The man is in my head. And I’m not as mad about it as I would’ve expected.
She leans across the table and lowers her voice. “If he gets you knocked up, you call me. I can help with whatever you need. My number’s right there on the sheet, and I’m here for you anytime. For anything. Understand?”
“Thank you, ma’am. Denise down the way has your shirt. And she slipped me pepper spray before we started in case he gets too forward.”
While she takes the hint and heads over to the T-shirt table, Duncan grabs his own hydration bottle from under the table and takes a long drink, then offers it to me.
“I have my own, thank you.”
He grins. “Don’t want to get pictured sharing drinks?”
“On the same day you’re front-page sports headline news for wearing a jersey with my name on it to a Fireballs game? Which revived theDaddiething? No.”
“Won’t do it again. But only because it was clearly bad luck for the team with that loss. I know you’re a superstitious lot.”
I lift my brows at him. “Who’ssuperstitious?”
“Afternoon, ma’am,” he says to the next woman in line. “You ready to sign up for some pickleball?”
“How likely are you to get hurt playing pickleball?” she asks him. She’s middle-aged, wearing an oversize T-shirt featuring the Pounders rugby team logo and leggings criss-crossed with a bright mishmash of all of the colors in the rainbow.
This question’s my domain. “There are inherent risks in any sport, but you can play at the level you’re comfortable, and we have protective gear available, like goggles and kneepads.”
“Is this league coed?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How many men have signed up who look like him?”
While my brain trips over itself trying to figure out that answer, Duncan steps in. “They’re all far more attractive than me, ma’am. But we don’t know who’s single and who’s in a relationship, so tread lightly as you hit on them, eh?”
Her cheeks turn into beets. “Oh, no, I can’t hit on them. I want to know if I’ll feel…out of place. With attractive people.”
“What’s your name?” Duncan asks her.
“Mary,” she stutters back.
“Mary, it’s nice to meet you. Now let me tell you a few things about Pickleball Club. The first rule of Pickleball Club is that you don’t let anyone make you feel like you don’t belong here. The second rule of Pickleball Club is that you don’t make anyone else feel like they don’t belong here. And the third rule of Pickleball Club is that you have to do your best to have fun. Think you can handle those?”
She shifts her weight back and forth. “My husband just left me for a twenty-two-year-old,” she whispers.
“Is he a Thrusters fan?”
“Yes, but he likes the Berger twins more than you. Only because he’s a complete twatwaffle and thinks genetics are more important than character. No offense to the Berger twins.”
Duncan whips out his phone, thumbs over the screen, and sets it upside down on the table. “Takes a lot to offend those two,” he says. “You signing up, or you want more information first?”
“What happens if I sign up but I get hurt and can’t play anymore?”
“You can come watch,” Duncan says.
“The league will try to get someone to fill your spot if you can’t find anyone,” I add.
“So there are spare players?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No spare players, but some people like to play more often and will happily step in if someone’s missing a partner, or if you’re playing singles and your opponent still wants to play.”
“Oh, good. Good. I don’t want to let anyone down if I can’t do this. But I want to do something fun. For me. I haven’t done something fun inyears.”
