Chapter 6
Kay was already waiting for me when I got to the tennis school shortly before eight thirty. She was wearing a pink Nike polo shirt and bright shorts. Picking up her tennis bag, she slid a pair of mirrored sports sunglasses from her hair onto her face.
I gave her a thankful smile.
“You find your way over here okay?” she asked as she pulled open the door that had been built into the fence and led onto the court.
I nodded and followed her to the two benches at the edge.
“Go ahead and get warmed up. I’m going to run and get the balls.”
I took two easy laps around the court and did my usual stretches until Kay came back with a well-filled hopper.
“Today we’re going to be practicing ground strokes,” she announced and pulled the hopper to the baseline.
I looked at her in surprise. “Ground strokes? But that’s about the only thing I don’t have any difficulties with.”
“That’s exactly why.”
I frowned. “But…”
“I know that over the last couple of weeks you and Milan were working on your weak points, but I’d like to try a different strategy.”
“A different strategy?”
Kay nodded. “I think we should concentrate on your strengths first. Make sure you get some of your self-confidence back.” She took a tennis ball out of the hopper and turned it back and forth in her hand.
“Milan sent me the videos of your last training sessions. You’re too tense. Too keyed up. Too much in your head.”
The verbal mirror she held up to me made me gulp.
“You’ve got to start having fun playing tennis again, Lou.”
“I do have fun.”
She tilted her head. “You want to have fun. There’s a difference.”
This time I swallowed my disagreement, even if I still wasn’t of Kay’s opinion. Tennis was fun for me. That’s why I was so tense. Because I didn’t want to lose that.
“Trust me. When you get your inner game under control”—she tapped her temple twice—“things will work out with the outer one.” She threw me the ball, and I caught it.
I looked at the yellow felt ball in my hand for one or two seconds. Then I nodded.
* * *
“It takes a while to get used to the climate,” Kay was saying as I took shelter in the shade of an umbrella to catch my breath.
The sun had risen rapidly in the last hour, and the court was shimmering in the heat, even though it was just after ten.
My red tennis dress had been sticking to me like a second skin since the warm-up, and sweat was pouring down my face.
I pulled my bottle out of my bag and took a greedy gulp of water. It was lukewarm, but I didn’t care.
“That was a good start.” Kay sat down next to me. “Precise. Punchy. The right length too.”
I took the compliment and didn’t bother to point out that I’d never said anything to the contrary.
“When it comes to the corners, you’re still a little restrained in your movement, but that’s normal following an injury like yours.” She lowered her eyes to my right foot. To the scar peeking out from my socks. “You’ve still got to build your trust back up in your bones. But it’ll get there.”
Kay’s confidence was reassuring, especially as it came from experience.
Back in the round before the quarterfinals at the 2005 French Open, she’d torn a ligament in her knee while slipping on the sand.
After an almost seven-month break, she made it back to her former place despite being made fun of for lacking in skill by sports media.
“Good.” Kay clapped her hands. “Then we’ll see each other again later this afternoon?
I’ve asked Malia to come at two.” She’d told me last night that she had organized a sparring partner for me.
Malia was sixteen, had been training with Kay for a little while already, and was considered the tennis talent of the island.
After I nodded, she added, “Gabe’ll be here around four.
I forwarded your patient files to him, so he’s in the know. ”
“Thanks,” I said sincerely.
Kay had thought of everything. Had given her all to create the best conditions. Now it was up to me. The idea made me feel driven, but under pressure too.
“You’ve got the code for the fitness room?” she asked as we left the court.
I nodded but repeated the combination one more time just to be safe.
“There shouldn’t be much going on there right now,” Kay said while waving hello to Carter, one of her trainers, who was on his way to the changing rooms. Judging by the red stains on his shirt, he’d already had a training session out on the clay court.
Seeing as how the US Open was played out on the hard court, however, Kay and I wouldn’t be training there ourselves.
“And if there is, you can happily shoo everyone off in my name,” she said, half joking, half in earnest.
I smiled and was about to say that I definitely wouldn’t do that when something caught my attention.
