Page 63 of This Could be Love

“Yes, you are.” Kay laughed. “And a sharp and beautiful and successful one too.”

“Well, I’m still working on the successful bit.”

“Nonsense.” Her expression was soft, almost tender. “You have accomplishedso muchin your life so far. And will accomplish even more.”

I had to swallow the lump that was growing in my throat.

“Without you in my life these last number of weeks I would never have gotten my self-confidence back.”

“Oh, you would have gotten it back without me, believe me.” She reached across the table for my hand and squeezed it. “And as far as this whole Vince Greenfield story is concerned, you’re probably right.”

I blinked, as if I’d misunderstood.

“Maybe I’ve just got to accept that I lost.” She looked thoughtfully at the tabletop.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with losing, but with trust. Give Vince a chance. He’s not the type to allow wild parties over there.” I pointed with my thumb and chuckled. “He doesn’t even like to go to parties himself. I am certain there’s a way you all can coexist next to each other peacefully.”

Kay inhaled audibly and then let it back out. “How serious is it?”

I looked at her uncomprehendingly.

“The thing I said about your eyes. That they shine whenever you talk about him. That’s also what I meant.”

The lump in my throat was back.

“Are you in love with him, Lou?”

“No! I hardly know him.”

“You don’t need to know someone’s shoe size to fall in love with them.”

“Well, you should know each other a little longer than just two weeks,” I replied.

Kay didn’t say anything. Not that I was right or that I was nuts. And that made me begin to babble.

“I’m not in love with Vince. He’s nice and good-looking and he’s a good…surfer,” I said, blushing. “I like him but that’s it. And I wouldn’t have time for anything more serious anyway.In tennis love means zero. I even know someone who called their autobiography the same thing.” I winked and attempted a nonchalant smile.

“I did indeed,” Kay said, and got up to start clearing the table. “But I never cared for it, to tell the truth.”

“What?”

“The fact thatlovemeanszero pointsin tennis. The word doesn’t deserve that somehow, does it?”

Chapter 27

With wet hair and my tennis bag over my shoulder, I left the tennis complex and headed for the parking lot. Vince had texted to say he’d pick me up. During training I’d successfully managed to block out thinking about our date, but on Gabe’s table my thoughts had come to rest—only to end up revolving around Vince for thirty minutes. Wondering what would happen today. Whether we would kiss again and, if so, if it would feel just like it did the other two times.

When I saw the white Jeep, my heart skipped a beat, an eager but at the same time somewhat nervous beat. It had been a minute since I’d been on a date. Alex and I had gotten to know each other at the PT clinic in the spa town of Bad Wiessee. He’d just had a knee operation and was working hard to make his way back onto the German biathlon squad. Which wasn’t the only thing we had incommon. He also came from a family of athletes and knew about the pressure and expectations that came with it. His father had been a successful biathlete, and his mother had won Olympic silver in the two-person bobsled. After the sports clinic, we stayed in touch and arranged to meet for dinner in Munich. We quickly realized, however, that there was a slight difference between sitting across from each other on the ergometer and eating at a fine Italian restaurant. Apart from our respective progress, we didn’t really have much to talk about and ended up in small talk way too quickly. After less than an hour, I pleaded a headache and said goodbye. I never heard from him again. I definitely wouldn’t be able to leave so easily today, I thought as Vince got out of his car. I didn’t really know where we were going, but there definitely wouldn’t be a subway.

Vince took a few steps toward me, but I couldn’t help but register his looking to the left and right, as if he felt someone were watching him. Or as if he counted on Kay rounding the corner to confront us. The image was so ridiculous I had to smile. Maybe I’d even tell him about our conversation later. Or, well, the part where Kay admitted that she was slowly accepting the fact that she couldn’t stop the Ohana at least. As for the rest of our conversation, I still had to think about a few things myself.

“You look pretty relaxed for having trained all day,” he said offhandedly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his khaki-green shorts.

“Gabe’s got magical hands. Just half an hour on his table and you feel like you’ve been reborn.”

He took my tennis things and was noticeably surprised by how much they weighed. “Man, how many rackets you got in here?”

“Eight.”