Match Point Read online

  “Oh, that’s excellent!” Jodi exclaimed. “Thank goodness. This has been dragging on for too long.”

  “I know, it’s just that they didn’t pick it up the first time for some reason—something to do with the protein levels in the urine, but anyway, I’m sure you’d prefer not to be talking about urine first thing in the morning.”

  “Well, if I have to, I’m glad it’s Sal’s.” Jodi laughed. “But seriously, I’m just relieved she’s okay.”

  “Me too. All this pregnancy stuff is full-on.”

  “I know.” Jodi’s voice held sympathy. “But you guys are going to be the best parents. And it’ll all be worth it when you get your wrinkly, squidgy little baby to hold in your arms.”

  “I hope so.” Jason sounded momentarily doubtful. “What if we get a bad one?”

  Jodi laughed, yawning as she sat up in the bed and leaned back against the pillows. “I don’t think there are any bad ones, Jase. They all come out good. We just make ’em bad.”

  “Oh well, that’s reassuring. Thanks.”

  “My pleasure, coach man. Anytime you need a rousing speech about parenthood, just call me at the crack of dawn. What god-awful time is it anyway?”

  “It’s eight o’clock. I figured you’d be up. Since when do you sleep in anyway?”

  “You’re right, I should get up,” Jodi sighed, swinging her long legs out of the bed. She crossed the room to pull back the curtains. The soft plush carpet felt luxurious beneath her toes. “So what can I do for you? Early morning chat about pee and parenting or something else?”

  “Something else. Why is Lisa Sevonny emailing through promotional plans to me? I thought we decided you were going to deal with that?”

  “Oh, right,” Jodi groaned, and leaned her head against the thick hotel window as she stared down at the pavement from twelve stories up. The little people below were all determinedly going about their businesses, oblivious to her dark brown eyes.

  “It’s all gotten complicated,” Jodi said eventually.

  “Hmm. Want to talk about it?”

  Jodi pursed her lips. “Yes, I guess.”

  “Did something happen in Austin? Lisa’s email was weird. She mentions seeing you in Austin but then sent all the details to me. What was Lisa doing in Austin?”

  “Well…I guess that’s where it gets complicated.” Jodi tracked back in her head, unsure where to start, suddenly shy to talk with Jase about the personal details of her life. She unexpectedly knew this was important. This was where she had gone wrong last time. She hadn’t shared anything with him. He tells me all about his life and I shut up tight like a kid who just got braces, she thought ruefully.

  “After you introduced us at the party at Gold River,” Jodi began, “we went for a drink. I thought we were just going to chat about the promo stuff but when she dropped me home, well…er, she kissed me.”

  “What?” Jason spluttered down the line. “I mean, um, was that okay with you?”

  Jodi took a deep breath. “It was fine. I can handle myself, Jase. Well, mostly anyway. I didn’t mind that she’d kissed me, but I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. Then she called me in Carson and I thought we were just chatting about publicity and all of a sudden she told me she missed me and I stupidly told her I missed her too.” The words tumbled out as Jodi turned away from the window to pace around the room. “And I didn’t. I didn’t miss her at all, but it got awkward and I didn’t know what to say, so I said I did.”

  “Right.” Jason drew out the word. “I can see how that works.”

  “Well, then I lost in Austin,” Jodi went on, ignoring his sarcasm, “and I felt shitty and Lisa just turned up! I didn’t know what to do, you know?”

  “Tell her you missed her again?” Jason suggested.

  “Whatever. So then I was horribly rude to Miranda and God only knows what she thinks of me now, she probably hates me, but I somehow orchestrated us all to have a drink and then I bailed and left them together, and Miranda ran away.” Jodi gave a hollow laugh. “I told Lisa to email the details of the campaign through to you and begged off the rest of the night with a headache. I’m surprised she sent the campaign through to you at all.”

  “Ah.” She could almost hear Jason grinning down the line. “It sounds like you’ve handled everything excellently. If it’s any consolation, Lisa told me she had been surprised to ‘bump into you’ in Austin, so she’s at least acting as if she’s playing it casual.”

