Eight months later, having survived her first Minnesota winter in years, Marla stowed her new equipment bag in her service wagon and joined Rex outside the condo building. “How did you talk me into this? I should be home working on my new video now that I’ve decided my point of view is ‘you can go home again.’”
“This is for your video. You said you’d beaten the life out of pie baking, preparing the perfect lasagna and how a Californian adjusts to a Minnesota winter. You wanted to do something new.”
“But this? I’m already researching biking and fishing in Minnesota.”
“Liz Parsons and the other three want to reassure us they bear no personal grudges against us for treating them as suspects during the Wallace case. Once you said yes, I couldn’t very well say no.”
“Yes, you could have, and they would’ve dismissed it as typical Rex Alcorn non-participation in sports, and then I could’ve ridden your coattails,” she replied.
“Look at it this way. You got to buy a new athletic outfit, an equipment bag complete with a beautiful new racket and a fancy water bottle. Plus, Kitty is beside herself that she didn’t get invited.”
“But I’m out of shape. I stayed with the treadmill routine through the winter but traded that in for walks I didn’t take once spring arrived.”
“This is just a lesson, not a match. And once today is over, you’ll have lots of notes for your video.”
They were still debating the pros and cons of this new adventure as they arrived at the Rambling Meadows pickleball court, where they were greeted by Liz, Tanner, Nell, Grace and Chloe. And Scottie?
“You came!” Liz said, bustling over to hug Marla.
“Of course,” Marla returned. “We couldn’t resist the opportunity to see you all again.”
The other five circled them, smiling with excitement.
“I won the bet!” Nell shouted.
“What bet?” Marla asked.
“That both of you would show up,” Chloe told them.
“My money was on you, Marla,” Liz crowed.
“Sorry, Marla. I was sure you’d find some reason not to be here,” Grace said.
“Congratulations, Nell,” Rex said. “Did the bet include our staying for the entire lesson, or can we leave now?”
Their six instructors stared back at them dumbfounded until Rex laughed. Heartier than usual.
“Before we get going, tell us how Essy Two is coming along,” Marla said to the group.
“Initially, we had some issues to iron out in order to establish Essy Two,” Grace said.
“Issues? You’re being kind, partner,” Chloe said. “When we began to talk about reinventing Essy, the only bond uniting us was the fact that my father and her lover had confessed to murdering her former partner and my boss. Neither one of us trusted the other. I thought she’d been his accomplice, and she thought the same of me.”
“They’re probably tired of hearing about Eloise’s case,” Grace said. “We’re here today for pickleball, so, Marla, all you two need to know is that eventually we realized we wanted the same thing, for Essy to emerge from the ashes. After I paid for Breck’s attorney, I reinvested what was left from selling it to Eloise.”
“At Tanner’s suggestion, we drew up a compact of understanding that outlined Grace’s responsibilities and mine and detailed the steps we had to take if we ever want to change those details,” Chloe said, beaming at Tanner.
“Grace goes back to dreaming up exciting possibilities for new or struggling enterprises, Chloe takes over the business end, I’m assistant to both, and Nell comes back to make sure we’re toeing the line financially,” Tanner said.
“And then there’s me,” Liz said, elbowing her way in front of the others. “I’m their great new idea, bringing in my investment expertise in return for their help with my start-up fashion business.”
“And your own investment of several thousand dollars,” Nell added, joining her.
“Don’t forget me,” Scottie said. “I’m their public relations specialist-in-training! Part-time for now, to see how I work out, but that’s exactly the arrangement I wanted. At my age, I’m a trainee!”
“Impressive,” Rex said. “Who’d have thought last fall the five of you would be working together and liking it?”
“We have you to thank for that,” Grace said.
“Because we believed your stories and didn’t accuse you of Eloise Wallace’s death?” Marla asked. They hadn’t heard much from any of the five since Brecken had pled guilty and been sentenced to life in prison.
“Well, yes, that,” Chloe said, “but more to the point, you suggested Grace and I consider pooling our knowledge and resources.”
Grace placed an arm around Chloe’s shoulder. “At first, it wasn’t easy. I blamed her, and she blamed me for Breck giving in to his fears that she would go over to the dark side if she continued to work with Eloise. He’s resigned to spending the rest of his life behind bars. He made me promise I’d look out for her.”
“I’ve visited him on occasion,” Chloe said. “We’re taking our time getting to know each other. He made me promise the same about Grace. Once we got to talking about how we’d help him survive in prison, your suggestion, Marla, that Grace and I revive the business came back to me. And here we are today.”
