Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
SAM
Ihadn’t planned to sit courtside. I knew the ecosystem of Naomi’s players box was delicate, and I wasn’t going to do anything to upset that. Especially when she was playing Lois. So I was fine watching it on my own in the players lounge.
But when the first set looked likely to go to a tiebreak, Wyatt texted and said if I could remain calm, then I might as well finish watching the match courtside.
It was a big invitation.
One that had the potential to ruin Naomi’s game.
I was already walking to the court before I was conscious that I’d made a decision. Deep down, I knew Wyatt wouldn’t tell me it was okay if he didn’t think it was.
I managed to sneak in at the change of ends, and Wyatt and Alisha smiled in greeting.
It was surprisingly difficult to remain neutral watching Naomi play. I didn’t know how they did it match after match. Especially when she was playing so brilliantly. I wanted to show my appreciation for every clean winner she hit or every serve she landed plum on the line.
Watching her this close up in game mode was also a completely different experience. There was an energy to her that didn’t come across on the screen or whenever we practised together. She was more locked in. Quicker. Stronger. More powerful.
I was pretty sure that was only possible because of the energy she was getting from this box. Which was cool and collected. Even when points got tight or things didn’t go her way, they were calm and left Naomi to it.
And when she went up a mini-break in the tiebreak, there was no stopping her.
Naomi was rocking side to side at a steady pace, still in her midnight blue dress, but her match braids had turned into a pile of curls high on her head.
She was on the bike, cooling down, when I unnecessarily entered the players gym.
But like when I found myself courtside earlier, my feet led me to the place I knew Naomi would be, without me really thinking much about it.
Her eyes locked with mine in the mirror, and I walked towards her.
“Hey, wasn’t expecting to see you out there,” she said once I’d reached the side.
“It wasn’t the plan, but Wyatt gave me the okay. Was it okay?” I asked nervously.
She smiled widely. “I had no issue with it. You didn’t change the vibe coming from my corner, so you’re good. It was nice.”
“I feel like one of them would have kicked me out if I messed up the energy. Although I don’t know how they do it, day in and day out. After almost every point, I felt like cheering.”
I was pretty sure I was going to have a bruise on my inner arm because every time I had the urge to say something, I’d pinched myself instead.
“Oh, they would’ve. So congrats on finding your game face. Although I guess it’s easy to find because you’re used to locking in, and it’s kind of the same thing. Just on the other side.”
“I think my problem is I don’t know how to unlock.”
“I don’t know about that. You’ve seemed almost relaxed since you got here. I’ve only noticed your shoulders being too tense a handful of times, and it was near constant in Washington,” she said casually.
I didn’t know what to make of Naomi paying that close attention to me. Maybe it was because her brain housed a lot of knowledge about the human body, and up until recently, it had been her job to try to fix problems in the body, so she just noticed those kinds of things without noticing.
But maybe it meant something else.
While recovering, alone in a hotel room in Vancouver, I had a lot of time to think.
Not just about the fact that I’d fired my dad and left myself flying solo in the busiest part of the tour.
But about the state of the rest of my life.
After popping the small bubble I’d been living in, it was like I started seeing in colour again.
Things I’d hardly noticed suddenly came into focus.
At two a.m., when sleep was alluding me because all I’d done was rest, I’d re-read my messages with Naomi, and it felt like some of them felt distinctly flirty. And more than that, at times, it seemed like I was flirting back.
By four a.m. the same morning, I’d managed to talk myself out of that idea because, realistically, there was no way someone like Naomi would be flirting with someone whose entire personality was his job. She was just being nice, and I was reading too much into everything.
Naomi’s phone lit up on the handlebars, and further proof that my dehydrated body was making shit up appeared before my eyes.
A photo of a young Naomi and a blond guy looking just as young, the name Isaac over the top. Seemingly one of the few people who were able to talk to her when she was in her match-day bubble, and that in itself spoke volumes.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” I said as she reached forward to answer the call.
“See you soon,” she said to me before turning her attention to her phone. “Your insistence on phone calls over texts needs to…”
As I walked away from Naomi, I made a conscious effort to keep my shoulders away from my ears.