Page 8 of Rivals and Liars

"I'm talking about the possibility of retiring. I know you still have the energy to keep playing, but that pain is showing up too often, and I'm scared it'll turn into a permanent injury if you don't stop in time."

Kate needs a few seconds to process what she's said as a lump settles in her throat and her whole body goes rigid.

"I'm not retiring, Diane. I won the Australian Open and made it to the semis in Paris—"

"And you lost because the pain wouldn't let you keep going," her coach reminds her.

"And that's what this break is for, isn't it? So I can recover over the next few days—"

"Listen, Kate," the woman insists, her tone growing more serious, "I'm the last person who wants you to retire. You make me a lot of money, and because of you I get to keep doing what I've always loved. But I love you, and what happens to you matters to me more than anything. You're twenty-nine years old with your whole life ahead of you—"

Kate's silent tears stop Diane mid-sentence. She leans forward and runs her fingers across Kate's cheeks.

"I know this is incredibly hard to hear," she whispers. "I just want you to start thinking about it as a possibility, okay?"

Kate nods, pressing her fingers against her eyelids.

"Let's see what Dr. Faruk says when we go see him. Maybe what's happening now isn't connected to the previous injury and there's a solution," Diane says, trying to lift her spirits.

Kate leans into her when Diane wraps an arm around her, and they keep watching match clips for the rest of the afternoon—though Kate can't concentrate anymore and barely takes in any of the advice her coach gives her, because she can't think about anything other than what she's just been told. Kate has always known she doesn't want to retire before thirty-five, but having to do it this soon was something she never counted on, and she's beginning to realize it might not be so far-fetched after all.

Chapter 5

"Don't be cruel," Joel called from the other side of the court.

Leire bit her lip and raised a hand in apology after dropping a soft shot right at the net — one her friend had had no chance of reaching.

"Sorry," she said, setting up to serve.

"No you're not. Not even a little," Marta teased beside her.

Leire laughed and served again, this time remembering it was a friendly game.

That morning she'd trained hard for two hours at full intensity, then spent another hour in a recovery session with a physical therapist. At lunch she'd gone out with her father, taking him to the only restaurant he ever wanted to go to — the one that had been his wife's favorite.

And now, after a couple of hours resting by the pool, her friends had shown up, and after catching up over drinks in the garden, they'd started a little match.

These were some of the moments Leire loved most. Her friends were hilarious — they screamed whenever they missed a shot and burst out laughing at their own errors, even if it meant stopping play entirely.

"We're heading out," Sara announced when the game wrapped up. "We've got a family dinner tonight." She nodded toward Joel, her cousin, and both of them said their goodbyes, making plans to see Leire before she left for England.

"So it's just you and me," Marta said, raising an eyebrow as Leire closed the door behind the others.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leire asked, smiling her most charming smile, because she already knew.

"That you're going to tell me what's actually going on." Marta draped an arm over her shoulders and steered her toward the garden chairs. "You're going to talk to me about what's worrying you — and most of all, about her."

Leire's heart skipped. She'd never told her best friend Kate's name, but she'd talked about the redhead. Marta knew how their thing had started, and she knew just as well how deep in the closet her friend was.

Leire settled into her chair and stretched her legs out, resting her feet on the low wicker table in front of her.

"I need to renew with Costel. The old contract's up, and Isaac negotiated much better terms than what I've got now."

Marta looked at her without a word.

"I'd be signing for another five years. That's a lot more than I could've hoped for."

"I'd ask why you're telling me this like you've just been handed a death sentence instead of jumping for joy — but I'm guessing that caveman clause is still in there," her friend said.