“They called you a Clydesdale this time.” I laughed.
She looked up from where she was meal prepping in the kitchen. “Ouch. I think I like ‘roller derby reject’ better.”
“Should we respond?”
“Sure. I’ll make it look like I have a black eye, grab a crutch, then go down and knock on their door to apologize for being noisy using an Elizabethan orphan voice. Guarantee they’ll stop giving me crap.”
“Please. Have you ever been confrontational in your life?”
“No,” she admitted as she expertly trimmed a handful of green beans. “But maybe it’s time to start?”
“You know I’m a fan of the strategy.” I dropped my laptop bag on the futon and plopped down next to it.
“How was writing?” she asked.
“My first 7,562 words are now sitting in Piper’s inbox.” I pumped my fist half-heartedly.
Meredith frowned at me. “But I thought you needed to turn in—”
“Iknow, I know, but now I can bill them,” I interrupted her. “I did the best I could. She said as long as I hit my real deadline, we’ll be fine.”
“And how likely is that?”
She stopped chopping to stare at me.
“We both know what needs to fall in line in order for me to get my mojo back,” I said. “But I’m inching closer. Owen said I’m ‘exponentially better’ at every lesson.”
We’d had another since my second breakthrough session, and I finally felt it as well. My court confidence was getting stronger with every dink and volley.
“Don’t forget that Kai might be at the Hamptons party,” Meredith added. “So there’s a chance you could run into him there, make him fall in love with you, which,duh, and then all of the pickleball stuff will be unnecessary. You have enough knowledge now that you can talk about it like you really play. Perfect icebreaker.”
I stared at the ceiling, imagining how it would go down if I did manage to corner Kai in the Hamptons. How cheesy would it be to call him a “big dill” as my opener?
“Have you been getting intel about him from Bucket Hat?” Meredith asked.
“Owen,” I corrected. “Yeah, no, I haven’t. He keeps me working the whole session, and since we finish right as the club opens, it’s not like we have time to hang out and chat.”
Plus it would feel awkward pumping him for information about another client. When he mentioned Kai, it was always in passing, and to pause and ask something like, “Yeah, about Kai . . . Do you happen to know if he maintains positive relationships with his exes?” or “How does Kai treat the support staff here at the club? And does he have a good sense ofhumor?” would be awkward. We were busy enough during my lessons using every second trying to get me to the next level.
Oralevel, since I’d started in the basement.
“You still enjoying it?” Meredith asked, eyeing me with the tip of the knife planted in the cutting board.
“You think I’m going to say no, don’t you?”
She placed the trimmed beans in a glass storage container. “I mean, based on yourhistory...”
“Okay, okay.” I laughed. “Point taken. It might go against everything you know about me, but I’m really liking it. Once we figured out my weirdness, it was like everything changed. I’m nowhere near as naturally athletic as you and my family, but I’m not as bad as I assumed I’d be. At least not anymore.”
“He’s a really good coach if he was able to help you work through that,” Meredith said as she moved on to peeling boiled eggs. “Intuitive and observant. It’s what I try to do with my students. Find their blocks and help them move past them.”
“I didn’t even know Ihada block.”
“And that’s my point. Sometimes you need an outsider to help you see what’s right in front of your face.”
The fart odor of the eggs wafted over to me and I wrinkled my nose.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “I tried to make them when you weren’t home.”
