Just finished Rogue Cowboy. SO good.
I smiled to myself. I loved an unexpected rave. Plus he’d finished insanely fast.
Thanks! But you said you had thoughts, which I’m sort of terrified to hear. FYI, the book is published so I can’t go back and change anything.
Of course. It’s no biggie. I figured since you’ve got writer’s block my idea might help with your WIP.
Adorable that he remembered the acronym.
Hell yes, I’m listening!
We can talk about it at our next session. It’s sort of out there.
I squinted at my phone. What could he be thinking?
Very intrigued. Can’t wait to hear.
See you soon. Remember your POSITIVE ATTITUDE.
I laughed softly.
“What?” Nia asked.
“Long story,” I answered with a shake of my head.
A long story that was becoming a page-turner.
Chapter Thirteen
“Dinking at the kitchen line,” I repeated back to Owen as we walked to our court. “Make it make sense.”
He chuckled. “I blame myself for taking so long to get to this part of the game because it’s a foundational skill. But then again, our lessons have been unorthodox so far.”
Yeah, the therapy session and forced jogging at the last one were definitely not what I’d expected when Meredith signed me up.
The first time I’d visited the Chelsea Pickleball Academy, I’d felt like everyone could tell I didn’t belong, as if my lack of skills hovered around me like a cartoon cloud. But being there off-hours, with just Owen and Marti, drained the friction from the place. I didn’t have to worry about witnesses; all I had to do was get better. Of course, that presented a different sort of stress, but after the last session, I was feeling slightly more hopeful.
Unfortunately, the hat was back, which meant I’d have to really stare at him to try to decipher how he was feeling. It was almost like the hat was an invisibility cloak to make him look less attractive.
Now that I’d seen him without it, I knew the truth.
“Not only is dinking a critical part of the game, it’s also Kai’sspecialty,” Owen said. “If you want to impress him, you need to master this aspect.”
As if I didn’t already have enough pressure. Owen bringing up Kai refocused me on my mission. Life at the ranch was idling while the clock wound down, meanwhile I couldn’t stop returning to Einar and Zandria.
“How’s your head?” he asked.
I forced myself not to say “no complaints so far,” and in the few seconds that I struggled to come up with a socially acceptable response that didn’t reference oral sex, Owen must’ve assumed I didn’t know what he meant.
“Are you feeling open and optimistic?” he asked.
I couldn’t admit to him that he’d burrowed into my brain and uncovered a repressed memory as efficiently as a therapist. I found myself revisiting my middle school memories on nights I couldn’t fall asleep and then dreaming about crowds of people laughing at me.
“I’m going to do my best,” I replied. “Don’t forget I’m trying to rewrite some old scripts.” I tapped my temple.
He nodded as he rolled the ball from one side of his paddle to the other like it was magnetized to the thing. “Yup, that’s exactly what you’re doing. But you’re aware of the ‘why’ now.”
“Thanks to you.”
