Chapter 37

Turning to Megan as she sits beside him, he asks, “When are we up next?”

“Court two at ten.” She hands over her program for him to look at while she opens her drink

The booklet’s already turned to the rankings page. The tournament bracket looks like an inverted pyramid—a row of numbers at the top of the page indicate the original teams playing in the event. The next level down has boxes filled with Megan’s meticulous handwriting; Colby scans the line until he finds their team number, and below that, Megan’s note about the time and place of their next match. His gaze trails along, looking for Van’s number. “You guys are in court four.”

From Van’s other side, Vallery stops slurping her drink to mutter, “That’s where we playedlasttime.”

Colby traces the lines that extend down beneath his team number. If they win the next round, and the next, and if Van wins, too…with a laugh, Colby says, “There’s a pretty good chance we might play against each other. If we both continue to advance.”