Chapter 14
THE GATHERED CROWD GAVE OUT A COLLECTIVE “AHHH” before applauding politely.
English tennis fans were notorious for their mostly good sportsmanship, but even they were having a hard time staying engaged in the match, and Jasmine didn’t blame them one bit.
The last round of qualifying for Wimbledon was usually an exciting one, a fitting prologue to the fortnight of world-class tennis.
She’d been pretty confident after the first two matches in which she and Natalie had breezed by a couple of decent doubles pairs, but they’d run into a brick wall when the qualifying final pitted them against Camille Mercier and Agathe Lambert, a veteran doubles team from France who’d been off the court for a while after Agathe had a baby.
“Match point,” the chair umpire said.
“Cover the alley, I’m going out wide,” Natalie told Jasmine as they met at the center of the court, bumping fists before she headed to the baseline. Jasmine went into the service box.
Jasmine bent at the knees and at the waist, making sure to keep herself out of the trajectory of Natalie’s serve. As soon as the ball made contact with the grass, she bounced up, ready to react to the return, but none came.
“Out,” the line judge called, and Jasmine got set again.
Natalie only had one second serve, basically a meatball on a platter to any halfway decent player.
Jasmine watched as Camille stepped up into the court, deliberately shortening her reaction time.
With a ball that soft, she could afford to move in, and it would give her a huge advantage of any shot she got off, making it nearly impossible for Jasmine or Natalie to get to the return.
The soft thwack of the ball hitting Natalie’s racket had Jasmine tensing briefly, and then she sprung into action, watching as Camille wound up and fired a forehand directly at her.
She pulled her elbows in and hit a short volley back to Agathe, and a net battle began, short and quick strokes, wrists and hands flying fast, back and forth four, five, six, seven times, and then a passing shot from Agathe before Jasmine spun to her left, her back to her opponents, and blocked the final volley back, between where the two veterans had placed themselves on the court.
Both Camille and Agathe bounced their rackets against the heels of their hands in appreciation, and the crowd, who’d been expecting the match to end, gave a roar of approval. Jasmine sucked some air into her lungs before turning and high-fiving Natalie.
“Wow,” the younger girl said, “that was incredible.”
“Thanks,” Jasmine said, a huge smile on her face.
It faded as she glanced up into the stands and saw Dom standing there, Paolo at his side, but no Teddy or anyone else staying with them.
It had been two days since the news about Indy and Jack had hit, and everyone had been lying low ever since.
She hadn’t really expected the rest to show up, but she’d hoped at least Teddy might just be running late.
“Forty–thirty,” the chair umpire said. “Match point.”
When Natalie missed her first serve again, Jasmine did her best, but the return on the second was too much, a crosscourt missile out of her reach for a winner.
“Game, set, and match, Miss Mercier and Mrs. Lambert.”
They all met at the net and shook hands, including the chair umpire, before gathering their things and heading for the locker room. Jasmine swallowed her disappointment. There would be no women’s doubles for them at Wimbledon this year.
She couldn’t help but consider what would have happened if she and Indy had been playing together.
They’d had a lot more training time together and Indy’s serve would have been too much for both Mercier and Lambert.
And it would mean they wouldn’t be avoiding each other like the plague, which was really great when they were supposed to play together in Crystal Palace next week with everyone else who hadn’t made the cut at the Championships.
Jasmine tried to keep the what-ifs from overwhelming her as she showered and dressed, quickly and silently. Natalie didn’t say a word either. Losing sucked, but talking about losing sucked even more.
“I wanted to thank you,” Natalie said, breaking the silence just as they were both ready to leave. “This was a lot of fun.”
Jasmine nodded. “It was. I’m glad Penny suggested it.”
“She did?” Natalie’s eyes grew wide.
“Yeah, when Indy had to withdraw. Didn’t she tell you?”
“I thought maybe you asked her to ask me, and I thought how cool that would be to play with you and maybe qualify for the doubles. My dad didn’t think it was a great idea at first, but I convinced him it was, and I was right.
You’re an awesome player and I knew I’d learn a lot.
Maybe we could play together again sometime? ”
“I’d like that.”
