Chapter 10
INDY COULDN’T HELP BUT MARVEL AT THE WAY THE CROWDS AT Heathrow Airport seemed to sense the same authority in Dom as his athletes did at OBX. They parted for him like the Red Sea, giving way to his long strides and laser-like focus on getting their group where they needed to be.
The click-clack of Caroline’s heels followed him, her shoulders back and head held high like she owned the world—or at least thought she did.
Indy had barely been able to look either of them in the eye after the office incident, and she wasn’t sure she ever would be able to get the image of them screwing on Dom’s desk out of her head.
Indy trailed a few feet behind Caroline, feeling Jasmine at her side and Jack hovering just behind her.
She always knew where he was, could feel his presence even without his touch—it still sent a little zing through her.
Of course, then she remembered why he wasn’t touching her, because they hadn’t told Penny yet, and the last thing they needed was for her to find out from some overzealous paparazzi stalking arrivals.
She sighed, glancing over her shoulder to where Teddy brought up the rear, practiced indifference across his face, gigantic headphones drowning out the buzz of the packed airport terminal.
There were two drivers standing with a slew of others, both holding signs that said OUTER BANKS TENNIS CLUB in big, bold letters.
“Mr. Kingston?” the first driver, tall, thin, and balding, with wisps of red hair on the sides, asked Dom. “Is this the whole party?”
“We’re all here.”
“Excellent. I’ll be driving Ms. Morneau and yourself to The Dorchester. Geoffrey will take the others to Mr. Russell’s home.”
Of course they were staying at the same hotel. Indy held back her urge to ask if they’d reserved one room or two.
The driver led them out to the curb, where two sleek black Mercedes SUVs were waiting.
The drivers were beginning to load their bags into the trunks when Dom’s phone started to beep almost simultaneously with Caroline’s.
Indy narrowed her eyes as her coach and her agent looked at each other, a silent conversation passing between them before Dom turned to his driver.
“Change of plans. Indy will be riding with us. We’ll drop her off at Alex’s and then continue on to the hotel. ”
“What? No, it’s fine,” Indy said, stepping toward the other car.
“You should come with us,” Caroline said softly, then looked over her shoulder at Jack. Indy turned toward him and watched as he considered but then nodded slowly.
“Go with them,” he whispered. “We’ll all fit in the cars easier.”
Jasmine was already in the car, and she stuck her head back out the door. “Are we going or not?”
Indy locked eyes with Dom, who held her gaze steadily, but then he looked away, a flush creeping up over his neck. How was he going to coach her when he could barely look at her? May as well try to make things a little less awkward. “All right. See you guys in a little bit.”
She slid into the back seat with Caroline while Dom sat up front with the driver, and they pulled away from the curb and set off toward the M4, which would take them into London.
“Look, if this is about what happened yesterday…” She trailed off, not wanting to say it.
Dom turned in the seat, looking back at her. “That’s not something you should have had to see and we are so sorry. It’s not—”
Indy cut him off. “No, it’s fine. I didn’t tell my dad and I’m not going to, so you can both relax.”
Caroline flushed a color somewhere between purple and red, exhaling through her nose. “This is not about us, Indiana. Do you wish to tell her, Dominic?”
“That text we just got, it was from the All England Club. You’ve been granted a wildcard.”
Indy stared at him, knowing what those words meant but not quite believing him.
“A wildcard to the Championships, Indiana. To Wimbledon,” Caroline said, patting her hand lightly.
“Congratulations,” the driver cut in over the deafening silence.
“Thank you. Wait, are you sure?” she asked Caroline, and then turned to Dom again.
“We’re sure,” Dom said.
“Oh my God, did you guys, like, call in a favor to keep me quiet? I already told you I didn’t say anything to my dad. If you two want to screw each other, that’s—”
Dom coughed, pounding on his own chest, and Caroline’s eyes widened in shock. “Indiana!”
“What? Like it didn’t cross your mind?” Indy said, rolling her eyes and leaning back against the seat. “You didn’t, did you?”
“No, of course not. One of their other wildcards withdrew,” Caroline insisted. “They saw you play in Bari and they want you in the main draw; you were next.”