Someone. With energetic strides, he headed toward us from the parking lot.
And suddenly everything seemed to slow down.
Which was paradoxical because he was moving very fast. And because it was…
Vince. Vince? Here? I blinked. And heard Kay saying something that I didn’t catch because just at that moment someone started up a lawn mower.
“What the hell is this?” he snapped at me once he had reached us. His tone of voice wasn’t like him at all, but it fit his facial expression, which fell somewhere between angry and furious. His throat was spotted with red.
“W-w-what?” I stammered.
“You filed a complaint?” he thundered, waving an envelope. I couldn’t say where it had come from. To be honest, I couldn’t say a thing. Because I didn’t understand a thing.
“I warned you, Mr. Greenfield. Actions have consequences.”
I almost wrenched my neck as I reassured myself that it really was Kay who had uttered those words. With no emotion, she stared into Vince’s face.
“Warned? You fucking filed a complaint!”
His eyes blazed, and it slowly dawned on me that they weren’t blazing at me. This thing here didn’t have anything to do with me whatsoever.
“Because you once again disturbed my sleep.”
“Your sleep?!” He threw his arms into the air in disbelief. “It wasn’t even ten!”
“I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but there are actually people who have jobs and need to get their sleep,” she countered.
“You know damn well that I’m in the process of renovating!”
“Then renovate during normal hours.”
“That wouldn’t suit you whatsoever either.”
I followed the unfolding scene like the onlooker I was. Kay unyieldingly stretching her chin. Vince with his hands on his hips. The midday sun gave his hair a golden shimmer, though it was just as messy as yesterday.
“My cards have been on the table from the beginning,” Kay replied, shrugging. “You knew that I did not approve of your project.”
“There’s a slight difference between not approving and filing a complaint and”—he glanced at me—“siccing your goddaughter on me.”
“Huh?!” I burst out.
Suddenly his eyes grew small. A bright blue, they sought out my gaze. “Oh, give it a rest! I’m not dumb.”
His tone was so contemptuous that a shiver ran down my spine. Before I could respond, Kay said, “What are you babbling about? There’s no need for me to ‘sic’ anyone on you.”
He was about to say something else when another voice came in between.
“There a problem here?” Suddenly Carter was standing next to us, fresh from a shower and, judging by his expression, on the alert. “Should I call the police, Ms. Diamond?”
“What? No!” I blurted out.
My eyes moved in Kay’s direction; she was taking a little too much time to answer for my liking.
She couldn’t have been seriously considering calling the police.
Vince was upset—maybe rightly, maybe wrongly, I couldn’t say—but he wasn’t dangerous.
Or was he? A touch of uncertainty had crept into my thoughts.
After all, I’d only known the guy since yesterday, when he was helpful and nice.
Funny. But this morning on the beach? Not a trace.
Though, to be fair, I still didn’t know if he’d even noticed me.
“That won’t be necessary. Mr. Greenfield was just leaving.”
I stole a glance at Vince. His jaw muscles twitched, and I saw him struggling with himself. Attack or retreat. Retreat or attack. For some reason, it was surprisingly attractive. Overwhelmed, I took my eyes off him and dug my incisors into my lower lip.
“You won’t get away with this,” he hissed before briskly taking off for the exit and disappearing around the corner.
“What was that all about?” Carter whispered as Vince’s last sentence echoed through my head. You won’t get away with this. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the threatening undertone that bothered me. It was the you. Did he mean Kay and me? Kay and Carter? Kay and someone else?
“Thanks, Carter,” Kay said, and gave him a friendly nod to let him know that everything was back under control.
“No problem. I didn’t want to get involved. I just had the nagging feeling that the guy might want to cause problems.”
“I had that from the start,” she mumbled.
Two teenage girls with tennis bags came onto the court and waved to Carter. He cast a glance at his watch and said goodbye.
“I’m sorry you had to experience that,” Kay said once we were alone again. “I don’t know what’s going on with that guy.” She shook her head. “Simply showing up here and lashing out.”
“Well…just so I understand this all correctly. He’s the guy you filed a complaint against for disturbing the peace?”
