From the first time she picked up a softball bat, Kayla has loved team games of any stripe. Now in her mid-forties, though, she is starting to come to the bitter realization that like all good things, her involvement in team sports must come to an end one day, whether she’s ready or not. When her broomball teammates start making noises about this being their final season together, Kayla sets her sights on capturing the league championship. What better way to remind them of how much fun it can be to win? The prospect of snagging the league title seems brighter with the addition of a new player, Val, who Kayla would like to get to know better. That is, if her meddlesome ex Abby will stay out of the picture long enough. Will winning the championship be enough to bring Kayla’s teammates back for one more season? If not, what can she do about it?

Curtain Call

I shrugged. It wasn’t for me to make judgements on Val’s chosen lifestyle, or Judith’s, for that matter. I had other things to think about.


At the start of the broomball season, I’d worried that we wouldn’t be able to scrape up enough players to field a team. But in the interim since our first game, Debbie had talked a woman from the law office she worked at into joining up, and Dora’s sister grudgingly consented to come out of retirement for one more year. Our roster suddenly looked a whole lot healthier. And with Val’s skill set, I figured we actually had a chance to challenge for the league title this year.


Who knows, when they remembered how good winning felt, maybe my teammates would agree to play for one more season after this one.


And another, and another after that, I thought.


Don’t get carried away. One thing at a time.


Regardless, there was no way I was going to let Judith interfere with my good mood.   4


Chapter 4