Chapter Six #3
As they dinked back and forth, Lulu thought about what he had said.
Tyler’s compliments had always come easily and honestly, and she allowed herself to believe that he might be right.
It was strange to her, the sense memory of the rhythm of playing with Tyler.
Like remembering the choreography to a dance they used to practice together.
She knew Tyler was taking it easy on her, telegraphing his shots, giving her a choice for placement, but she didn’t let herself care.
Swinging and hitting felt cathartic, and all their turbulent history melted as placing the green plastic ball became her solitary intent.
Lulu focused on her breathing, on centering herself.
On finding the right spot for a perfect return.
Her tennis slice worked, but only from the baseline.
The dinks, low arcs over the net, required a soft touch.
And managing a drop right over the net from the baseline with that little paddle? Hers kept flying into the net.
But with each point, Tyler paused to give Lulu direction, encouraging her to alter her swing or her stance.
“Slow it down. Loosen your grip and relax. Just like you did when we used to play tennis together,” he said, tapping at that reminiscence buried deep in her brain.
“Like you used to say…” A hint of a smile played across Tyler’s features. “A cool head makes for a smokin’ shot.”
“What are you so smiley about?” Lulu challenged.
“You’re good at this,” he said, matter-of-factly. “With your skills, you’re gonna be trading your racket for one of these for good.” He gestured to his paddle.
Her cheeks lifted. Despite the fact that he was an inappropriate option of a man with the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old, he still had the effect of stirring up the fizz in her seltzer.
“And if you’re lucky, I’ll sign it for you.”
Yep. Should’ve seen that coming.
Brushing aside her warring reactions to him, Lulu suddenly became aware of the quiet around her. She scanned the courts, but she and Tyler were the only ones from their group left. Had she been absorbed in their games for an hour? More?
Noticing, Tyler said, “They all left for lunch a while ago. You should go ahead.” He nodded toward the restaurant across the street. “I’m not really hungry, and anyhow, I have something I need to take care of.”
She eyed him. “Something to take care of?” She squinted, curious and suspicious all at once. “Like what?”
“I could tell you, but then you’d know all my secrets,” he kidded.
But his gaze intensified and he did not break eye contact with her.
“I still can’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head.
“You and me. On a court, together again.” And she stood there a moment, the pull of his charisma weighting her feet to the spot.
His phone buzzed, and starting, Tyler glanced down at it. “I gotta take this. I’ll see you in a bit,” he said to Lulu before turning from her.
“Olivia!” she heard him say as he strolled away. She could hear the smile in his voice.
In a hairsbreadth, she was brought back down to earth, remembering the picklepro’s true MO.
Not only married to Sapphire, but also latching onto Carmen at Blue Seas, and now this Olivia person.
An uncomfortable prickling spread across her skin.
He may have managed sixty minutes of putting her front and center out of some kind of obligation, but he was a player, and she should not let her balls get trapped in his attractive pickleball net.
When Ariana sauntered onto the court sporting a burgundy tank and a wrap skirt, the distraction was a relief.
“You’re still here?” Ariana asked. “Come get a bite to eat with me. And you gotta try this drink.” She offered Lulu a cup so big it could have been used as a bathtub for a toy poodle.
“It’s made from hibiscus flowers and sugar. ”
Lulu eyed the bright red jamaica juice and considered her white shorts. “I’ll pass on the juice. But yeah, let’s grab some lunch.”
Lulu and Ariana found a spot at an outdoor table and ordered rice and beans, tortillas, and fried plantains.
Other than the occasional cafeteria lunch with her teaching colleagues, it had been a long while since she enjoyed the luxury of having lunch with a friend at a restaurant.
Since Zoe’s birth, she’d found it difficult to find time between work and parenting to hang out with friends.
It sure was lovely to sit down face-to-face and have an uninterrupted, grown-up conversation. Adulting, she thought. Who knew?!
So instead of revolving around grilled cheese and nose-wiping, the conversation began with Ariana’s nostalgia for the Costa Rican countryside. “When I was little, I came here a lot to see my dad’s parents. My dad is Tico; that’s why I speak Spanish. That was…let’s see…three husbands ago.”