  “That’s a relief. I tried bringing it back to business but I really shouldn’t have told her I missed her. She put me on the spot and I instantly caved. I’m such a loser like that.”

  “Hey, please don’t talk about my star tennis player like that,” Jason said gently, “not to mention my friend. You’re not a loser. It’s hard when people catch you off guard.”

  “Thanks, Jase.” Jodi felt relieved to have his support.

  “So what happened with Miranda? Why might she hate you now? She didn’t mention that when I spoke to her this morning, but then, I didn’t ask her either.”

  “My God Jase, what time did you ring her? If it’s only eight o’clock now—”

  “I called her at seven,” he said, cutting Jodi off. “She’s worked for me for a while now. She’s used to it. So what did you do to her? I did wonder why she sounded a bit wary about everything.”

  “Oh, I was a royal bitch. I was sore about losing and I took it out on her. You know how I can be sometimes. She was nice about it later when I apologized, but I’d be upset if I were her.”

  “I think I know what you mean. Want me to talk to her?”

  Jodi hesitated, sitting down on the bed. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I apologized and I did try to explain. It’s probably best to just leave it now.”

  “Okay, if you change your mind, just let me know. So, what do you want me to do with Lisa’s publicity campaign?”

  “Send it to me. I’ll check it out. Sorry, I should have just got her to send it to me in the first place but I needed to head her off a bit.”

  “No problem. That’s what I’m here for.” Jason paused, shifting gears. “Now, what are we going to do with this next week? We’ve got eight days before Vancouver and we need to make every second count.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Miranda turned her face up to the sun, closing her eyes as she sat on her back step, basking in the early morning warmth. The back door into her little kitchen was open behind her and she leaned against the doorframe. In her hand, she cradled a cup of tea, enjoying the fragrance of the brew as much as the taste. Eddie rolled lazily onto his belly and she dropped a hand down to him, smiling as he pushed his face into her palm.

  “I missed you too,” she said, giving him a scooch under the chin. “What shall we do today?” she asked him, gently pulling his ears. He answered by trapping her hand between his paws and giving her a couple of licks, followed by a sudden nip.

  “Hey!” Miranda cried in mock outrage. “No biting please, mister.” She retracted her hand from his jaws and resumed tickling his belly. “I think we need to do some weeding out here.” She ran her eye over the small garden. “This yard is a mess. What were you doing while I was away? You’ve let the place go to wrack and ruin,” she scolded.

  Weeds had shot up amongst her herbs and veggies, vying for prominence. Her little patch of lawn was dotted with wildflowers, the grass having grown higher than usual in the warm summer weather. A passion fruit vine, bursting with exotic white flowers and dark black fruit, tangled its way along the back fence, pulling the trellis she had erected away. She loved her little private garden and spent hours puttering in amongst the greenery whenever she could.

  Eddie rolled over and stood up haughtily, flicking his tail in the air as he wandered away. He deliberately sat down just out of her reach.

  Miranda rested her teacup on the stoop and stood up, lazily stretching her arms up to the sky. Her shirt rose up, exposing her taut midriff and she ran her hand over the bare skin.
It was good to be home. She could go for a run today. And get a coffee with Enid. Actually, maybe Enid could visit her here. She didn’t feel like going far. Lately she’d spent way too much time away from her little palace with the hard-to-reach view of the lake.

  Squatting down next to her herb patch, she pulled out dandelions and other stray weeds from the tangled array of plants. The thick brown earth was already warming up, and it stuck to her fingers as she unearthed the offending intruders. She broke off a leaf of basil and popped it in her mouth, instantly thinking of pizza as she chewed. She planned to savor these couple of days to herself. She would move slowly, enjoy some quiet and calm space, free from the pressures of tennis and the whirlwind of emotions that surrounded Jodi.

  It’s time to get it together now, she told herself sternly. You were unglued in Austin. Well, it’s not like it didn’t have its challenges, she thought, grimacing as memories of their trip washed over her. It had felt like a disaster from start to finish. Jodi’s loss to Laurent, their fight, the awkward drinks in the bar with Lisa—Miranda could only call that trip an epic fail.

