Page 96 of This Could be Love

“Milan can’t do that anymore thanks to his kids either.”

“Could be. But there are other options.”

“But I don’t want any other options,” I replied, with a hint of hurt. “I want to train here. Live here.”

A worried look spread across her face. “It’s Vince Greenfield, right?” The fact that she continued to use his first and last name whenever she spoke about him annoyed me right now more than usual. “He’s the reason.”

“Also.”

“Lou, you haven’t even known him for five weeks.”

“That doesn’t play any role.”

“And if it did? You don’t give up your life for someone you hardly know.”

“I’m not giving it up! I’m just moving my center of operations here.”

“And thereby threatening everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve.”

“How so?”

“Your whole team is in Munich.”

“I can put together a new one.”

Kay sighed heavily. “Hawaii is the most remote group of islands in the world. You don’t fly out here just to take back off three days later.”

“No one said that that was my plan.”

“The breaks between tournaments are hardly ever longer than a week. You would be spending your life in planes.”

“I already am.”

Kay shook her head. “That’s crazy, Louisa.”

“What? Trying to find a way to play tennisandbe happy?”

“I thought that tennis made you happy.”

“Yeah, but…Vince makes me happy too.”

“Lou.” She gave me an urgent look. “I would so love to tell you that it’s possible to have both. That you can be number one and at the same time have a fulfilling private life, but…that’s just not how things work.”

“Of course it is. My mother managed.”

“I love your father—you know that. But your mother’s career was over the second he stepped into her life.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“After that, she never won another big title. Nor was she number one anymore.”

I was. She didn’t say it, but she didn’t have to.

“That’s almost twenty-five years ago now. Times have changed. In the meantime, there are so many positive counterexamples. Players who are successful and who have partners and families at the same time. Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki…”

“None of them are at thebeginningof their careers. Until they could allow themselves the luxury of having a private life, they had to make sacrifices.” She raised her hand as if wanting to make a point. “That doesn’t mean I think that’s a good thing. I’m just saying how things are.”

“So, you don’t trust me to become number one with a boyfriend?”