Page 62 of This Could be Love

“When would you want to get going? I can’t lose another day of training.”

“How long do you train on Saturdays?”

“Just until noon. But I’ve lost a few days that I have to make up…probably until afternoon.”

“Then we’ll go as soon as you can,” he replied, totally at ease. “It’s not far from here. About half an hour by car.”

It might not sound like much to him, but the thought of sitting in the car with him for half an hour made me feel warmer.

“You have snorkeling gear?”

“Umm…no.”

“No problem. I’ll bring some extra stuff along.”

“Do I need anything else? A wet suit for the full-moonjellyfish?”

He laughed. “Sturdy shoes would be good. To get to the beach, we’ve got to climb over some rocks.”

That sounded adventurous. Remote too.

“Don’t worry. There aren’t too many. We’ll pay attention to your ankle.” In addition to a wink, there was a clear sense of caring in his voice, and that did something to me. Maybe it also had to do with thewein his sentence.

“So, we have a date?” he said, and my heart raced with excitement.

“We have a date.”

Chapter 26

Toward the end of the week I finally felt decent enough to get back to the court. My first training session was low-key. We practiced serves and returns, strokes that weren’t too demanding. In addition, we fine-tuned tactics and strategies and went through various match situations. Even if I’d have preferred going full throttle, so to speak, I had to accept that my body wasn’t up for more than I was already doing. Thanks to my intestinal flu I’d lost weight as well as muscle mass, and my fluid balance wasn’t in equilibrium. I was still sensitive to food, too, so Kay, above all in the evenings, was making sure I got things that were easy to digest. It bothered me that not only was she going through so much trouble cooking all those lightly salted, mostly steamed vegetables, but eating them too. She insisted that she didn’t mind, that it was only for the sake of the scale.

We had successfully avoided clearing things up over the last few days, but I knew it was something we had to do. If only because I had a snorkeling date with Vince on Saturday. Well, also because I still had a guilty conscience, and the fact that she had looked after me so devotedly only made it worse.

When we were eating dinner together Friday evening, I decided to take the bull by the horns, as it were.

“Can we talk?”

“Haven’t we been doing that the whole time?” Kay grinned, but I knew she’d understood what I meant.

“Tomorrow afternoon Vince is taking me snorkeling. We are going to a beach where there are sea turtles. I haven’t seen any since I’ve been here.” I paused for a moment, but Kay didn’t bite. “I know that you don’t approve, but I don’t want to hide it from you. Because you’re important to me. And I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me here.” I had to catch my breath. “And that’s why I’m not happy about what I said to you the other day. Out on the terrace. That wasn’t okay.”

Kay remained silent. For at least twenty seconds. And twenty seconds can last a long time. A really long time. By the time I was sure she probably wasn’t going to respond, she said, “You could have asked me.”

“What?”

“You could have asked me where to go see sea turtles.”

That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected.

“I didn’t ask Vince. I’d only mentioned that I’d love to seesome. He’s the one who suggested it.” Before she could say anything, I added, “And not because he wants to get one over on you, but”—I hesitated—“because we get along well. And, as we’re on the subject, it bothers me that you think people only spend time with me because they want to get toyou.”

She looked at me, appalled. “Lou! I never said anything of the kind.”

“But you’ve thought it. At least a little, if you’re being honest.”

She started to say something, then changed her mind. “I just didn’t want him to hurt you.”

“I know. And that’s kind of you. But”—I inclined my head slightly and smiled—“I’m a big girl.”