He introduced me to Walter, the man who had to leave, as well as Danny in a visor and Bruce wearing wrist sweatbands that he actually used.
“So how long you been playing?” Danny asked.
“Not long enough to be as good as all of you,” I marveled.
“Just wait until you hit eighty-five like me,” Bruce said. “Thenyou’ll be a master.”
I shook my head in disbelief. Not only did he look twinkly-eyed and spry, he moved like someone twenty years younger. “Hold on... you’re eighty-five?”
“Don’t be so impressed,” Danny said as he stepped in front of Bruce. He pointed at his chest. “Eighty-seven.”
“And I’m the baby of the group,” Walter added as he packed his bag on the sideline. “Seventy-seven.”
“Okay, wow. I guess motion is the lotion.” I was awestruck as I glanced between them.
“That’s it,” Howard agreed after polishing off half a water bottle. “Never stop moving. Never stop challenging yourself. It won’t be as easy when your bones get old like ours, but you’ll have a great foundation, and you’ll be way ahead of all of your creaky, old friends.”
I’d never considered how my anti-sport sentiment could have had negative long-term health implications.
“I’m off, fellas,” Walter said with a salute. He turned to me. “Give ’em hell, Brooke.”
If only. Bruce and I got our asses handed to us in the first game, and as we kept switching up the teams with each consecutive game, I discovered that my hunch had been right; Howard was the ringer of the group.
We finished up as the sun started creeping onto our court, then congregated by the fence to rehash and trash-talk.
“Did you ever play tennis?” Danny asked me.
I shook my head. “I’ve never been an athlete. This is all new to me.”
“Now that’s surprising,” Bruce said with an approving nod. “You said you haven’t been playing long but you’re a natural. Killer backhand.”
I grinned at the compliment.
“She has acoach,” Howard said, leaning closer to the group. “I certainly don’t want to take away from your natural abilities, but consistent coaching makes a difference.”
My heart dropped a little at the reference to Owen.
“And speaking of your coach,” Howard continued. “Now I know why he looked so familiar when I met him. Dimoveo.”
I frowned at him. “Not sure what that is?”
“It’s a money transfer thingy, a... uh...” Bruce waved his hands as he tried to come up with the missing word. “What do you call them?”
“Apps,” Howard said knowingly.
“Right, it’s an app. Started by two guys in college. One of them was from India and the money transfer fees were killing him, so he and his roommate came up with the idea. They developed it and got bought out.Verylucrative deal.”
It was unexpected intel.
I locked onto Howard. “So did Owen work for that company?”
He laughed good-naturedly. “Work for? No, he’s one of thefounders. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.”
I tried not to go bug-eyed at the reveal.
I wasn’t surprised Owen hadn’t told me, because getting backstory out of him was all but impossible. Suddenly his beautiful home and worldwide hobby-testing made sense.
And his job as a pickleball instructor.
