“Hey,” he said quickly. “Listen, there’s a, uh, a technicality with the lessons Meredith got for you. I never logged them as completed in the computer system, so it says you still have unused time with me.”
I stared out at the crowds passing by as I tried to make sense of why the Big Gripper didn’t have the authority to overwrite their computer system and mark my lessons as used. Hehadto be able to, and if not him, someone else on the team probably could. But if this was the angle he wanted to use so that we could keep going, I was down to play along.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, so I guess we need to finish them.”
“Okay, that’s great!” I fought the urge to do a little jig. “I mean, if you’re okay with it?”
“Sure. Yeah. You’ve got the tournament coming up, so it makes sense to get some more court time.”
He didn’t mention Kai, probably because he assumed it was already a done deal.
“Thursday morning?” I asked.
“Yup, that works. See you then.”
He disconnected right as Wes called me.
“Hey!” I answered brightly, feeling doubly happy.
“Heeeeeey.” He drew out the word, and I could tell in the single syllable that he was just as excited about his upcoming visit as I was. “Anything else you want me to bring you?”
“Hobnobs’ll do it. Thanks for remembering.”
“You’re letting me crash at your place. I didn’t want to come empty-handed.”
“I’m sort of shocked Mom and Dad didn’t cancel the race since you’re going to be here.”
“I told them not to,” Wes answered. “This is Dad’s first post-injury race, and I know he’s been working hard. I didn’t want to fuck with his mojo. Plus they get me Friday, Sunday, and Monday night.”
“So what do you want to do while you’re in the city?” I asked, already planning half a dozen excursions.
“Uh, first thing I want to do is see you dink, because I still don’t believe that you’re playing.”
I paused for a beat, because what seemed like a simple request complicated things in ways I didn’t feel like getting into on an international call.
“You want to playpickleball? Dude, your life is sports; why don’t we do something that doesn’t require sweating? You need to relax these last few weeks before the season kicks up.”
His laughter prevented him from responding for a few seconds. “Hold on, are you suggesting you’rethatgood? You actually think you’re going to wear me out?”
It was a new twist to our sibling rivalry, sporty competitiveness.
I straightened my back and raised up my chin as if he were standing in front of me. “Actually, yes. I am good.”
Because I had an amazing coach.
Havean amazing coach.
“Oh, this is gonna befun.” He chuckled. “I’m definitely packing my paddle.”
“That’ll take a couple of hours, so what else?”
“Hang out, eat good food, get your state of the union. I feel like I have no clue what’s going on in your life. I get the summaries from Mom, but I know you don’t tell her everything.”
As close as we were, the time difference and his busy schedule made it tough for us to keep up with each other. We texted memes and photos all the time, but they didn’t take the placeof a good sit-down. And Wes had always provided my guy perspective, which would come in handy if I decided to dive into the Owen situation with him.
“Well, my life isn’t nearly as exciting as yours. No hordes of adoring fans chanting my name on the regular. But I do have some stuff going on.”
