Chapter 19
It wasn’t even Wimbledon.
It was Crystal Palace.
Indy couldn’t help the sinking feeling that she’d come down in the world. That she’d gotten a little taste of what this whole pro tennis thing really was before having it ripped away from her.
No stands lining the sides or crowd that paid for tickets for her particular match.
There wasn’t a PA announcer or video replay or a security guard walking her from the locker room to the court and back again.
And the woman across from her, Zhang Li, though athletic and very good, definitely wasn’t Penny Harrison.
She was an up-and-coming Chinese player, but while her game was solid, she didn’t have any weapons that made her a tough match for Indy, not after facing a player of Penny’s caliber.
“Time,” the chair umpire said, and Indy rose from her seat on the sideline and headed back out to the baseline.
It was Indy’s serve, and apart from one game where her location had let her down and she’d double-faulted her way to a break, Zhang Li hadn’t been able to put together any sort of defense against Indy’s own major weapon.
“Here we go, Indiana,” a voice bellowed from the crowd, and she let her eyes flicker, just for a second, to Jack.
Of course he showed up. The King of Mixed Signals, forever and always.
He couldn’t conjure a single word for her the other day while she made a complete fool out of herself, but he was still here to cheer her on, support her.
She needed to talk to him one last time.
She was done with the hot-and-cold bullshit.
They needed to talk, but first she had to get through Zhang Li.
The match only took an hour. Indy won two sets to love, 6–2, 6–0. Emerging from the locker room, showered and dressed, she saw Dom waiting for her, a large smile on his face as he pushed off the ivy-covered wall. Her mood soured.
“Beautiful job out there today,” he said.
“Thanks.” She didn’t really want to talk to him. She’d done a damn good job of avoiding him since they’d arrived in London, and anything he said now would just ruin the good mood her win had put her in.
“The tour is fining you for your outburst at the press conference,” he said with a frown.
“I figured,” she said. “It was inappropriate.”
“It was, but you don’t exactly have the market cornered on inappropriate lately. I’m sorry I let you down.”
Indy’s eyes flashed to his. Maybe she’d let him have his say. “Go on.”
“I want you to know that what you saw in my office,” he said with a sigh, “that’s over, and I know it probably doesn’t mean much now, but I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t tell my dad,” she said.
Dom rubbed a hand across his face. “Thank you for that. She really loves him, you know?”
“I don’t really care,” she said. “I was… You’re my coach and you believe in me, maybe more than anyone else has since my mom died, and I can’t… I don’t care what you do or who you do or whatever, Dom. I just need you to be my coach.”
“I can do that and one better—I’ll pay your fine myself. If I had been the coach I’m supposed to be, that never would have happened.”
“Thanks.”
That was incredibly generous of him, especially since she definitely didn’t have the money to pay for it herself.
“So, we’re good?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Great, otherwise this would have been really awkward. We’re all going out to celebrate, on me.”
She winced. “Define ‘all’?”
Jack and Alex weren’t having any trouble keeping the conversation going between them.
English and American football, a little tennis, a little business, some TV show about British gangsters that they both loved—the words flowed like they were old friends, Dom joined in with them easily, and the awkwardness on Indy’s side of the table was overshadowed by their conversation.
The heavy silence between her and Penny was bordering on oppressive.
They should have had tons to talk about, even if it was just how one had kicked the other’s ass a few days before.
Instead, nothing. Indy could barely stand it.
It was her fault, so it was her job to make it right.
“Come on,” she said, tapping Penny on the shoulder and flicking her head toward the edge of the private room Dom had managed to secure for them at what Indy assumed was a ridiculously expensive restaurant.
They moved to a small alcove that led to the restrooms. It would be perfect for this conversation.
Contained and away from prying male ears.
“You really want to do this now?” Penny said, her eyes darting toward the three men across the room, all of whom were still chatting away.
“Yeah.”
Penny leaned against the wall, arms crossing over her chest in a move so reminiscent of her older brother when he was annoyed, Indy almost laughed, but she managed to choke it down.
She mirrored Penny’s position on the opposite wall. “I’m sorry about blowing you off after the match. I was upset.”
“It was fine. You lost and losing sucks. I get it.”
“I’m still sorry, and look, what you said the other day, about not knowing if you could forgive me or not—”
“That was a shitty thing to say.” Penny uncrossed her arms, one hand going to the chain around her neck.
“I deserved it. I just thought maybe you’ve had some time since then to think about it or at least… I don’t know, not hate me as much.”
“To be honest, I really, really haven’t, but I don’t hate you.”
That wasn’t a lie. If there was one thing Indy had learned about Penny Harrison in the short time they’d known each other, she gave it to you straight or not at all.
Indy didn’t really blame her, though; with all the crap going down with her ankle, a fight with her brother’s girlfriend, if that was even what she was anymore, probably wouldn’t be tops on her priority list either. But a fight with her friend?