Lulu remembered Ariana quipping, “We like Bill,” and sensed that Ariana’s judgment might have played a part in her mom’s revolving marriages.
Ariana was funny and self-effacing and snarky, and Lulu enjoyed listening to her upbeat conversation.
“I know you said you wanted to practice your Spanish. I can help you out with that, if you want.”
“Yeah, sure. I’m not very good. The worst for me is getting words mixed up that sound alike. Like caballero and caballo. Or calabaza and cabeza.”
“Important words to know. Especially if you need to say anything about a gentleman on a horse with a pumpkin head.” Ariana scraped the last of her beans into a tortilla. “You just need to start speaking more. You’ll make mistakes, but it’s the only way to get better.”
Lulu took a breath in through her nose. Ariana was right, of course, but Lulu hated making mistakes. Still, she would give it a shot. “Gracias. Intentaré.”
“You tried. And you succeeded. See?” Ariana grinned. “But what I want to know is, what is the scoop with you and Tyler Demming? You two obviously have some history together.”
Lulu hesitated. “We were in high school together.” It had been a while since she had the chance to talk to someone about Tyler who didn’t already know the story. “We used to be kind of an item. A lot of years ago.”
“Uh. You do know he’s married, right?” And when Lulu gave a single nod, Ariana added, “Of course you know. Sapphire Roe.” The name rolled off Ariana’s tongue with wide-eyed admiration. “I like boys, but even I’d tap that paddle.”
Lulu laughed.
“So you didn’t expect him to be here?” Lulu shook her head and Ariana’s eyes widened. “That must have been a shock to the system.”
“Yeah. It was.” Here, Lulu paused, her fingers twirling her fork.
“I’ve had a couple of shocks to the system of late.
” In a rush, her precarious teaching situation flooded back to her, and she felt a roil in her belly.
At Lulu’s changed expression, Ariana cocked her head, listening.
“I think I might have lost my teaching job,” Lulu confessed.
Saying it aloud to someone outside her family circle felt like a leap into the abyss.
But Ariana’s features expressed neither surprise nor judgment, and Lulu felt a small relief in being able to unburden this load.
“I did something kind of stupid. I told all my students that their writing was a load of bullshit.” Ariana’s eyes bugged.
“Not on purpose. I…recorded it and sent it out to all my students. By accident.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah. Whoa. And now…well, honestly, I’m not even sure that teaching is what I want to do anymore.” There was a relief in having expressed her secret truth aloud after concealing it, even from herself, for the last year or so.
Absorbing this, Ariana nodded. “Maybe this is one of those ‘one door closes and another door opens’ kind of moments.”
It wasn’t the first time the idea of keeping her eye open for other options had rolled through Lulu’s brain.
In fact, when the road had straightened out on the long van ride, Lulu had, on a whim, checked out some job postings on her phone.
Not that she was looking in earnest. But it couldn’t hurt to put out some feelers while she waited for the school board’s verdict.
Ariana’s words echoed Lulu’s thoughts. “Why not shake things up when you can? Like when I heard Bill and my mom were headed to Costa Rica, I contacted the resort, and they said they’d pay for my whole trip if I documented it.
And then I contacted Tyler’s publicist and negotiated a cut of the promotional end for my footage, too.
” Ariana tilted her head and nodded. “Advocate for my own success, right? Go big or go home.”
Savvy, Lulu thought. A-plus business thinking. Ariana’s videos, like Tyler’s stunts, drew followers, and Lulu couldn’t help but admire how both of them had found a way to monetize doing what they loved.
With a glimpse at the time on her screen, Ariana startled.
“Oh wow. That was a long lunch. I better get back to the courts and do my job. Jobs, plural, actually! Gotta make the big bucks if you wanna spend the big bucks.” She smiled at Lulu.
“This was nice. Having lunch together. You ready to go, too?”
A sensation settled in Lulu’s chest, one that felt fresh and familiar all at once. Friendship. That’s what it was. It felt good to have the opportunity to build companionship, and she decided then and there to add “nurturing new friendships as a grown-up” to her New Lulu initiative.
They crossed the street, drawn by the tock-tock tones of pickleballs. As Lulu approached, she slowed to take in the scene. Tyler had been busy.