CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SYLVIA
As soon as the lights turned off, Sylvia rushed to Adele. “What have you done?” she asked, panicked. “You do realize we are shutting the club down! It’s being repossessed by the bank mere days after you just proposed, on national television, that we will be hosting a televised tennis tournament.”
“I know it is a crazy idea, and I would have asked you first, but I couldn’t,” Adele said. “But if this works, maybe, just maybe, I could help you save the club.”
A rush of trepidation and excitement surged through Sylvia’s veins, but she tried not to get ahead of herself; she wasn’t even sure if this was possible. “We are not going to be set up for this kind of thing. We won’t have a staff or food or beverages. I’ve just canceled all of our vendors.”
“We have more than two weeks to arrange everything,” Adele said calmly.
“And seating. And who’s going to pay for all this? We don’t have extra money floating around.”
“I’m going to set up a meeting for tomorrow morning with everyone—Rutherford and his staff, you, Walter.…”
“Me.” Milly rushed over to join them. “I want to help however I can.”
“Walter’s not going to like this,” Sylvia said. “It’s been stressful enough.”
“What if we can raise enough money to keep the club running?” Adele said.
“And if we can’t?” Sylvia asked.
“Well, then this can be your last hurrah,” Adele said.“La grande finale.”
Sylvia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Let’s say we can raise enough money to put on the tournament. How do we then make enough money to save the club?”
“Ticket sales, of course, but more importantly, there will be prize money, a purse, mostly coming from sponsorships, and they can be significant; winner takes eighty percent and loser takes twenty percent.”
“So you’re saying if you win, you’d put that money into the club?” Sylvia asked.
“Yes. We’d have to discuss the terms, but, yes, I could invest,” Adele said. “It’s not unheard of.”
Milly clasped her hands and squealed. “I think it’s a brilliant idea.”
“Yes,” Sylvia agreed. “That would be incredible.”
“You have done a lot for me,” Adele said. “Both of you. You have given me my life back. Having the opportunity to coach you and the women at the club has made me realize what I’ve been missing. It’s made me face my biggest fears. If I can help you now, I will. It’s a long shot, but let’s at least try.”
Sylvia was right: Walter was not thrilled about Adele’s impulsive announcement.
“This would have been a grand opportunity three months ago, six months ago,” he said as they sat down for dinner at their small dining table. “I would have jumped for joy at this opportunity, Lamb Chop, you know I would. But we are not in a position to put on this kind of grand spectacle now. We’re about to hand over the keys.” He reached over and took her hands in his. “I’m sorry. We just need to let this go.”
She nodded, taking in all that he said. Sylvia’s mother had called her after receiving her letter and said they could stay with her and herhusband for a week in Barstow. While the thought of it made Sylvia want to curl into a little ball and hide, she was glad that they had a plan and a place to go once all this was over and they handed the keys to the bank. Walter had told her it would only be a matter of time before the bank came after the little cottage too, and Sylvia didn’t want Judith to go through a second round of humiliation. At least now they were not going to be left scrambling, and she needed that security; she needed it for Judith. But this little glimmer of hope that Adele had set into motion, it felt like a lifeline. She had a feeling, a tingling in the pit of her stomach, that they could do this. She wasn’t ready to give up this fight, not yet.
“Walt, you promised me that we were going to do things together from now on. We are the only club I know of that has a female champion coaching tennis. After that interview, Adele is going to be all over the newspapers.”
“She admitted to drugging a woman!” he said.
“But she didn’t have to. She was forthright and vulnerable. I think women will admire her honesty and strength, I really do.”
Walter seemed to consider that.
“This is the kind of publicity we could never have even dreamed of,” Sylvia continued. “People are already talking; imagine how many women might become interested in joining the club after this.”
“Not if there’s no club to join,” he said.
“Adele thinks there’s potential to raise a lot of money with this one event. She’s done these kinds of tournaments before; she knows what to do.”