  * * *

  Enid sat cross-legged on the bed, while Miranda perched on the window seat, leaning her head out the window to look at the lake. The old brick house was skinny and tall, like a rickety old lady, Miranda sometimes thought. Her bedroom was perched at the top of a wobbly old wooden staircase. The taps were worn and the pipes juddered when you turned on the hot water, but the light was good and the house was airy, with lots of great big rattlely windows to throw open.

  “Careful you don’t fall out,” Enid cautioned as Miranda stretched further out the window.

  “You always say that.”

  “And you always nearly fall out. So be careful, would you?”

  “Okay, okay.” Miranda pulled her head back in the window and leaned back against the frame, looking over at her friend.

  “So, what I’m hearing from you is that you messed it all up?” Enid said, extending her legs across the soft cotton bedspread. Afternoon sunlight spilled into the room, adding an extra glow to the light yellow walls.

  “I’d say that’s pretty much it, yes,” Miranda grimaced.

  “And now you don’t know if Jodi’s just being too polite to fire you? I doubt that would be the case. From what I know of these tennis stars, they aren’t too shy to ask for what they want. And anyway, she probably wouldn’t fire you herself. She’d get Jason to do it. And that wouldn’t be hard; you’re on probation as assistant coach anyway, right?”

  “Right, thanks for reminding me. But where exactly do you get your in-depth knowledge of these ‘tennis stars,’ as you call them?”

  “From E-news. They’re always having hissy fits when they don’t get what they want. But what I’m failing to see is what you’ve done wrong. Why do you think they’d want to fire you?”

  Miranda groaned as she hugged her knees and rocked slightly.

  “They were my suggestions, E. I suggested we change up her backhand and move her around the court differently. And then when Jase wasn’t with us in Austin, I didn’t manage to coach her through the tournament. She lost and she was totally pissed.”

  “Of course she was pissed—she lost! That doesn’t mean it was your fault.”

  “They expected me to get her through and I dropped the ball. Not only that, we actually had a fight! I haven’t had a fight with anyone since I was a kid. It felt horrible. I’m guessing Jase probably won’t want me on the team now.”

  “Miranda, only Jodi can get Jodi through,” Enid said patiently. “Your role is to support and advise, and yes, you’re out of your depth given that you’re only supposed to be assistant coach, but she still had access to Jason on the phone and so did you. Did he ever tell you that you were doing something wrong? Did he tell you to change what you were doing?”

  Miranda shook her head. “No, but he was pretty preoccupied with the baby stuff.”

  “So, is it possible that maybe Jason dropped the ball?” Enid suggested gently.

  “I don’t know. I feel like I don’t know anything at the moment.” Miranda sighed deeply, and sat up straight. “Let’s just talk about something else. What shall we make for dinner? What time did you say this Abby girl is coming round? I’m glad you’ve invited her, by the way. That’s a very big step for you.”

  “I know!” Enid’s eyes lit up. “She asked me what I was doing tonight. Apparently she wanted to take me to some new bar in Berkeley, but when I told her I was going to your place she was so sweet about it, I suddenly decided I should invite her to come along. You guys haven’t really had a chance to hang out and it’s probably about time you did.”

  “Well,” Miranda teased, “I don’t want to waste my precious time bonding with someone you’re not going to keep around. How long has this one been on the scene? Four weeks? Five?”

  “Actually, it’s been two months. This weekend is our two month-a-versary.” Enid’s smirk was playful.

  “Wow, congratulations. If I’d known, I would have gotten you a gift. Well, I’m glad. You know I like you to be sure before I hang out with your girlfriends; otherwise it just gets awkward.”

  “This is about as sure as I’m going to get,” Enid said, lying back on the bed with a sigh. “She’s actually quite dreamy. And sexy. God, she’s so sexy.” Enid gave a dramatic shiver. “She’s got the most amazing body and when she kisses me I just get so—” “Whoa,” Miranda cut in, covering her ears with her hands. “I get the picture! She’s hot, you like her; she’s coming for dinner. It’s all good news.”

