Page 21 of The Pickleball Girl Finds Her Match

“No, never! You’ll always be my bestie, Endy. But I worry that if something happens to one of us, the other will be left … alone.”

“What could possibly happen to one of us?”

“I don’t know. I’m just saying that I want us to find more friends who don’t work at the pro shop or who are, like, either ten or seventy years old.”

Endy chuckled. Maria was right. They didn’t really have any friends their age. And spending their days working at the racquet pro shop or with Picklers hadn’t helped that. The idea of staying in Palm Springs was appealing to Endy, so if they were going to break their two-year pattern, then they really should find more friends.

“Okay, I agree, it’s a good idea,” Endy replied as she dipped her spoon in her carton and scooped out the last bite. “Let’s make new friends.”

13

The next afternoon, after they’d worked hard to restock the shop, sweep off the patio, and arrange match play, Endy and Maria stood at the front desk looking over the next day’s schedule. Joel walked past them holding a tennis racquet. He stopped and turned back to Endy and looked at her from beneath his eyebrows.

“Sebastian Hall and I are going to the Stout House this Friday,” he said. “He wanted me to invite you guys to meet up with us.”

“Did he?” Endy smiled.

“Yeah,” replied Joel. He studied Endy. “I didn’t know you knew him.”

“I don’t, really. I mean, we had some wine and talked …”

“… the other night,” finished Joel.

Endy’s eyes narrowed, and she frowned. “How do you know about the other night?”

“I saw you get into his golf cart after you got off work. Seems to me that you guys were pretty chummy.”

“Seems to me that it’s none of your business.” Endy again had the sense that Joel was jealous, which kind of baffled her. They had dated briefly when she had first moved to Palm Springs. He was certainly more than attractive enough in that jock-ish way with hair that is messy but not too messy, strong shoulders, and six-pack abs. Joel was confident and cocky, so girls were drawn to him, and he never went long without some girlfriend pining over him.

Endy and Joel were super comfortable around each other. While workplace romances tended to happen everywhere, Endy hadn’t felt a special spark with him, so their relationship was over within a few months. She had broken it off, telling him that it was uncomfortable for her to be dating someone who was her boss.

Joel hadn’t wanted to call it off, but Endy said she wanted to keep things professional, so he’d reluctantly agreed. Very reluctantly.

She thought about Joel’s earlier behavior when she’d brought Sebastian the ice for his twisted knee. Was Joel jealous? And is that why he had shoved himself between her and Sebastian when she’d tried to help him to the bench? But the idea of Joel being jealous was ridiculous … Endy barely knew Sebastian.

Except, when Endy had brought Sebastian to his car, she’d noticed a blue and gold bumper sticker with a brown bear—a UCLA bruin. Sebastian had mentioned that he knew Joel from when they played college tennis. And Endy knew that Joel had gone to the University of Southern California. In fact, pretty much everyone knew Joel had gone to USC since his saying of choice was a smug “Fight on.”

From what Endy had seen over the past few days, just like their college rivalry, Sebastian and Joel were well matched … and extremely competitive.

Joel was quiet as he walked to the stringing machine and placed the tennis racquet on top. Finally, with a surly glance at Endy, he said, “You know, Sebastian is messed up.”

Endy returned his glance. “Yeah, he said something about how he keeps reinjuring his knee.”

“Not like that, Endy,” said Joel. “Well, yeah, that too, sure. But what I mean is that he has a reputation as being a quitter.”

Endy’s eyebrows drew together, and she looked at Maria, who just shrugged.

“When we played against each other, Sebastian was literally the best in Pac-12 tennis,” continued Joel. “His college career was the stuff of legends. When he played for UCLA, he helped them win three straight NCAA Team Championships, and hell, he himself won a couple of NCAA Singles Championships.”

Maria moved from behind the front counter. “Doesn’t sound messed up to me.”

“It’s what happened after all that. Everyone thought that Sebastian would turn professional.Everyonesaid it—he was that good. But during one match, I think it was at the end of his junior year, he was playing against Ivan Kovacic—”

“Wait, the Ivan Kovacic who just made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open?” asked Maria, her eyebrows raised. Joel nodded.

“So Sebastian was actually winning against Kovacic. He had won the first set pretty convincingly but was down a break in the second set.” Joel leaned his arms against the stringing machine. “Kovacic served this bomb out wide, and Sebastian lunged to get to it. But instead, his knee twisted and bent back under him, completely the wrong way.” Joel’s torso shook as he visibly shivered. “We were all there watching. Even now just remembering it and what it looked like makes me feel like throwing up.”

Endy approached Joel, her eyes full of concern. “Okay, but you said he wasn’t messed up because of his knee. And yet …”

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