Page 97 of Running
“We’re a match made in heaven, babe,” Landon teases her.
Grace now safely sitting on Rori’s side of the island, I decide to make small talk. “So, Rori, are you done with your tennis season?”
“Almost done. Just two more tournaments, including one next week. It’s been bananas since winning the Open. I’m ready for a break.”
“Totally get that.”
She reaches for a piece of cheese on the platter in front of her. “The other tournament I have left is the WTA Finals, which is always at the end of the season. There’s some decent points involved for my ranking, so I wouldn’t miss it.”
Landon comes to stand by me, facing Rori over the counter. “It’s her first year qualifying for the Finals. Just the top eight players go.” The pride in his voice is palpable.
Grace turns to her, smiling. “So cool.”
“Yeah, it feels good.”
Having only heard about Rori through Landon for the most part, I like what I’m seeing now. She has a quiet confidence, no doubt—how can she not, being an athlete of her caliber? But she’s also very relaxed, friendly, and open. Exactly what Landon needs.
There’s a brief pause in the conversation while Landon goes back to check on the state of the food he’s heating up. He must like what he sees, because when he pops back up, he says, “Hey, let’s sit down.”
We make our way to the table, which already has four place settings, and I take care to watch where Grace sits. I’m not making the mistake of sitting next to her. Instead, once she claims her seat, I sit on the opposite side.
Only now I realize I’m going to spend the meal staring at her.
“How did the session with Paul Graves go today?” Landon asks, interrupting my train of thought. He’s sitting at the head of the table, and Rori has taken a seat next to Grace.
This is one topic I’m glad to update him on—once the signing became public yesterday, I texted Landon about my plan for the practice session.
“Fucking great. Bailey and I spent about two hours with him. He seems cool. He’s very serious about it all, but we need that.”
“Definitely. He’s probably happy to be back on a winning team.” His previous team, New Jersey, was stuck in the gutter.
“For sure.”
We fill our plates with food from the serving dishes Landon placed on the table, and then comes a question from Rori. “How was your day, Grace?”
“A pretty typical Tuesday.” I almost spit out my water, because I’d bet that’s an inside joke aimed at me. “I ran with this Tolliver undergrad I’m kind of mentoring and then had class.”
I don’t let myself look at her, taking a bite of the manicotti on my plate.
“This is your last semester, right?” Rori asks. “How are you liking your courses?”
“It is. I’ve started applying for jobs for after graduation, actually. There’s a database of openings the Tolliver career office maintains, so that’s helped a ton.”
“What jobs?” Landon pipes up.
Yeah, what jobs? We’ve talked about her wanting to look, but I hadn’t realized she’d begun the process.
Her eyes flick up to me, but then she turns to Landon.
“I haven’t mentioned it because I just started applying Friday, and I’m not super interested in anything I’ve found yet. Lots of entry-level MBA jobs are in the finance industry. But I’ve still submitted a few applications.”
Ah, well, that I understand. Sucks she hasn’t found something she’s interested in.
“You could still intern with Aiden, too?” Landon offers.
“Yeah…” I know why she doesn’t want to, but I keep my mouth shut.
We all go quiet again briefly, and the only sounds are our clinking silverware as we eat and Grover padding around under the table, looking for droppings.