“This is amazing. I can’t wait to tell everyone. Penny’s going to freak, and Jasmine, she’s going to…” Indy trailed off. Jasmine probably wouldn’t be all that excited about it.
“Indy, that’s why we wanted you to ride with us,” Dom said slowly. “Remember what we talked about in Paris—if you had qualified and advanced in the doubles tournament, you would have had a choice to make.”
“Oh shit. I… I can’t do both.”
“If you had a wildcard for the doubles, then maybe, but you two have to go through qualifying. You can’t exhaust yourself for three days trying to get into the doubles tournament and then go into your first singles match, where you’ll most certainly be playing against one of the top players in the world, completely spent.
It’s counterproductive,” Dom explained. “Jasmine has been around this game for a long time, Indy. She’ll understand. ”
“She’ll understand,” Indy repeated, running a hand through her hair. “She’ll understand that I’m dropping her, and she’ll hate me. I told her in Paris that I wouldn’t do that. I promised.”
“I can tell her for you, if you want,” Dom said gently. “Explain the situation to her, try to soften the blow a little bit.”
Indy glanced out the car window just as the scenery started to change from nondescript buildings into London’s outskirts, small groupings of houses and then more stately architecture.
Her stomach rolled a little from being on the left side of the road, feeling like she was seconds from a head-on collision.
“No. I’ll do it.”
She didn’t hesitate before she said it, and now that she had, there was no regret there.
She’d gotten a taste of what it felt like to win at the highest levels in Bari; she couldn’t let anything stand in her way now.
Not even a friend. Jasmine would have to find someone else to play with, and Indy would just have to hope she’d forgive her.
She could see flashes of the Thames as they edged into the city, then a sign that they were entering the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the streets lined with expensive shops and elegant townhouses.
There were some places in the US that tried to mimic the look that London had created over the centuries, but none of them quite measured up.
Then the car slowed and they turned onto Egerton Crescent, white houses with black wrought iron faux balconies lining the street.
A half hour ago, Indy couldn’t wait to arrive, to see Penny and Alex, stretch out and maybe grab something to eat with her friends in London, and now she didn’t want to get out of the car, even when trapped with the two people she’d walked in on just the day before.
The driver didn’t give her a choice. He opened the door and waited expectantly for her to get out, the others from the car ahead of them already on the sidewalk in front of Alex’s home.
Indy watched as the door flew open wide and Penny greeted them with a huge smile on her face.
She practically skipped down the steps toward them, no sign of her walking boot, but no sign of her limp either.
“Hey, girl,” Penny said, pulling Indy in for a hug. Her arms were smaller than her brother’s but comforting in their own way. Indy hadn’t realized just how much she’d started to rely on her.
“I missed you,” Indy whispered, and tightened her arms around her.
Penny pulled back a little, brow furrowed in concern. “You okay?”
Indy sniffed. “Yeah, can we talk in a little bit, though?” she said under her breath.
She needed to run all this by Penny. She was the only person who’d understand this feeling, stuck between what a normal person would do for a friend and what she had to do as a professional—that the sport had to come first, even over a promise.
“Of course,” she said, barely getting the words out before Jack came barreling across the sidewalk and lifted Penny up into a bear hug.
“Heard you were practicing yesterday,” he said, setting her down gently.
“Save the lecture for later, bro,” Teddy said, elbowing Jack out of the way and hugging his twin sister.
Jasmine stepped up to the group and Indy met her eye. They were both only children, just one of the many things they’d realized they had in common after they got over hating each other. Was Jasmine going to go back to hating her now?
“Hey, Jas,” Penny said once Teddy let her go. Jasmine smiled. “Come on in, everyone. Alex and Paolo have a practice session, but they’ll be back soon.”
Dom and Caroline hovered in the background for a second and Penny tilted her head. “Are you guys coming in?”
“No,” Dom said, “we’re going to head over and check into the hotel.”
“Yes, put our bags down, get settled,” Caroline finished for him.
Indy scoffed, and Dom shifted back and forth on his feet. Could they be any more obvious?
The cars pulled away and Penny led them up the stairs into the townhouse.
The front hall had a vaulted ceiling with a small iron chandelier hanging down above a wood floor polished to a high sheen, their reflections only blurred a little in the chestnut stain.
The walls were covered in a glossy white wainscoting.
