Chapter 22 #2
The second point they lost because Jess’s set wasn’t great—Vivienne liked them farther off the net than Tania, and Jayson stuff-blocked her on a tight ball.
The third point they lost because Sawyer rolled a short ball over Jess’s block and she turned to dig it—a ball Tania would have known she was going to take—and she ran into Vivienne, who had barreled in to get it.
“Fuck,” Vivienne said.
“Yeah,” Jess agreed.
“Okay…” Vivienne scrunched her adorable little nose at the horizon for a second before she spoke. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to communicate our asses off. Call for every touch. Who’s got it, where you want it. Everything. Okay?”
Jess nodded. “Okay.” They slapped hands.
It went better from there, but it still felt … unnatural, like they were two pieces of a puzzle that weren’t meant to snap together. Still, they managed to scratch out a win, 21–19 and 21–17.
The four of them sat on the logs with their water bottles after, letting a group of teens have the court.
“You guys don’t play in the pros, do you?” Sawyer asked.
“Not yet,” Vivienne said.
“The SoCal VL, then?”
Vivienne nodded.
“I told you!” Sawyer said to Jayson, then he turned back to the women. “I thought I recognized you. But I don’t remember you two playing together.…”
“We’re a new partnership,” Vivienne explained. “Last minute. We’ve got the state final on Saturday and we’re just getting used to playing together.”
“New partnership? How new?” Jayson pointed between them. “You have matching tattoos.…”
Jess touched her tattoo on reflex at the same time Vivienne touched hers. They exchanged a smile.
Vivienne replied. “Oh. Well … We’ve been friends awhile.”
A blush rose in Jess’s cheeks. She looked at her feet. Hearing Vivienne call her a “friend” felt really, really good.
Sawyer shook his head. “You guys are fucking awesome. You’ve totally got this. Just trust each other.”
“How long have you two been playing together?” Vivienne asked.
The men smiled at each other. “Three years now?” Jayson said. “We were both looking for a doubles partner … and we fell in love by the end of our first match.”
“Before the match,” Sawyer corrected. “As soon as I saw him.”
Jayson squeezed his knee. “We got married last year.”
“Aw, congratulations. How is it, playing with your husband?” Vivienne wondered.
“It’s the best, honestly,” Jayson replied. “We barely need to talk, we just know what the other one will do. Completely in the groove, you know? We love it.”
“If only we could jump into that groove,” Vivienne said.
“Maybe you two should start going out,” Jayson joked.
Jess almost choked on her water.
Vivienne offered a polite if strained laugh and jumped to her feet. “You know, we’d better get going. We’ve got a party to get to.”
Jayson and Sawyer stood, too.
“Good luck in the final!” Sawyer said.
“We’ll be watching and cheering you on,” Jayson added. “Go get ’em.”
Aunt Veronica looked like a character in a movie as she came to greet them in the foyer, gliding down the curved staircase, her long amethyst dress with a bold slit sweeping the ground behind her.
“Vivienne, love!” Veronica cried. She kissed Vivienne’s cheek. “Thank you so much for fitting in my little party. And Jess, how nice to see you again!” She brushed her lips against Jess’s cheek, too.
“You too,” Jess said, flushing. “Your house is gorgeous. And I just saw the announcement for your next book! It looks amazing!” She bit her lip and forced herself to stop fangirling.
Veronica rested a hand on her chest. “Why thank you, Jess. Aren’t you the sweetest?
I’ll send you home with some swag, do remind me tomorrow.
” Veronica turned and motioned for them to follow her up the stairs.
“I’m afraid quarters are tight tonight—Scarlett’s whole family is here, including the nanny—but I figured you two wouldn’t mind sharing? The sapphire room is made up for you.”
“Uh…” Vivienne’s gaze slid sideways to Jess. “Yeah, we can share. Is that okay with you, Jess?”
“Um…” Sharing a bedroom? Jess had figured in a place this size, they’d have their own rooms. She hadn’t considered other family members staying over, too.
Was she actually going to share a bed with Vivienne?
Her pajamas were pretty skimpy.… Her heart sped up, keeping time with her racing thoughts. “Yeah, of course.”
“Fantastic— Oh, one moment please.” Veronica fished a cell phone out of somewhere and took a call. “Lina?… Yes … No … No! Absolutely not.”
Jess leaned over to whisper to Vivienne to cover the sound of her pounding heart. “The ‘sapphire room’? That sounds like a strip club.”
“You’re not far off,” Vivienne murmured back.
