Page 59 of Best Year Ever
I sit with what she is saying for a moment. “I don’t know. That isn’t what I meant when we talked about things. I mean, I’ve never even had a boyfriend.”
“Until Landon,” Maggie says, teasing me now.
“Enough of that.” I laugh lightly. “I really like him, but no boyfriends.”
I stand up to indicate the topic is over. Wanting to keep my hands busy, I walk over to one of my still-unpacked duffle bags and start putting my clothes away in a dresser.
“Well, anyway, it seems like we’re both in situations ofambiguous natures,” Maggie shares to my back, clearly wanting me to pry.
“And what do we mean by that?” I say, taking the bait and turning my head back to her.
“Remember how you said that you weren’t the jealous type?” she says, with some unknown emotion coming into her tone. “I’ve a potential girl code violation to confess.”
I stare at her, now thoroughly confused.
Maggie takes a deep breath, squirming a little in the chair. “Last week, Peter and I accidentally started making out. Twice.”
Oh.
“Maggie, accidentally making out? What is that?” If I wasn’t so surprised, I probably would’ve laughed at her comment.
“It wasn’t intentional,” she explains, and starts talking quickly. “We went to a nice dinner one-on-one after practice because everyone else was busy. Ugh, he smelled so amazing after getting cleaned up. He drove me home and walked me to the door and then he leaned over the mantle to make sure I got in okay. You know that lean guys do when they put their arm up on the post and stand there looking hot? I mean, he’s really grown into his body at twenty, don’t you think? Anyway, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—but I grabbed him and kissed him.”
“What?” I don’t want her to think I’m mad, but I cannot hide my shock. Walking back to the bed, I sit down.
“And then we kept kissing,” she gushes out. “Then it happened again the next night before we came here.”
My head is swirling with thoughts. “He’s your doubles partner, Maggie!”
She’s looking at me with genuine concern. About her relationship with him, friendship with me, or both, I’m not sure.
“I know. Are you angry?”
I want to put that to bed. My thoughts are more focused on how she and Peter will be able to make things work on and off the court with this revelation.
“No, I’m not upset. I’ve got no feelings for Peter, and if you’dasked me in advance, I would totally have been fine with you exploring something with him. But I’m worried under these circumstances—have you talked at all with him about what is going on? You know, before you go out and try to win tournaments together?”
Not surprisingly, her answer is no. So we chat through a game plan for her to discuss the situation with Peter, not unlike her conversation with me on the plane coming back from Paris. She hugs me and leaves to go talk to him before she loses her nerve.
I gut-check myself and find I truly am not angry at her for being interested in Peter. I guess her behavior did go into a girl code gray area, but I don’t have it in me to be mad at her. It was clearly nothing she planned.
And I have a different man occupying my thoughts for now. Though definitely NOT a boyfriend.
CHAPTER 21
Landon
Rori gets all the way to the finals of her warm-up tournament in Eastbourne, England, before barely losing.
This gorgeous woman, secretly FaceTiming with me every night for weeks now, is cooking with gas on the court.
Now that Wimbledon has started, coverage of her matches is broader. I not only watch her early round wins on TV, but also get treated to the highlights again during my regular sports news programs.
Watching her matches is one thing, but it’s almost a more surreal experience to see your girl on the screen of your favorite sports news show.Yeah, you guys don’t even know how amazing she is, I think as I listen to them chat about her play.
The highlights show how on fire she is right now, as she stalks the court with full confidence in all the action shots. Her curly hair braided back like she is in battle mode, legs flexing with the movement, eyes crinkled in focus. And then when they show her waving and smiling to the crowds after her wins in the early rounds, she looks so happy and proud.
I’m proud of her too, watching her. I cannot wait to get to London to see her in person.
