Page 28 of The Pickleball Girl Finds Her Match

“I didn’t retire,” sniffed Steven. “I merely cut back my hours.”

The dozens of pickleballers continued playing in rotation. During their brief pauses in between matches, they’d gather at the tables under the awning, guzzling water and sipping beer, wine, or hard seltzers. Louder even than the booming music, their joyful laughter echoed across the country club grounds.

George Jacobs held a red plastic cup in the air. “Pickleball is life!” he crowed, which drew whistles and claps from the crowd.

Endy’s phone chimed loudly, vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out and clicked off the alarm. It was ten o’clock and time to shut down the festivities.

Making her way to the picnic table, she turned off the music, which drew a loud protest from the crowd.

“Sorry everyone, the bar’s closing!” she yelled out.

“Booooo,” replied the pickleballers still on the courts. Yet they put down their paddles and ceased play. They were homeowners as well and knew the HOA rules, so they moved from the courts without fuss, laughing and singing.

The pickleball players gathered crushed cups and cans, empty chip bags and banana peels, and deposited it all into the trash cans at the edge of the courts. An older couple coaxed their small pug from underneath a camp chair. The dog blinked drowsily and wheezed a few times as it got to its feet.

When finally the area was cleared, the last pickleballers headed home in their golf carts or walked away down the middle of the deserted street. Endy surveyed the space. It was clean and ready for another day of play tomorrow. She clicked off the massive overhead lights and darkness wrapped around her.

After such a busy and fun-filled evening, Endy realized that she wasn’t quite ready to head home yet. She cracked open a hard seltzer that Steven had left for her, thehissssssharp in the surrounding quiet, and walked to the grass tennis courts. A sliver of moon glowed directly above her, bright stars blinked, and the warm desert breeze lifted strands of her hair.

She sat down in the middle of the grass and sipped at her drink. The evening had been a blast and a wild success. And yet there were those rumors about some people wanting to get rid of the pickleball program entirely. Endy shook her head. Why would anyone want to shut down something that brought so many people joy?

She set the can next to her and stretched out on her back just as a shooting star streaked by overhead. Endy remembered when she’d last seen a shooting star. It was a couple of years ago, on their San Francisco rooftop with Maria. And now look where they were after her wish had actually come true.

Closing her eyes, Endy made another wish, different from the last, but still really, really hoping that this wish might come to fruition too.

Settling into the grass carpet, Endy stilled as she listened to the desert around her, the sounds so familiar. The low rumble of a semitruck slowing on the I-10 headed east. The yelps and howls of coyotes hunting throughout the many acres of the country club. The cough of someone behind her … Endy’s eyes widened, and she tensed, ready to jump up and flee.

“Hey, hey. It’s just me. Sorry if I scared you,” came a soft, low voice from the shadows. And then he came out of the dark, appearing next to her.

Sebastian.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, his voice like velvet. He stepped closer, then looked down at Endy.

A cloud crossed in front of the moon so Endy knew Sebastian couldn’t see her blushing in the momentary darkness. “Not at all,” she replied. Smiling, she propped herself up on one elbow.

Sebastian gracefully lowered himself onto the grass. She could sense him smiling back at her.

“Sip?” she asked, offering the can to Sebastian. He took it from her, and a jolt of electricity flowed down her arm as his hand brushed against hers.

“I’m not being a creep and stalking or following you,” he said after taking a drink. “I was out taking a walk because my knee was starting to feel tight. And I noticed you here.”

“Not creepy at all to have a strange man approach me in an empty lot in the dark of night.” Endy chuckled.

“True,” Sebastian replied with a snort.

“So how’s your knee doing?”

“It’s better, should be back to a hundred percent in a couple more days.” The cloud covering the moon moved on so Endy could see how Sebastian looked at her, a slight smile on his full lips.

“Maybe in the meantime, you and I could go do something again that doesn’t require a knee that’s only at ninety percent,” he said. “Like would you want to go to dinner?”

Endy’s heart seemed to stop. Was Sebastian Hall asking her out?

“You want to …” she started to say. But then she could only just stare at his light eyes, more gray than blue in the darkness of night, and that tousled dark brown hair resting against his chiseled cheekbones.

“I mean, we don’t have to do dinner,” he said, looking away. “We could just go for another ride around the club in the golf cart or something. I don’t want to—”

“Sebastian …” Endy softened, her eyes bright. “Yes, I do want to. Whatever it is, the answer is yes.”

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