The sapphire room indeed featured sapphire-colored decor, plus shining crystals around the lamps and on the headboard. The bed was up on a platform that definitely seemed like a bit of a stage. There was even a mirror on the ceiling. Jess half expected a pole in the corner.
Call completed, Veronica held her arm out like a model on The Price Is Right. “One of you can use this en suite, the other can use mine. There are towels, robes, toiletries.… I need to go check in with the caterers, but do help yourself to whatever you need.”
“We will,” Vivienne assured her. “Is Uncle Milton around?”
“Oh, buried in paperwork in his office, of course. He swears he’ll emerge in time for the party. We’ll see.” She waved her fingers and glided out the door.
It was very quiet in their bedroom for a long three seconds.
“Okay,” Vivienne said briskly. She unzipped her suitcase. “You can get ready in here. I’ll head to Veronica’s bathroom.” She retrieved her toiletry kit and bolted out the door.
Jess took a moment to stare at the bed she would apparently be sharing with Vivienne that evening—king size at least, but still.
She found her dress in her suitcase and shook it out.
After their dip in the ocean and mugs of tea, Vivienne had taken one look in Jess’s closet and declared the red sequins the only option.
But after her shower, standing in front of the full-length mirror in the sapphire guest bathroom, Jess wasn’t so sure.
It was so … flashy. Literally and metaphorically.
Maybe it was a mistake.
Maybe Veronica would have something more low-key she could wear … like her workout gear or something. Jess opened the door to see if Vivienne had returned.
She had.
She sat on the foot of the bed scrolling her phone in a white robe, opened dangerously low in the front, and with her leg sticking out all the way up to her hip. Jess jammed the brakes on, feeling like she had walked in on Vivienne naked.
Vivienne looked up and her jaw dropped. She mouthed something that Jess could have sworn was “damn.” Then she cleared her throat. “Yes. Yes, that dress works just fine.”
Jess smoothed it over her hips. “Are you sure? It’s not too much?”
“It is … just the right amount. I mean … your legs…”
Jess’s cheeks flushed. “Thank you. I just don’t know what to do with my hair.” She had blow-dried it, but otherwise was at a loss as to how to make it do anything at the level required for this dress at this event.
Vivienne stood and straightened her robe, covering up swaths of skin. “I can help if you like. I wanted to be a hairdresser for a while. Scarlett let me do her hair all the time. Here, sit at the vanity.”
Once Jess was settled, Vivienne rested her hands lightly on Jess’s shoulders. “What sort of hairstyle were you thinking of?”
“Not sure…” Jess studied her thin brown locks in the mirror. “I don’t ever do anything exciting with it.”
“Hmm…” Vivienne ran her fingers through Jess’s hair the way that hairdressers do … but Jess had never ended up with full-body goose bumps when a hairdresser did it. “What if we put some waves in and went half-up, half-down?”
“Sure, that sounds great,” Jess said through a dry mouth.
Vivienne went off to collect the supplies she needed, humming a Backyard Chickens song.
By the time Jess’s hair was done, she was jelly on the inside. The soft, intimate touches, her scalp, her neck … If only she could just sit there all night getting her hair done, with Vivienne’s fingertips gently tracing—
“Okay, I think I’m finished,” Vivienne said, setting down the hairspray and stepping back. “What do you think?”
“I love it,” Jess said, turning her head from side to side to admire her reflection.
“You look so beautiful,” Vivienne said.
Jess, her cheeks almost as red as her dress, caught Vivienne’s gaze in the mirror. “Thank you.”
Jess nearly jumped out of her skin when Vivienne’s phone buzzed.
Vivienne read her message. “Shit, Veronica says people are arriving. We’d better get moving.”
Vivienne pulled a scrap of pink fabric out of her bag.
Jess wasn’t sure how it was going to cover her enough to attend a cocktail party, but that thought quickly flew from her head when she realized Vivienne was about to drop her robe right there in the middle of the room.
Jess instructed her eyes to look away, but they didn’t quite make it in time.
… Although it turned out Vivienne did, in fact, have a sensible nude-colored bra and underwear on, appropriate to wear underneath what looked like sheer pink fabric.
By some miracle, the dress did stretch over Vivienne’s curves, in a very thin and clingy way, with glittering rhinestones here and there adding to the effect.
“You look really…” Jess forced herself to finish the sentence, lest she stand there like an idiot all night. “… really amazing.”
“Thank you.” Vivienne fluffed her hair and looped their arms together. “Are you ready?”
“Not at all.”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”