11 Cora
Date number two.
The most authentic part of this date was how excited Cora was for it. She genuinely felt giddy, which was not something she
usually felt. Generally, that kind of feeling was reserved for when she captured the most incredible photos or won a tournament.
But to be fair, tonight kind of was like winning, because she had the most perfect plan to tank her date.
Wait, no, that wasn’t right. She wasn’t tanking the date. That sounded a whole lot like sabotaging, which was against the rules. She was simply planning to use real-life
situations to prove that when the going got tough, Prince Charming was going to take off.
Were the situations she was planning slightly exaggerated? Maybe. But since they were in a little bit of a time crunch, concessions
had to be made. It was only reasonable.
Did she feel bad using Jax as a pawn? Absolutely not. Word on the street confirmed he had the reputation of being quite the
heartbreaker, so he clearly deserved whatever he had coming his way.
Her biggest regret was that she wouldn’t be the one doing the dumping. She thought the man could stand being on the receiving
end of a breakup. It might knock him down a peg. But since she was about to spend her day knocking him down a peg, having
him doing the dumping wouldn’t be a total loss.
Her plan was simple, really. She’d start off being totally self-consumed. She’d be late, make him wait, and put work ahead
of him.
Then, she’d flex on the pickleball court.
She’d been playing in a league for months to get a little exercise, a detail she hadn’t bothered to tell him when he invited her on the date. And she was good, something she rarely apologized for. She felt fairly confident she could beat him, and serving up a loss would no doubt bruise his ego.
Then, if all of that didn’t rattle him, she’d serve up a little family drama, too.
Let the games begin.
She pulled up to the pickleball courts fifteen minutes late, which was a lot harder to do than she’d thought it would be.
She’d had to drive around the block twice to kill some extra time. Where was all the traffic when she needed it?
Still, she could see him waiting on the court when she pulled up, so the first part of her goal was accomplished. For part
two, she needed her assistant.
Janna, who was not only her assistant but also a friend, picked up on the first ring.
“Why are you calling me? I thought we agreed that I’d handle things here, and you would take a much-needed break to spend
time with your sisters.”
“This isn’t about work. It’s actually a vacation thing...” Kind of, anyway. “But while I have you on the phone, how’s that
problem with the Lolly and Vine account?”
“Not that we’re talking about it because you’re on vacation and this isn’t your prearranged weekly check-in meeting, but you
were right. I made that one little change you suggested, and they were back to singing your praises.” Janna’s sparkly voice
sang out. “Now, what’s your vacation thing?”
“It’s a long story. Just act like we have a major problem and go with whatever I say.” She stepped out of her car and made
her way over to the courts where Jax was waiting.
“For the record, I like long stories,” Janna said.
Cora ignored her. There would be plenty of time to explain later, when her goal had already been accomplished.
As she neared the courts, Cora started her plan. “Seriously? Right now? He needs it right now?” She let out her best annoyed huff and checked her watch.
“Oh, is this the part where I tap into my junior high acting classes?” Janna cleared her throat and continued in a deadpan
voice. “Oh no. It’s a crisis. Please help.”
Cora kept most of her focus on Jax. She met his gaze from across the court and held up her brand-new pickleball paddle in
a wave.
He returned the gesture, and his charming smolder-grin spread across his face. He really was very attractive, which she found
equally delightful and annoying.
She motioned at her phone to show him she was in the middle of a very important—even if it was very fake—conversation. “Do
you have the original files from the last shoot? I can probably use one of those and edit it to make it work.”
“The files. Oh no. Where are the files?” Cora could almost see Janna rolling her eyes as she spoke in her robotic voice.
“You know what, I have my laptop here. I can pull it up and make the change.” She held up a finger to signal to Jax that she
needed a moment to deal with this very important crisis.
“You saved the day. Woo-hoo. I am so happy.”
“Not yet. But I will. Give me five minutes, and I’ll give you an update.”
“I’ll be on pins and needles until you do,” Janna said. “Oh, and Cora? Go enjoy a margarita on the beach like a normal person
on vacation.”
“I’ll take that into consideration.” She kept her gaze focused on Jax as she said it. Then she hung up and tucked her phone
into the pocket of her brand-new tennis skirt. “Sorry about that.”
