Owen shook his head like he couldn’t process what I was saying. “How?Do you even know him?”
“I don’t actually, and that’s where all of this comes in.” I gestured around us with my paddle. “I figured if I could get good at pickleball, it would be an easy in with him. A meet-cute. And once we’re hanging out, hello inspiration.”
A beat while Owen furrowed deeper and considered what I’d just revealed to him.
“So you’re only learning how to play pickleball to meet a guy you have a crush on? A stranger. And that’s going to fix your writer’s block?”
Yeah, it definitely sounded worse spoken out loud. My face went hot at getting called out by him.
“It’s hard to explain,” I said slowly, gathering the nerve to reveal myself. “Have you ever met someone, and you feel this immediatebamreaction to that person? It’s a connection you can’t explain, like everything around you is fuzzy and they’rethe only thing in focus. It doesn’t make sense, but all you want to do is stare at them. Be close to them. You’re intoxicated with the veryideaof that person. In book world, it’s called insta-love.”
Owen’s expression went even more skeptical.
“Hold on—you’re inlovewith Kai?”
“Oh no, not at all.” I laughed, hoping to dial down the strangeness of the conversation. “In this scenario, it’s more like insta-attraction, not love. Trust me, I’m not ready for anything heavier than that. Ever since my breakup, I’ve felt like my heart is in hibernation.”
Owen’s jaw flexed as he stared down at the paddle in his hand. “Got it.”
As awkward as it felt revealing myself to him, I pushed on to finish, hoping that I might be able to tidy up the mess I was making on court thirteen.
“When I ran into Kai, it was this, like, full-body-sparks kind of sensation. This indescribable pull to get to know him. Totally weird, I know.” I paused. “Has that ever happened to you?”
Owen flipped his paddle around a couple of times, still not looking at me. “Yeah. I’m familiar with the sensation.”
“Okay, then you get it,” I exclaimed, relieved that he understood the free-falling feeling. “It doesn’t make sense when you try to put it into words, but when it comes to the heart, what does?”
“Have you had an actual conversation with Kai?” He shuffled in place as he seemed to digest my strangeness.
I wrinkled my nose, feeling very called out. Somehow, Owen managed to zero in on fault lines in my fantasy.
“Sort of? You were there for the extent of both of them.”
“Do you want me to just introduce you to him? Might beeasier that way, since you don’t seem to be enjoying the lesson,” Owen said gruffly.
My face went hot, because I didn’t want him to feel bad about his instruction. Sure, I could tell that Owen was a little frustrated with me since I wasn’t the easiest student, but he’d kept finding ways to switch things up, to make the best of what little I had to offer skills-wise. He was a great teacher; it was the student side of the equation that was the problem.
“Oh my gosh, I hope I didn’t come across that way!” I replied quickly. “It’s not you; it’s me. I’m a mess when it comes to sports, as you’re well aware of by now.”
“No, I disagree.” Owen narrowed his eyes at me for a moment, and I felt even more exposed, because the guy seemed to notice everything. “You’re overthinking everything—that’syour problem. It’s not an abilities issue. Your head game is off.”
He was being way too kind.
“Oh, come on, it’s more than that.” I chuckled.
“So do you want me to just introduce you to Kai or not?”
Owen sounded peevish, like he now thought that I was wasting his time with my dating drama. Maybe I didn’t make it clear enough to him that my career was hinging on my heart status?
“I mean... yeah, that would be great. If we can do it in a way that’s not too obvious. Could we arrange a game this week? Like, you and me on one team and him and someone else on the other team?”
Owen threw back his head and let out a throaty laugh that didn’t sound at all joyful. “Yeah,no. Kai takes his game very seriously; he only plays with people who have a skill rating over 4.0.”
The number meant nothing to me so I pushed on.
“Okay, how about a casual, accidental hang here, then? Like, I could swing by when you have a lesson with him, and we could all grab smoothies afterward.”
“Sure, I could try to arrange that,” Owen said. “But he did tell me that he’s got no time for dating right now. His work is intense, plus he’s training for a tournament out west in the fall. He’s pretty focused on that.”
