Love Match, page 5
it won't be the last time it will happen. Apple, cranberry or orange?"
"Apple thanks," She picked up the letter that was on the table and
read it after Gary encouraged her to do so. Emily wasn't there to further upset
Parker so she settled for humor when her hostess handed her the juice glass.
"Ah, so you do know my name, I was beginning to wonder."
"Of course I know your name, Captain. Willy told me all about you. Your
likes, your dislikes and what kind of person you are."
"I'd be afraid to know," said Emily. The chair swallowed her up and
Emily wished that she had remembered to wear a shirt over the revealing suit
she had on.
"Abby, fetch blue for me, boy," said Parker to the dog sending him
inside before putting to rest Emily's doubts. "He and the rest of that
crew think you are hard to work for, but they love you, Emily. They feel safe
with you. Hell you can fly the plane serve hot chocolate and put up with full
of themselves tennis players. Good boy," said Parker when Abby came back
out with a red shirt in his mouth. Parker threw it at Emily as she petted Abby
for his good deed. It was hard enough looking at Emily like that for the
obvious reasons, but the sight of Gail's hand in the back of the bikini bottom
was etched in her mind now.
"Thanks, Parker, but this is a red shirt." Emily held the shirt up
before slipping it on.
"I know that and you know that, but he doesn't. Abby's color blind, but
he's eager to please so cut him some slack."
"That he is. Must have learned it from you. Could I use your phone
please?" Emily got up and headed toward the kitchen after Parker nodded
her head. She left the coach and player to work out a solution to their problem
while she went to work out her own.
"Thanks, Bobbie, I got a flight out tomorrow. I'm taking a couple of days
off to start looking for a place as soon as I get there, so I appreciate you
giving me a place to stay until I find one." After only a ten minutes
Emily had found a flight back to New York and an old friend to stay with once
she got there. The airline would put her on a different route for awhile to
give her more time at home until she resolved her family problems, so she could
use the rest of her vacation to look for a new apartment.
The pilot stepped back outside to find Parker dressed and ready for what she
assumed to be more practice. The large hands that usually held a racket now
held the hate letter that predicted her death, and from the movement of her
eyes Emily could see she was reading it again. Gary was standing at the railing
of the deck staring at the water not looking happy. Emily had never seen
another person that looked so much like a free spirit just sitting still as Parker
King. Who would want to kill a person for that?
"All set?" Parker looked up from the paper in her hand and smiled at
Emily. She had gotten these types of things before, but these people seemed a
little more organized than the rest. At the bottom of the page they had listed
her schedule of play to point out different places they could get to her.
"Yeah thanks. I should let you get back to work. I have to pack and find a
place to stay in town." Emily twisted the borrowed shirt she had on in her
hands and waited for Parker to walk away.
"Why?"
"Why what?" Gary walked off the deck headed toward the court when he
heard them begin their conversation. Emily figured he and Parker had had an
argument while she was using the phone and there was no clear winner. Or maybe
she was just imagining things and was projecting the fight she knew was waiting
for her next door onto the two glum looking people here.
"Why are you going to stay in town, when I have three guest rooms inside
that are empty? I promise to be on my best behavior, Captain, if you would
grace me with your company for the evening. I'll even take you out to dinner so
that you don't have to suffer through my cooking two nights in a row."
Parker whispered something into the dog's ear and he went and stood in front of
Emily. He lifted his paw and waved it at the small blonde trying to get her to
look at him. "See, even Abby wants you to stay. I'll even drive you to the
airport in the morning. I give excellent cab service."
"Well I won't complain if you want to cook for me again, you do great work
in the kitchen. You really don't mind if I stay with you?"
Emily scratched
Abby's head as she looked at Parker.
"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it. You want me to go over with
you and help you pack?" Parker wasn't asking for any explanations of why
Emily wasn't leaving with Gail, but something had happened last night and she
wanted to make sure Emily was all right.
"No, get back to work before it's Gary that doesn't let me stay."
Emily could see that Parker wanted to not let her go alone after Gail's
performance from the previous night. Their relationship had died but Gail had
never been violent, though a huge confrontation was not was she was looking for
either. "How about I take Abby with me then we'll both meet you out on the
court when I'm done? Since I've never scored court side tickets, this will be a
treat for me."
"Just whistle if you need me to come over." Parker threw the hate
mail on the table and bent down to pick up her rackets.
Natasha would be there
soon to begin their session and Parker wanted to finish early to spend the
afternoon with Emily.
"I don't know if I can whistle that loud."
"I was talking to the dog." The creases on the blonde's forehead told
Parker that she was trying to figure out if she was serious or not.
"No freaking way," said Emily finally over Parker's laughter.
Gail had gone for a walk along the beach after her shower and sleep wouldn't
come to try and think of a way to apologize to Emily for her behavior. From the
moment she had met Emily, Gail had fallen in love with the gregarious woman,
and for the longest time she had thought Emily felt the same way about her. She
had been relentless in making Emily hers, but the long trips and the constant
finding of fault in her behavior were beginning to tell Gail she was losing her
grip on the pilot. The problem was she wasn't ready to let go. In her other
relationships it was Gail that had done the leaving, not the other way around.
Aside from the night before she couldn't find a reason for Emily's pushing her
away.
Nothing looked different when she got back from her walk and seeing that Emily
was still gone Gail took the car into town. Maybe some flowers and a bottle of
their favorite wine could be the start of a better ending to their vacation. By
the time the rental car hit the end of the driveway, Emily was walking out to
the tennis court over the water after dropping her bags off in one of the guest
rooms of Parker's house.