“Let me guess. Work crisis?”
“It’s always something.” She gave a What-do-you-do? shrug just to sell it. “Anyway, I hate to do this, but I need a few minutes to handle something. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Not at all. Take your time. I’ll just be over here working on my dink shot.” He shot her a flirtatious grin that, she had to admit, was pretty alluring. He certainly had the charming act down.
She walked back to her car and pulled out her laptop bag. After powering up her computer, she checked her email, added a couple
things to her calendar, and looked up the status on the suitcase. For the record, the suitcase was now reportedly in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, which she supposed was closer than Maine. But since it wasn’t here and the estimated delivery date had been pushed
back again, she pulled up Amazon and ordered a few more things to hold her over. She probably could use her own moisturizer
instead of using up all of her sisters’.
After she checked out, she called Janna back. “Okay, thanks for your help,” she said as soon as Janna picked up.
“Anytime. It’s what I’m here for. But this better have a great story.”
“Don’t worry, it will. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go beat the pants off my date on the pickleball court.”
“There’s so much in that sentence we need to unpack.”
After Cora hung up, she tucked her laptop back into her bag and rejoined Jax on the court. “Sorry about that. Couldn’t be
helped.”
Jax walked toward her, his eyes sparkling. “It never can be.” He held up a pickleball. “You ready to take out some of that
work aggression?”
“I think the better question is: Are you ready for that?” She met his gaze with a playful challenging one of her own.
“Competitive. I like that.”
Yeah, she’d see about that. In her experience men—even ones who claimed they weren’t competitive—rarely liked to be beat by
a woman. Which was exactly what she planned on doing.
He headed to the other side of the court, and she took up her position.
“Do you want to warm up first?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve kept you waiting long enough. We can just jump right in.”
“You sure?”
She gave a decisive nod. Plus, she’d warmed up on her own before she got here, a little detail she kept to herself.
“In that case, ladies first.” He tossed her the ball.
She caught it and waited for him to get in position before she served.
As she waited, a couple of ladies who were walking in the park paused where the path passed by the fence and waved. Jax did
his whole charmer thing with a nod and a mini wave.
Then the ladies turned to Cora with more serious, wide-eyed expressions. “Run. Run now,” one of the ladies mouthed. The other nodded her head in agreement, giving a discreet point toward the exit before the path
curved and led them away from the courts.
Cora nodded her head in their direction. “More friends of yours?”
“I might’ve been the one in green’s date to the one in blue’s wedding.” He shrugged as if it were a minor detail.
She gave a you’re -ridiculous shake of her head. Then, she held up the ball, signaling that she was going to serve. “Zero-zero.”
When she served, he hit the ball back and she returned it, setting him up for an easy dink. Giving him an easy first win as
a mini ego stroke was all part of her plan.
He ran to the net and tried to tap the ball over, but his angle was off and the ball didn’t have enough height to make it
over the net. It rolled down the net and landed at his feet.
“Guess I didn’t give you enough time to work on that shot after all.” Maybe this win was going to be easier than she’d thought.
“Just wanted to make sure you got on the scoreboard.” He scooped up the ball and tossed it back to her.
“How sweet.” She held his gaze. “One-zero.”
She served again, putting a little more spin on it this time, just to give him a taste of what she was capable of. And after
she won that point, she served again. In fact, she picked up the next four points before he hit a shot into the far corner
with so much heat, there was no way she could get to it without superhero powers.
He flashed a playful smile. “Oops. Did that one get away from you?”
She shrugged and pulled another ball from her pocket and tossed it to him. “Can’t win ’em all.”
“My opponents tend to say that a lot.” His gaze met hers with the kind of look that gave her a fluttery feeling, which was annoying. So he had nice eyes. Big deal. It didn’t mean she was going to fall for him.
She returned her focus to the game, getting in her ready position. “Do you play a lot of pickleball in that dangerous job
of yours?”
“Someone has been doing their homework on me.” He served the ball.
His serve was fast and the ball had some impressive spin on it, but she didn’t have any problem returning it.
“It’s a small town. People talk,” she said, sailing the ball back over the net. Then she ran forward, ready to stop whatever
he sent back her way. There was no way she was going to let him have two victories in a row.