiness by a representative of the new country club that was to be built on the site, Whisper Hills.

Clive had held out a small, teal-colored box, wrapped with a white satin ribbon. “Darling, this is for you.”

Thrilled at the surprise, Barbara stood up on her toes and kissed Clive’s cheek. She pulled the ribbon loose and removed the lid from the box. Nestled inside was a Tiffany key ring.

“Clive? What …”

Clive leaned down and kissed Barbara’s forehead. “Welcome home, darling.”

The country club representative stepped forward and held out a bundle of large prints, rolled up. “Mrs. Tennyson, I’d like to congratulate you and your husband on being the first residents of Whisper Hills Country Club. You’re standing on the site of your future home.”

Clive smiled at his wife. “I’d heard that you love it here.”

Throughout their entire marriage, Clive had made sure to keep Barbara happy. She was the most important support for him while he played on the tennis tour, city after city, country after country. Barbara was always in his box, watching and encouraging him. Through those hectic years, their relationship stayed rock solid, they always depended on each other, and they remained very much in love.

When their grandson Sebastian was born, it was apparent that he would be a spitting image of Clive, and they were very close and involved grandparents. With Sebastian’s parents out of the country for months or years at a time, Barbara and Clive stepped in to fill that role in their grandson’s life. They spent all the holidays together, and they would often take Sebastian out of his classes and training at IMG so they could all attend the tennis grand slam events together. Sebastian had grown up on the grass courts of Wimbledon, the clay courts of Roland Garros, and the hard courts at the Australian Open.

But if truth be known, Barbara felt that all their travel and, of course, their age differences were a detriment to Sebastian. He had few long-lasting friendships, and tennis seemed to be his sole and only focus.

Until he injured his knee his junior year at UCLA.

After all the time it took to get him walking without pain, Sebastian had simply given up tennis. And from what Barbara could tell, he’d also given up any sense of purpose or thoughts of the future.

To Barbara, Sebastian seemed incredibly lost and untethered. She worried about him, so when he’d accepted her invitation to come visit for a while, she had a plan to lure him back onto Clive’s court and get him interested in competitive tennis again. She had to dosomething.

But then they had taken away Clive’s tennis court. And replaced it with pickleball.

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