Indy decided it was probably best to just lay her cards on the table. “Jack’s your brother. You’re going to forgive him eventually. What about me? Do you think you can forgive me?” She didn’t give Penny a chance to respond. “I know I should have told you. I should have just come out and told you.”
“Yeah, you should have. I meant what I said the other day. I would have been happy for you. Why didn’t you just say something? Like, just drop a hint that you liked him, anything?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“That you’d think I was using you to get to your brother or that you wouldn’t approve or, I don’t know, that I would lose the first real friend I’ve made in years, maybe the first real friend I’ve ever had?”
Penny stood in silence, the seconds ticking by, before she looked Indy dead in the eye.
Indy struggled not to look away against the steely green she saw there, so much like her older brother’s eyes it was almost uncanny.
Penny and Teddy were the twins, but Penny and Jack, they were cut from the same cloth.
“I think that maybe we weren’t friends.”
“Oh.”
Indy’s mouth stayed open after she uttered the word.
She had no idea what else to say. She’d thought…
she really thought they were friends, that they could lean on each other and…
shit. Her vision swam, suddenly and without warning.
Fuck. A tear fell and she tried to turn away, hoping desperately that Penny hadn’t seen.
“No, wait,” Penny said, reaching for her, just a hand to her arm, but it was enough to stem the tears.
“I’m sorry, that’s not what I mean. I’m not saying this right.
When you showed up at OBX, I saw a lot of what I went through in what you were going through, so I thought I’d be nice.
Figured I’d try to make things easier on you, and then we just sort of were around each other a lot. ”
“That’s what friends do,” Indy said, sniffling and wiping at her eyes to try to clear them. Maybe one day she’d stop embarrassing herself around the Harrisons.
“It’s supposed to be more than that, though, isn’t it?
I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, not really.
It was all tennis all the time back then.
” Indy raised her eyebrows and smirked, despite herself, and Penny clarified, “Okay, so not much has changed. What I’m saying is, we weren’t really friends, at least not the way I always imagined real friends were supposed to be. ”
“I’m confused.”
“We’re supposed to have each other’s backs, be there for each other, and we’re not supposed to lie or keep really big, important secrets. And we were sort of a pale imitation of that. Like we were playing the part instead of actually, you know, being friends.”
“It didn’t feel like that for me,” Indy said, thinking back on all the time they’d spent together, the advice Penny had given her, even the dresses she’d borrowed from her. It felt much more real than what Penny was saying.
Penny flinched. “That’s what I mean. It’s my fault. I guess I’m not really sure how to be friends with someone and let them in—not for real.”
“You were doing a pretty good imitation of it.”
“Was I?”
There was something fragile in the way Penny asked that, and it stunned Indy. “So, do you think you want to try that, you and me, friends for real this time?” Indy asked. She didn’t want to give this up.
Penny bit her lip and nodded slowly. “Yeah,” she said, “I think I do.”
“Good, so do I,” Indy agreed.
“I just have one condition.”
“Name it,” Indy said.
“You never, ever, ever talk to me about what you and Jack do.” Penny’s eyes twinkled at her.
“I… that might not be a problem anymore.”
The sparkle disappeared from Penny’s gaze. “What are you talking about?”
“You just said you didn’t want to know.”
“Forget what I just said. What happened?”
So Indy told her everything, about how hard Jack had fought against their connection and then the secret and about the bullshit Caroline had pulled and Jack losing out on repping Natalie and how he always seemed to pull away from her once things started heating up.
Penny sighed. “He’s my brother and I love him, but he’s got a self-sacrificial streak a mile long. You know he gave up corporate law to represent me, right? Moved back from New York into our parents’ house just to follow me around the world while I chased my dreams.”
“I didn’t know that.”
But she could have guessed if she’d thought about it at all.
“Yeah,” Penny said, “so just… give my brother a little bit of slack, okay? I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. Do you know what he told me, the day we walked in on you guys?”
“No, he just said you were hurt.”
“I was, but… that didn’t stop him from letting me know that it didn’t matter whether I approved or not, that he was going to be with you.”
“Really?” Indy asked, eyes wide, suddenly desperate to throw her arms around the man and hold him tight until he understood the depth of what she felt for him.
“I’m about to be really cheesy,” Penny warned, reaching out to grab her hand, and Indy quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe we weren’t meant to be friends.”
“No?”
“Maybe we were meant to be sisters.”
“Oh God, Penny.” Indy couldn’t help but laugh, and it made Penny brighten, too.
“I know, I know,” she said, “but I thought it and I just had to say it.”
“I’m glad you did,” Indy said, then glanced toward the table where the guys were still chatting. “Let’s get back before they think we killed each other or something.”
Indy watched Penny with a smile as they walked. Sisters. It was a nice thought. But first, she had to make things right with Jack… if that was what he still wanted.