Page 59 of The Pickleball Girl Finds Her Match

“You liked theideaof me … of me being a professional tennis player. But look at me now. I’m not even a hint of that idea.”

“Because you changed everything when you decided not to turn professional,” Sloane said as she folded her arms and sat back.

“I didn’t just up and decide to not turn pro,” snapped Sebastian. “I wasbroken—physically, mentally, emotionally.” He jumped up from the bench. “And you abandoned me.”

“Abandoned?” repeated Sloane, looking away. “That’s a bit melodramatic.”

Sebastian’s eyes flashed and he raked his fingers through his hair. “Oh my god, Sloane. You didn’t wantmethen. Just like you don’t wantmenow.”

“That’s not true.”

“It absolutely is true. And what else is true is that I don’t want to be with you either.” Sebastian let out a harsh breath. “You need to realize that nothing’s going to happen between us again.”

“But it can if we—”

“No, it can’t.And you’ve got to fucking stop calling and texting me.” Sebastian stood over Sloane, his shoulders tense.

Sloane bit her upper lip and cast her eyes down, her long lashes brushing the top of her cheeks. Her shoulders slumped, as if she’d wilted. “I know,” she said softly, her posturing dissolved.

She shook her head and covered her lips with her hand. A lone raven flew overhead, its large wings casting a shadow across them. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you, Sebastian. I did abandon you. With utterly no guilt on my part, I moved on. It was terrible.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m terrible.”

He lowered back onto the bench and, with his hand, gently turned her head so they were staring into each other’s eyes. “Hey, hey. You are not terrible,” he said in a low voice. “It was years ago.”

Sloane nodded and searched Sebastian’s face. “Do you ever think,” she started, “everything would have been different for us if you had been able to turn pro?”

Sebastian leaned back on the bench, shaking his head. “No. In fact, I’m just now realizing that I’m glad my knee got fucked up. I’m glad I didn’t turn professional. And I’m glad you broke up with me,” said Sebastian. “Even though it’s taken me a really long time, I can finally see what I do and don’t want.”

“You’re glad I broke up with you?” replied Sloane. “That’s kind of harsh.”

“You know what I mean,” Sebastian said. “But for the first time in a long, long while, there are things in my life that are really important to me.”

Sloane paused a moment before asking, “Is one of those important things Endy?”

“Yeah, it’s Endy,” replied Sebastian, a line etched between his brows. “But she broke up with me, and I don’t know what I can do about it.”

“Do you love her?” Sloane asked quietly.

“You know me,” Sebastian replied with a wistful smile. “What do you think?”

“Then do what you do best … win. Win her back,” Sloane said, grabbing Sebastian’s hands and clenching them tight. “Fight on,Sebastian.”

38

Endy could barely push open the door to her office, the floor in front of it was stacked with cases of Gatorade and boxes of bananas and huge canisters of trail mix.

“Help me,” came a plea from behind her desk. “Help …”

Endy stepped over the boxes on her floor, leaned on her desk, and peered over. Maria lay splayed out, Endy’s desk fan pointed at her face, blowing her curls away from her neck.

Endy smiled. “Did you carry all this up here yourself?”

Eyes closed, Maria nodded.

“And now you’re hot and exhausted, right?”

Maria nodded.

“And you want to go home early because you did all the shopping at Costco, then came back here and unloaded and carried it up all by yourself.”

---