Page 102 of Best Year Ever
“The crazy thing is that the guy is twenty years older than us, and has a very nice husband,” Julie responds, patting Dad’s arm. “But your dad was clueless.”
“At least we know you’re sticking with us on the tour, Dad,” I say teasingly.
He chuckles. “Wouldn’t miss time with my two best girls for anything. We just need to find a way for Buster to join us.”
I breathe out a long sigh.
At least not everything is completely screwed up. Julie’s back in my corner. Literally.
The next morning, Dad and I drive over to our old house. With a week left to clean out our remaining things, he’d asked me to come look at my old room and figure out what I want to keep.
I walk in, and immediately I’m transported to the memories of ten-year-old Rori walking into this room for the first time. Nervous for my first day at the tennis academy, excited to decorate my own room, and heart sore that Mom would never be here with us as Dad and I started this fresh chapter.
Now the room looks fully lived in, with my teenage self filling it up with knicknacks, books, and pictures, along with all the tennis trophies I earned over the years. I grab the box that Dad handed me and start picking out what I want. I haven’t lived with Dad in two years, so it’s been a while since I really looked at some of the items.
Smiling at all the memories, I can’t resist reaching for the first tennis tournament trophy I won.
“Little did we know then what would happen, right?” Dad says behind me, entering the room. “Kind of incredible to think of what you have accomplished over the last ten years.”
“Like Julie would say, I’m just getting started,” I quip back with a smile.
Dad laughs. “Yes, you are.”
He brings his hand to my shoulder and steps closer.
“You deserve everything that you’re achieving on the tennis court. But don’t forget to take care of Rori the person.”
I open my mouth to respond, but he isn’t done.
“Don’t miss out on experiencing the other aspects of your life as well. Especially when they’re right there, waiting for you to realize that you can have them too.”
I’m processing his words as he grabs a picture of us with Mom around the time I was six and holds it for a few moments, looking at it wistfully.
“I learned that the hard way, obsessing over my job before we lost your mom.”
With that, he puts the photo down, turns around, and walks out, leaving me to my thoughts.
Two days later, I’m headed to Pinnacle for one of my last practices before I leave for the Cincinnati tournament. Underneath the music I’m playing on my drive, I hear my phone pinging repeatedly. Finally, it starts ringing from a call. What is going on?
I pull over in the parking lot of a coffee shop and grab my phone. It’s Taylor that called, and there are a million unread text messages out of the blue. Not wanting to try to wade through them, I decide to call Taylor back.
“Hey, Rori,” she says as soon as she picks up. “Let me bring in Julie too, we called you together.”
After she adds Julie to the call, my curiosity is off the charts.
“Okay, what in the world is going on?” I ask them.
Taylor starts. “Well, we just got word that an anonymous complaint was submitted about Tessa. About her name-calling other players, in part, but also…”
She pauses, and Julie jumps in. “Tell her, Taylor.”
Taylor clears her throat and continues. “Also, she was the one who tipped off the paparazzi about Julie and your dad. Apparently, she saw them holding hands during an off-day around London this summer and decided to set up the scandal.”
“What the heck?” I say, beyond shocked. The tour is cut-throat, but that’s another level.
“That’s how the pap even knew to follow them,” Taylor explains. “That it’d be an interesting story. Otherwise the photographer wouldn’t have had a clue who they were.”
“This is legitimately insane,” I say. I’m shocked. This is bananas.
