Page 48 of Betting on the Best Friend
When Ruby does something right—volleys or jumps out of the way to let Alton do the work, he praises her and gives her a high five or a fist bump. When she has to hustle and stretch to return a hit, he grabs her and swings her around before setting her down.
“Great job, Ruby.” His hands linger on her waist, and my fist tightens around my paddle. He calls over, “Ready to keep score?”
“Ready,” Sydney answers, her voice cheerful.
Alton holds up his paddle in front of his free hand. “Choose a one or two.”
Sydney guesses, “One.” She’s correct and she chooses to serve. Alton picks which side he wants to start, and we get situated.
Sydney serves cross court to Ruby. Ruby runs forward and volleys it back.
“No,” Alton says. “No, you can’t do that.”
I hit it back and when Alton lets it go past without moving, we all stop.
“Double bounce rule.” He points his paddle at Ruby. “You have to let it bounce once on your side after a serve before you can hit it.”
“Oh, right. I forgot.”
“Me too,” Sydney says. “Do over?”
Ruby and I agree. Alton doesn’t say anything, but he pulls another ball from his shorts pocket and tosses it to Sydney. We all reset, and Sydney delivers another decent serve. This time, Ruby lets it bounce, but she hits it too hard, and it lands way past our baseline.
“Sorry.” Ruby flexes her biceps. “Small but mighty.”
Alton shakes his head.
Sydney and I switch boxes, and she serves again, this time to Alton. He returns it, and the ball whizzes past to bounce behind me before going out.
“Yes.” Alton gives a fist pump.
Congrats on getting a point on a guy who hasn’t played before, I guess?
Sydney runs over to give me a quick hug. “I still respect you.” Then she whispers, “Pat my butt.”
I’m not about to make that move unless I’msureI heard her, but she looks over her shoulder and winks.
“Your serve,” Alton tells Ruby.
She hits it underhand like Alton showed us in the warmup. With a light thwack, it sails over the net to land in an area called the kitchen.
“Whoops,” Ruby laughs.
“Stay out of the kitchen,” Alton says. His tone isn’t mean, but it’s not light.
“So progressive of you,” Ruby jokes, and it makes Sydney and me laugh.
Alton positions himself to serve. Ruby takes a more active stance near the kitchen, and he shakes his head. “No, at the baseline, Ruby.”
“Right, the baseline.” Her tone is bright, but I hear a faint brittleness at its edges. She moves up to the front of her box, and I try to catch her eye, but she keeps hers on the net.
Alton serves, Sydney returns it, and though it’s squarely in Ruby’s box, Alton lunges over to hit it back, sending it to land in my box right inside the baseline again before it bounces out.
He does his fist pump, and Sydney runs over again to hug me, whispering again, “I mean it. Slap my butt.”
This time when she turns away, I give her a booty pat, and she tosses me a look over her shoulder, does a shimmy, and jogs back to her spot.
I sneak a glance at Ruby. She’s watching, and she smiles and gives me a thumbs up.