“Oh, good.” Natalie’s expression broke into one of relief. “I was afraid you were pissed at me.”
“Why would I be pissed at you?”
“After what went down a couple of days ago.”
“Natalie, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“When I didn’t sign with Jack Harrison. I mean, I still wanted to sign with him, but my dad freaked, thought he was going to try and get with me or something like he did with Indiana Gaffney.
Not that Jack Harrison is remotely my type.
Caroline’s good, too, I guess, and I like the idea of having a woman rep me.
Still, I know how close you all are, and I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to play with me after that. ”
“We’re not nearly as close as everyone makes us out to be,” Jasmine muttered, and as the words tumbled out of her mouth, she realized how true they were.
She and Penny weren’t friends, not really.
They just happened to train under the same coach.
Indy was… who knew what she was these days?
Things had been so intensely awkward, Jasmine didn’t even know where to start with that.
Jack had never been her friend; he was always away when they were growing up.
And Teddy had checked out mentally since Amy Fitzpatrick had waltzed back into OBX.
The truth was that Jasmine was the odd woman out and maybe always had been.
“Well, good. I’m glad we had the chance to play together.”
Jasmine pulled her racket bag over her shoulder. “Guess I’ll see you around, then.”
“Yeah.” Jasmine turned and started toward the locker room door, but she only got a couple of steps before she heard, “Wait! I know it’s last minute, but do you want to play doubles in Crystal Palace?”
That stopped Jasmine in her tracks. She hadn’t actually talked to Indy about it in a while, but maybe a little naively, she’d assumed that they would be playing together if Indy lost in the first week of the women’s singles tournament.
But that was leaving her fate in the hands of someone else, again.
She turned around and faced Natalie. The girl was biting her lip, and her eyes were big again, this time with hope.
Fuck it. She couldn’t put her career on hold every single time Indy managed to win a couple of matches.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
“Awesome,” Natalie said, bouncing up to her toes, making her even taller than usual, towering over Jasmine. “We’re totally going to win!”
“We have a good shot,” Jasmine said. It was the truth. A little more practice and they’d be just fine.
“I can’t wait. I’m so excited,” Natalie said, pulling her phone out of her bag before nearly skipping toward the locker room door. Watching her, an involuntary smile lifted at the corners of Jasmine’s mouth. Natalie’s excitement was sweet and contagious.
“Hey, wait,” Jasmine called after her. “Do you have plans for tonight?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to the Players Gala?”
Natalie grimaced. “I’m still only technically a junior. It’s kind of ridiculous honestly, to let eighteen-year-olds play down, but I’m not exactly gonna ignore a chance to win a major, even if it is as a junior. But yeah, we don’t get invites.”
Jasmine shrugged. “Well, I did, and I have a plus-one.”
“You’re John Randazzo and Lisa Vega’s daughter. Duh.”
Jasmine rolled her eyes a little. “Right, duh. Anyway, do you want to come?”
A huge smile spread across Natalie’s face. “Sounds like fun.”
“Great. Give me your phone,” Jasmine said, holding out her hand. Natalie handed it over and she typed in Alex’s address. “Come by in a bit and we can get ready together.”
When Jasmine stepped through the front door, the house was already in chaos.
Jack and Paolo were watching a soccer match in the library, the volume up almost all the way but still not drowning out their commentary in both English and Italian.
Dom, who’d left the courts right after her match saying that they’d debrief tomorrow, was chatting with Alex across the foyer in the kitchen.
An older woman Jasmine assumed was Alex’s mother was sitting at the kitchen table listening intently.
Teddy came flying down the stairs, holding at least five shirts, shouting for Jack’s opinion.
He didn’t even acknowledge Jasmine’s presence as he flew past her into the library.
“Hi, Ted,” she said softly, knowing he wouldn’t hear and relieved when he didn’t. Losing was hard enough, she didn’t need to hear any bullshit excuses about why he hadn’t even bothered to show up on top of it.
She took the stairs two at a time, though she wasn’t quite sure why she was in such a rush. Indy, no doubt, would be in their room, and things would be just as awkward as they’d been for the last few days.