Her laugh was light, teasing. “It’s notbad. I just don’t know if I believe you.”
I shrugged, thinking back to the runner-up speech I’d delivered, the one I hadn’t rehearsed. “I meant what I said earlier. I never expected to get this far. I got lucky.”
“It’s notjustluck,” Chloe said firmly, her tone breaking through my self-deprecation.
I smirked, straightening enough to meet her gaze. “Ja!So you admit it.”
“I admit nothing,” she shot back, but her smile softened the words. “Except that you’re a fantastic player who got here on your own merit.”
I turned back to the court, the protective covers lying undisturbed on the surface. It was a reminder that tomorrow, life would move on.
“All I’m saying is...” I trailed off, trying to get my words right. “I hate the idea that luck could get me this far. Or you.”
“Of course, and I don’t mean to diminish anything. But sometimes, it feels a little magic, you know? The right weather, the right wind, the right draw—”
“You mean the same draw that had us going head-to-head?” I interrupted.
“It sounds like we both didn’t have much luck before we found each other.”
“Need I remind you that I won that match,” I said with a laugh.
“Yes, but in order to do so, I had to play you,” she pointed out. “That doesn’t sound like any luck was in my favor.”
All the things that had brought us together. That night at the party, every match we’d played against each other. That day when she walked into the beach house. Like fate had to force us to stay in one place long enough to realize what we could learn from each other.
No matter how unwilling we had been.
We’d come so far together.
“I wasn’t supposed to make it this far, you know?” I said, easily remembering every headline that had called time on my career. “Everyone kept saying I was done after the accident and surgery. Sometimes I believed them. But quitting felt so much worse. Like if I couldn’t be on a tennis court, what else would I have?”
“You’d have so much,” Chloe said, linking her fingers with mine. “Friends, family, an entire new life to build.”
Her words sank in, each one wrapping around the fragile parts of me that still doubted. I squeezed her hand tightly, her words going straight to my heart. “And even if it was all you had, you’ve turned it into something incredible. Do you know how many people wish they had your fight? After everything, you did make it. You proved them all wrong.”
I smiled at her, still unsure how I’d gotten so lucky to be hers.
“So then... what comes next?” I asked.
“Well, first of all, I don’t plan on ever losing to you again.”
I laughed at her. “If we could not have to play each other in tournaments, that would be great, thanks.”
“Seems unlikely,” she said, and smiled. “Life has a way of pushing us together.”
“Love or tennis?”
“Maybe both.” Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. We were together now, no matter the time it had taken. “So, are you keeping it?” Chloe nodded down at my wrist. “The bracelet?”
“I think it’s growing on me. Besides, I’d hate to give it back and lose my good luck,” I teased.
“Excuse me, it’s my bracelet.”
“I was thinking.” I leaned in closer. “There’s plenty more beads in the kit you had, right?”
“The one in the guesthouse?”
I nodded. “How would you feel about a few weeks at the beach? Just you and me?”