Kay nodded, and the last bit of hope I had that everything was just a big misunderstanding disappeared.
“For renovating?”
“For renovating in the middle of the night. Made such a racket you thought the sky was going to come crashing down.”
I refrained from mentioning that ten o’clock at night couldn’t really be considered “in the middle of the night,” regardless of how early you went to bed.
“And it’s not the first time,” she continued. “The first two times I let it slide, but this time around I lost it. I went over and rang, but he wouldn’t open the door. So, I had no choice but to go to the police.”
I replayed the conversation in my mind. “And what did you mean when you said that you ‘didn’t approve’ of his project?”
“The hostel.” She rolled her eyes. “The guy’s gotten it into his head that he’s going to build a hostel right next door.”
That she spit the word out more than she stated it made me choose my words carefully.
“And what’s so bad about that?”
“Would you want to live next to a hostel?” She cast me a doubtful glance. “I bought this house because it’s quiet. Not to have baked surfers and backpackers partying day and night one door down.”
I had to grin.
“What?”
“Well, come on, hostels aren’t just full of stoned surfers and backpackers, are they? I mean, there are also families that…”
“Are loud? Yeah.” She lowered her heavy eyelids. “I just want peace and quiet, Lou. I’ve earned it.”
“Have you tried talking with him? Maybe there’s some kind of…”
“You’ve just seen firsthand how talking with him goes.”
“So, what do you intend to do now?” I asked carefully.
“Naturally, I’d like the city council to revoke his business license.”
I hesitated. “Is that possible?”
“Marty says it’s not impossible.”
“Who’s Marty?”
“Marty Simmons. My lawyer.”
“You’ve got a lawyer involved?”
“Just consulting at the moment. But if Greenfield here turns up again to threaten us, I’ll be forced to take more drastic steps.”
“Come on, Vince didn’t really threaten us.” I added a mild “right?” to soften my observation a bit.
Kay wrinkled her nose. “Not really, no. But it might have been better if he had. I mean, then…” She stopped mid-sentence and looked at me. “How do you know his first name?” She let a moment pass. “I didn’t mention it.”
I knew it would only be a few seconds before my cheeks turned red and gave me away.
“We met each other yesterday on the beach,” I said. “I was jogging, he was surfing.”
“And he approached you? Did he know who you were?”
She sounded alarmed, so I quickly shook my head. “I was…feeling a bit off, and he came over to help me out.”
“Feeling a bit off?”
“My jet lag was kicking in, and I hadn’t had enough water.” I made a reassuring gesture. “What I mean is, Vince…brought me something to drink.”
At the last minute, I decided to go for the slimmed-down version of the truth. Without the English duke maneuver.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I didn’t know who he was,” I replied truthfully. “And I didn’t want you to spare me at training.”
“Did you still feel weird afterward?”
“No. As I said, I know what was going on.”
A pensive line appeared on her forehead. “So that’s what he meant.”
“Hmm?”
“Vince Greenfield. He accused me of ‘siccing’ my goddaughter on him.”
It took me a while to get it. Earlier, his accusation hadn’t made any sense, but now it was all coming together.
But…he couldn’t really believe that she’d asked me to faint in front of his house in order to…
No! Utter nonsense. But it did explain his strange behavior on the beach this morning.
The thought triggered a series of contradictory emotions in me.
First and foremost, disbelief. But regret too.
Disappointment. Annoyance. Irritation. The fact that he held me to be…
what? Kay’s accomplice? Ridiculous. And unrealistic.
As if it mattered to Kay at all that I could describe his terrace.
“How did he know that I was your godmother? Did you mention it?”
“No.” For a second, I wondered why I hadn’t asked myself the same thing. The answer was obvious. “I told his sister that I was staying nearby and that my godmother was named Kay.”
She raised her eyebrows. “His sister?”
I thought of blue eyes and a cute, gap-toothed smile. What did she think about the whole thing? Disturbing the peace? Their argument? Me?
“Then let’s pray she has a good influence on him.” Kay sighed.