Page 23 of The Pickleball Girl Finds Her Match

Endy took a sip. “Very thoughtful of you, Sebastian.” She slid a glance at Joel, whose eyes were slightly darkened, and he was chewing the inside of his cheek.

A TV monitor on the opposite wall played highlights of the recent Australian Open tennis tournament. Watching the last point, Collin lifted his arms from under the table and pumped them in the air. “Oh my god, that shot was incredible,” he said.

Maria stared at Collin’s raised arms. Bandages wrapped him from the tips of his fingers to his elbows.

“Dude,” she exclaimed. “What in the hell happened to you?”

Collin clasped his pint glass with both of his wrapped hands and took a long sip of beer. “I was playing pickleball with my cousins and went running for the ball that they hit over the fence.” A roaring cheer came from across the bar where a sizable crowd was watching a live golf tournament being played.

Endy winced. “And that happened when you fell on the court?”

“No.” Collin rolled his eyes. “Actually, I tripped when I reached for the ball and fell into a bunch of cacti.”

“¡Ayyy!”Maria’s hands flew to her mouth. “One time I stepped on a pile of bougainvillea trimmings, and a two-inch thorn nailed my flip-flop to my foot.”

Collin laughed. “In the summers during college, I worked on a gardening crew to earn money for tuition. Stuff like that happened to us all the time.” He and Maria touched their glasses together in a kind of toast.

“I taught kids tennis lessons during my summers,” said Joel, sipping his beer. “Wasn’t cheap going to USC.”

Sebastian gave a wry smile and said, “Fight on, Joel.”

“Fuck you, Sebastian,” snapped Joel. “The only person at this table who didn’t have to help pay their own way through college is you. You’ve never had to pay for anything for yourself.” Joel downed the last of the beer in his glass. “You don’t even have a job right now.”

The table went quiet at Joel’s rant. Endy looked from Joel to Sebastian, then shot her arm up, signaling to their waitress to bring another round of drinks.

Sebastian twirled his empty glass in his hands. “You know that I had a full-ride tennis scholarship at UCLA,” he said quietly. “And now I live off the interest from my investments. I haven’t taken money from my parents since I was a kid.”

“Maybe not, but the rest of us at this table probably aren’t in line for their family inheritance,” scoffed Joel. He pushed away his empty glass without meeting Sebastian’s gaze.

Sebastian shot Joel an irritated glance. “What is this? Some kind of competition, like a weird trust fund contest?”

“No. But even if it were and you won, it’d only be by default.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

An uncomfortable silence descended on the booth, and each of them pretended to watch a game playing on the overhead televisions. Endy gnawed at her thumbnail, and Maria pulled out her phone and started scrolling.

The waitress arrived and placed a tray full of drinks on the table. “Everyone doing okay?” she asked.

“We are now,” replied Endy as she pushed a full glass of beer toward Joel. She looked around the table. “Anybody want to share a pizza?”

They put in their order for pizza, and then Endy and Maria excused themselves to go to the restroom.

Sitting in the stall next to Endy, Maria said, “Man, Joel really went there with Sebastian.”

“I know,” agreed Endy. “I mean, sometimes Joel can be a jerk, but I’ve never really seen him go after somebody like that.”

They both flushed and opened the stall doors at the same time. Grinning at each other, they went to wash their hands and studied their reflections in the mirror.

“That’s what I’m saying, Endy,” said Maria, fluffing up her glossy curls. “Joel still has a thing for you. He’s super jealous.”

“Joel has nothing to be jealous about,” Endy responded.

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Sebastian,” Maria said in a breathy voice.“Are you always so thoughtful, Sebastian? Like in bed, Sebastian?”

Endy burst out laughing and shoved Maria away from the sinks. She pulled open the restroom door and stepped out. “Two glasses of wine and you turn into a comic.”

Maria pulled Endy into a hug and kissed her cheek. “I’m funny when I drink wine. You don’t want to hear me when I drink tequila.”

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