Indy had a strange feeling wash over her seeing Penny in Alex’s house. It almost felt like she belonged there.
Teddy didn’t even look around; he just turned to Penny. “Where can I put my shit?”
Penny snorted. “Nice to see you, too,” she said. “Come on, your rooms are upstairs.”
She led Jack and Teddy to the first door at the top of the long stairwell and they disappeared into it, letting their suitcases drop by the door and falling into the two full beds in the guest room.
She then motioned for Indy and Jasmine to follow her farther down the hallway.
“This is you guys. I’m sorry you have to share. ”
“No problem, this is a lot better than a hotel,” Jasmine said, flopping back onto the first of two beds, covered in white fluffy comforters with large pillows at the head.
Indy stepped over the wood floors and onto the ivory area rug at the center of the room, then over to the bed on the opposite wall.
Would Jasmine still feel that way after she told her what was going to happen in the next few weeks—or rather what wasn’t going to happen?
That their journey toward the main doubles draw at Wimbledon was over before it had really begun?
“Don’t fall asleep,” Penny warned. “We have reservations for dinner in a couple of hours, and if you go to sleep now, you’ll mess your sleep pattern up for the entire time you’re here.”
Jasmine groaned and yanked her suitcase upright, unzipped it, and dug through it, finding a change of clothes and her bath things right at the top. “All right, I call first shower. Where’s the bathroom?”
Penny pointed out the door. “Second door on the left.”
Indy waited until she heard the bathroom door shut, the sound of the bathroom fan click on, and the water begin running before she turned to Penny, who was waiting patiently, sitting down at a white dressing table chair.
“I got a singles wildcard to Wimbledon,” she said quietly.
“Oh my God, Indy. That’s amazing. I don’t know why it took them so long, but of course, you should be playing. The draw’s not out for a few days still, but… oh…” Penny trailed off, glancing toward the closed bathroom door.
“Yeah, oh. Jasmine’s going to freak. Dom and Caroline were adamant about it. There’s no way I can do doubles quals.”
“You’re going to tell her tonight?”
“I have to. If I wait any longer, it’ll be like lying.”
A little voice in the back of her mind started to shout that she was keeping something from Penny as well, something huge, but it didn’t feel like the right moment.
Even though she’d promised herself she would tell her once they arrived.
Penny always put tennis first; she’d understand.
Besides, she and Jack had agreed that they’d tell her together, and right now he was unpacking in his room, maybe about to take a shower, getting ready for their night out.
Her mind drifted for a second, imagining rivulets of water sluicing over lean, tanned muscle, getting caught in dark curly chest hair, but she blinked the fantasy away, focusing on Penny.
“Makes sense,” Penny said. “I’d want to be told right away.”
“Yeah,” Indy agreed, the guilt beginning to gnaw at her gut.
“Hey,” Penny said, probably having read it on her face, “don’t let this bring you down completely, okay?
I know you guys just got on good terms, but you got a wildcard to Wimbledon, Indy.
That’s huge. You get the right draw, beat the right people, it could make your career.
Forget about everything else—you could be on tour full-time.
Some hurt feelings now are totally worth it. ”
“Are they?”
Penny shrugged. “For me it would be, but I’m not you.”
“No, you’re not. Ugh. This is gonna suck.”
“What’s gonna suck?” Jasmine asked, walking through the door in white shorts and a bright yellow camisole, a towel wrapped around her head to keep her wet hair off the pretty shirt.
Penny stood, looking back and forth between them before tilting her head toward Indy in a silent question: “Should I stay?” Indy shook her head just once, and Penny’s eyes flashed back to Jasmine for a brief moment before she said, “I’m just… I’m gonna go get ready.”
“What’s gonna suck?” Jasmine repeated.
“Why Dom and Caroline made me ride with them over here. They had some news.”
“Bad news? Is everything okay?”
The concern in her voice made Indy’s stomach twist. A lump formed in her throat and the muscles in her legs and arms tightened.
It was just how she used to feel before a big match, before Jasmine had come along and talked her through those issues.
And now she was dropping her. She swallowed back the nerves.
“Good news, mostly, but…” She trailed off. It was better to just put it out there, rip off the bandage. Here goes nothing, she thought, and opened her mouth to tell her.