Page 30 of The Pickleball Girl Finds Her Match

“So you’re not an expert?”

“Not by any means,” replied Endy. “I’m just an average player. There are plenty of club members who are way, way better than me. A couple have even considered playing on the pro tour.”

“There’s a pickleball pro tour?” Sebastian asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah,” she replied. “Tennis can’t have all the fun. I mean, maybe tennis has all the money, but they can’t have all the fun, too.”

“Is that why you like pickleball so much? The fun?”

“For sure. Well, that, plus the fact that it’s so quirky, so approachable.” Endy nodded as she spoke. “And so addictive. Someone once told me that they plan their vacations around playing pickleball.”

She selected another fry from the basket, popped it into her mouth, and chewed slowly.

“Gary Lombardi told me that after the first couple of lessons and clinics he did, he started playing both in the morning and again in the evening. And then he started carrying his paddle around the house, practicing his groundstrokes.” Endy giggled. “Drove Dean nuts.”

“Huh,” said Sebastian, rubbing his chin.

They continued to talk, mostly about things they enjoyed doing and movies and TV shows they’d watched recently. Sebastian was happy to hear they had shared tastes in movies, and Endy gave her opinion in between eating almost the whole basket of fries.

When the waiter came by and asked if they wanted more, Endy nodded enthusiastically and gave him two thumbs-up. When the basket arrived at their table, she barely waited a minute to let them cool before she started digging in again.

Watching her, Sebastian could barely contain his amusement, but he just sipped at his beer.

“Oh god, I’m so full,” Endy said, reaching into the basket again. Her eyes looked a little glazed over and she puffed out her cheeks. Sebastian smiled when he recognized it.

It was thelook.

Endy took a sip of wine from her glass, then reached into the basket for another fry.

Sebastian pulled the basket away from her. “Uh, you sure you really want another one?”

“Yeah, just one more,” Endy slowly said, her eyes glazing over. She selected a fry from the basket, her hand paused above the table.

Sebastian leaned halfway over the table and grabbed the fry with his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Then he leaned farther over the table, lifting out of his chair, and bent over Endy, smoothly kissing her.

“Have you had enough?” he asked.

Endy stared into his eyes and warmly smiled at him. “Of what?”

“What do you think?” answered Sebastian, with a lopsided grin.

“I think that they should be bottomless,” Endy replied, her eyes twinkling.

19

As usual, when Endy arrived at work the next morning, the first thing she did was look at the schedule. She noticed that she’d been booked for a lesson, but when she saw the members requesting the class, she grew puzzled. All three of the senior-aged ladies were very experienced players.

Endy set out at a jog and headed for the pickleball courts, her ponytail swishing behind her. When she arrived, she saw The Grands. Earlene, Nora, and Candi gathered at the net, each wearing huge grins.

“Did you all book me for a lesson?” she asked.

Nora giggled and nodded, her pure-white curls bobbing.

Feeling suspicious, Endy’s eyes shifted back and forth before joining them at the net. “Okay … I mean, what can I even teach you?” She looked from face to face to face. Earlene tilted her head mysteriously, and Candi just shrugged.

“Should we maybe move back to the baseline?” asked Endy, still puzzled.

“Or we can start at the net,” replied Candi, biting her lip to keep from smiling. “And you can teach us dinks.” She smoothed her spiky gray hair under her visor.

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