Page 58 of Best Year Ever
“Hey,” I say softly, so as not to startle them. “Are you guys staying up a while?”
“I’m going to go call my parents,” Peter replies. “They keep trying me.”
“No worries, say hi to Barbara and Phil for me,” I tell him, having gotten to know them well when they’d hosted dinners for us as teens.
He nods and heads to his room. Maggie watches as he leaves and then turns to me.
“You want to go catch up?” Maggie says brightly.
“Yes, let’s hang in my room so we can talk without anyone overhearing,” I respond.
She comes in and sits down in a cozy armchair. The bedroom, though small, is decorated in a quaint style fitting for an older London home.
“Soooo, how we feeling now that you’ve arrived? Nervous? Excited?”
“Ready,” I say. “I feel ready.”
“YES! Love to hear it!” Maggie is truly the best cheerleader.
“How about you?” I grab a hair tie to put my curls up in a messy bun.
“Peter and I had solid practices all last week.” She grins. “I feel like you and I were passing ships on the practice courts though, so I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk more in Florida. We were always booked at different times.”
“All good, now we get to stay in the same house for a month.” I smile back. “It’s gonna be fun.”
Maggie sits back in the chair and crosses her arms. “Rori, you aren’t going to make me beg for the details, are you?”
“Of what?” I ask, pretending I don’t know what she’s talking about.
Maggie rolls her eyes. “Girl. All I know is that you kept hanging with Landon during the last couple of weeks. I need more details than our quick convos about it.”
I pick at my bun to get more of the loose tendrils up. “Do you now?”
“Rori. Spill.”
I sigh. I don’t mind Maggie knowing everything, but I really don’t want anyone else to know. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but you have to promise that this info goes no further. Everything is meant to be private, a secret for now.”
Maggie nods vigorously. “Yes, yes, of course. I’ll take it all to my grave.”
Taking a deep breath, I launch into the update. “So I talked to him right when I got home from the French Open about continuing to meet up when we can and spending more time together.He wanted that too! And then I mentioned exclusivity, and he was fine with that as well.”
Maggie looks like she’s about to burst when I say that, but I continue, not letting her interrupt. “Since then, we’ve spent the last two weeks largely crashing at my place, just staying in, so no one else knows, I don’t think.”
The look of shock on Maggie’s face is kind of priceless. “Oh my god. This is with Landon Battle, Rori? Right? Not some other Landon?”
“Yes,” I say with a laugh. “Landon Battle. And he’s coming in a few weeks for the last part of Wimbledon! We’re still staying a secret, though. I’m not sure how that’s going to work yet.”
“So wait,” Maggie interrupts. “You’re exclusive, he holed up at your place in Florida for two weeks, and now he’s coming to London to see you?”
“Yes?” I’m not sure where she is going with this.
“Rori, Landon Battle is your boyfriend,” Maggie shouts in glee.
Now it’s my turn to be stunned, and I still. When she puts it like that…
But no, that isn’t the arrangement. “Noooo, no he’s not,” I finally reply. “We aren’t using titles. No obligations.”
Maggie lightly slaps my knee. “Landon Battle is your boyfriend,” she repeats. “That’s boyfriend behavior. And it sounds like there’s a lot of the best kind of obligations going on.”