“Speaking of ‘here,’ what’s the deal about your being back on the pickleball court? None of you seemed to be enjoying the game from what I observed during my one-day stint as water woman,” Marla said. “Chloe, you weren’t even a member of the team then, and Scottie was the water girl, uh, hydration manager.”
The six exchanged collegial looks. “Should we tell her?” Nell asked the others.
“I thought it was our secret pact,” Tanner replied.
“But this is Marla,” Nell told him. “She was there that day, Eloise’s last day on the court. She deserves to hear what’s happened since.”
“I’m intrigued, guys. What has happened?” Marla asked.
One more shared group look before Nell spoke. “Like we said, those early days of getting Essy Two up and running weren’t the most amicable. We all came in with the same petty complaints about each other as before until one day Tanner had had too much. He called us all together, and after chewing us out in no uncertain terms, suggested we needed to find some activity away from the office to learn to work together.”
“Although he’s an excellent assistant, he showed great leadership potential in the way he pulled us together,” Grace said.
Rex’s face screwed up in confusion. “That’s great to hear, but where does pickleball come in?”
“Even though winter had already set in ferociously, Tanner found us an indoor court to play on,” Grace told them. “At first we just knocked a few balls over the net, but it didn’t take long for the four of us to get going. Before we knew it, we were not only enjoying ourselves, we were playing as a team.”
“I thought I’d be the fifth wheel until Scottie came on board,” Chloe added. “It looked for a while that it would be me against them again, until Tanner noticed. He stopped the game, gave me his racket and showed me how to serve and hit the ball.”
“You should have seen the transformation in her,” Tanner said proudly. “She was a natural.”
“He even bought me my own gear,” Chloe said.
“Which she really liked, once I exchanged the green racket for a blue one,” Tanner said kiddingly.
Chloe jostled him fondly. “And my shots improved radically once I had the right color.”
“Of course, once there were five of us, we had to figure out a way so that everyone got a turn,” Liz said. “Tanner, our budding executive, came up with a rotational scheme that allowed each of us to take a breath every so often. Quite the metaphor of our new work arrangement.”
“And when Scottie joined Essy Two a few months ago,” Liz said, “I paired up with her, which allowed Tanner and Chloe to play together.”
“No more water girl for us,” Grace said. “We’d all been bringing our own bottles anyway, so it made more sense to drop that idea and strengthen the team. Besides, the water person was Eloise’s idea.”
“We plan to give you each an introductory lesson as our way of thanking you for bringing us together,” Nell told them.
“Thanks,” Rex replied, “but that’s not really necessary. We just called it as we saw it.”
“But it’s good to catch up with you all,” Marla said.
“Same for me,” Rex added.
Tanner gave the other five some kind of high sign, because Grace, Liz, Nell and Scottie took off for a nearby bench, leaving Chloe and him there as their apparent instructors. He led Rex to the other side of the court. “Do you play tennis, my friend?” Marla heard him say before she got too far into her own lesson.
For someone who had just learned how to play not long before, Chloe was a skillful and patient instructor. As long as she didn’t have to move very far, Marla caught on quickly to the underhand serve and the forehand swing. Backhand would come with time and more practice, if she decided to continue.
The lessons lasted twenty minutes. Rex begged off when his back started acting up. Whether that was a real complaint or he took pity on her as she struggled to return the balls Chloe shot to her, Marla wasn’t sure. His back hadn’t given him any other trouble lately.
“Thanks, guys, that was a lot of fun,” Rex told the group that gathered around them as soon as it was clear the lessons were over.
“We appreciate how you went out of your way to share the experience with us,” Marla said.
They said their goodbyes and promised to check in with each other occasionally, and then Marla and Rex headed back to the condo building.
“Well?” she asked him once they were out of the others’ earshot. “What did you get from that?”
“Honestly? I still prefer golf. How about you?”
“Even though my legs and feet hardly moved, my arms and back will pay for it tomorrow.”
“In other words, neither of us is meant for pickleball,” he said.
Something made her pause and look back to the courts and their newfound friends. They had already started play. Tanner and Chloe sat on the bench, waiting for their turn.
“I don’t think they believed we’d fall in love with the game today,” she said. “And even though Chloe and Tanner were great instructors and the lessons were a nice touch, they invited us for another reason.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. Actually, they more or less told us what they wanted us to see, but today was to show us.”
“That Essy Two is doing fine?” he asked.
“That, but more. It’s doing fine because they are doing fine. Last fall they were six individual souls, each hurting in different ways because of Eloise. For better or worse, more for worse because it involved her murder, Eloise is no longer in their lives. In the aftermath, they have come together as a team to run a more productive, successful business. And they couldn’t be happier. But that team would never have gelled and gotten off the ground but for one thing.”
She gazed fondly back at the courts. “Pickleball.”