  Enid laughed and threw a pillow at her friend.

  “Careful,” Miranda warned with artificial seriousness as she caught the pillow. “You could knock me out the window.”

  “That was the idea!”

  “Hey! Watch it or I won’t make nice with your girlfriend at dinner. Now, speaking of dinner, what are we going to make? We need a plan.”

  Miranda’s phone suddenly broke into the opening bars of “Footloose,” and she grinned self-consciously at Enid who looked askance.

  “What? I like it,” Miranda said sheepishly. “It makes me happy.” She hopped off the window seat and grabbed her phone from the dresser.

  “Shit, it’s Jodi,” she said, brandishing the phone at Enid.

  “Answer it,” Enid encouraged.

  Miranda stared at the phone for another second, her face screwed up in uncertainty.

  “Miranda! Answer it!” Enid hissed, throwing another pillow at her.

  “Okay! Okay!” Miranda turned slightly away, and punched the Call Accept button.

  “Jodi, hi,” she said into the phone, frowning at Enid. Enid stuck out her tongue.

  “Hi, sorry to bother you on your day off.” Jodi’s voice sounded official and distant down the line. Miranda felt a flutter of nervousness course through her abdomen.

  “It’s no problem, what can I do for you?”

  “Jase and I have discussed it and we’ve agreed that it’s best for him and Sal if he doesn’t come with us to Vancouver next week. Sal’s definitely on the mend but she’s not quite over the infection and it’s better for him to be close to home until the doctors give her the all clear.”

  “Okay,” Miranda said with concern, wondering where the conversation was going.

  “The thing is—” Jodi sounded hesitant. “Jase is written down on my visa for Canada as my coach and I need to get it changed to your name. We can rush it through in time but I need your signature on the paperwork tonight in order to get it done before we leave. I was wondering if I could come and find you and get you to sign the form?”

  “Sure, of course!” Miranda answered, a wave of relief rushing through her. This definitely didn’t sound like she was being fired. “I’m just at home. I’d come to you, but I’ve got friends coming for dinner. Would you mind coming out here?”

  “No problem. I can come to you,” Jodi answered quickly. “I’m sorry to bust in on your night but I’ll just swing in and out
. Jase was going to do it, but I told him to stay with Sal. I can get all this worked out if you can sign it tonight.”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll give you my address. Do you have a car?” Miranda asked, suddenly curious. She had only ever seen Jodi take cabs or be driven by others.

  “I’ve got Jase and Sal’s other car. I already have your address from the visa application so I can be with you by six if that’s okay?”

  Miranda agreed and they rung off. She stood in the middle of the room staring at the phone in surprise.

  “Jodi’s coming over,” she said to Enid.

  “I got that,” Enid said dryly. “But why?”

  “She needs me to sign some form so she can change our visas for Canada.”

  “So, you’re not fired then,” Enid smirked.

  “I guess not,” Miranda replied, looking sheepish. “She said she’ll be here around six. Hey, when’s Abby coming?”

  “Also around six. Shall we invite Jodi to stay for dinner?”

  “Oh no, I don’t think so. She sounded very businesslike. And she’s in a rush. She said she’s just going to run in and get the form signed.”

  * * *

  Jodi sat next to Miranda, who frowned in concentration, studying the forms before her.

  “So I just need to fill out this bit, right?” Miranda asked, her clear blue eyes looking up to meet Jodi’s.

  “That’s right, just the occupation and address stuff.”

  Miranda bent over the form, tucking her hair behind her ear as she wrote in her details. Jodi admired Miranda’s slim fingers and the strong line of her slender wrist. She has really beautiful hands, she thought. She remembered briefly the feel of Miranda’s hand in hers at the USTA party. Heat ran through her as she thought of taking Miranda’s hand in her own again.

  “Would you like a glass of wine, Jodi?” Enid held up the bottle from behind the kitchen bench where she was busily preparing and chopping vegetable tidbits. “We’re having white but we’ve got red, if you prefer.” Jodi took in the proffered bottle, oblivious to the glare Miranda shot at her friend.