It had taken less than an hour from the time she had stepped off the deck with
Abby to the time she got back, but Parker and tall blonde she was playing with
were covered in sweat. Like Emily had seen the day before, the two kept up a
blistering pace with Gary calling out instructions every so often over the
grunts that followed almost every shot.
Emily sat on a bench that was right behind the side of the net Parker was
playing on and drank the bottle of water she had brought out with her. Abby
jumped up next to her and put his head in her lap looking relaxed but Emily
could see he was keeping his eyes on the ball waiting for the opportunity to
pounce on a missed one.
"Move the shots out more, Park, aim for the lines. If your opponent thinks
the balls are going to go out they might not chase them all down. When that
happens, you win shots and conserve energy," said Gary.
Parker let the
next ball Natasha hit fly past her stopping to take a quick break.
"Why would anyone let a ball past them, Gary, I chase them all down even
the ones that look like they're out by a foot." Gary threw her a couple of
balls then pointed his finger at her.
"Damn right you'll chase them all down. You know that, but not everyone
has me as their coach." Gary puffed up his chest a little remembering the
defeated look on Jill Seabrook's face by the third game of the first set.
Parker really was one of those people that came along every decade or so that
combined the power of her play with the soft touch needed to win. "Now get
back to work."
Parker bounced the ball her customary four times then went into her serving
stance. To Emily she looked like a bow that had been drawn back and was ready
to fire. She watched the ball leave Parker's hand and flinched went the racket
smashed it over the net. You didn't hear that on television when you were
watching tennis. The ball landed, what to Emily looked like, a millimeter from
the line where an embarrassed Natasha took a swing at it and missed.
"Goddammit, Parker, I think the girl fancies you already, there is no need
to show off." Natasha aimed her racket head over the net and glared at
Parker. The Swedish player had retired from the professional circuit two years
prior and stayed in shape by practicing with Parker whenever she could. They
had met at Natasha's last match when the younger Parker had knocked her out of
the tournament in the semi-finals. Ever since she had made every effort to stay
at her condominium in Clearwater for the summer to be close to Parker. There
had been harmless flirtations between them, but they had never crossed the line
of the good friendship they had built.
"That's Captain Emily Parish to you, sore loser." Parker aimed her
own racket back at Natasha waiting for the smile that was always delayed
whenever Parker got a good shot passed her.
"You know my last name too, I'm impressed, Ms. King."
When Parker
stopped playing Abby had started whining in her lap. Parker turned around and
put her hands on her hips to silence both the spectators.
"Your name tag had E. Parish on it, so of course I know your last name.
Abby, cut it out, no fly balls for you today we have company.
I don't have
hours to kill blowing drying all that fur of yours, boy, so enjoy the
sun." Parker turned back to Natasha already poised to serve up another
ball.
"And here I thought you were just looking at my chest."
Parker missed
the ball she had tossed up for her service and for a second Emily thought the
tall woman had pulled a muscle in her back from stopping her actions so
abruptly after her comment.
"Trust me, Emily, when I start looking at you, you won't miss the meaning
behind it." She turned to face Natasha again and caught the balls Gary
tossed to her. They played for another hour and Parker called it a day. Gary
didn't look happy with her but they had two months to prepare for the Open so
one missed day wouldn't kill them.
The dunes that separated Parker's house from the one next door gave them
sufficient cover so that Gail didn't see them walking back to the deck
together. After a trip to the liquor store for wine and the florist for Emily's
favorite roses, Gail walked out to the beach to look for the pilot. When she
didn't find her on the blanket, Gail started walking down the beach away from
Parker's house figuring that Emily had gone for a walk. It was the only alternative
since she had taken the car into town. After an hour Gail turned around and
headed back to the house. A few hundred yards from the cut up to the back of
their rental she saw a piece of paper flying along the top of the sand so she
scooped it up and stuffed it into her pocket to throw away when she got back to
the house.
"Emily, are you here?" Gail slid the glass door shut behind her and
took her sand filled shoes off on the mat. When she didn't get an answer she
walked through the house to their bedroom. The note was sitting on the pillow
on her side of the bed, and the writing on the envelope just said Gail. She
smiled thinking that it was sweet of Emily to write her. In the first few
months of their relationship Gail would find love letters in her briefcase
every so often making the days on the trading floor that much more bearable for
her. The smile fell the second she got to the ending and instead of reading it
again she just crumpled it in her hand and let it drop to the floor. Just to
confirm Gail opened the closet and found it empty.
"We'll just see if this is over, Emily. You have to talk to me cause this
note isn't going to cut it." Gail pulled down the scotch bottle and poured
a full glass. She drank down the entire contents of the glass with stopping,
filling it again to fuel her anger. The bottle of wine and roses sat on the
counter taunting her to Emily's betrayal. Gail picked up the bottle and threw
it against the wall. The thorns digging into her finger didn't break through
the scotch fog as she snapped the bouquet in half and dumped them into the
trash.
*************************************************************
***********
"Ready?" Parker walked into the front room of her house. It was
filled with trophies and pictures from her career on the court, and Emily had
been in it ever since she had showered and gotten dressed.
When Parker walked
in, Emily was running a small delicate finger over the Wimbledon trophy that
had just come home with her. In a few weeks the framed photograph of her
holding it up before the crowd on center court would hang along side it just
like all the other ones in the room.
Emily moved to another picture of Parker with two other women that looked so
much like her, but like Parker had said they were both taller.
Aside from the
height, they both had brown hair, blue eyes and the same brilliant smile.
"Are these your sisters?"
"Yes, that's us at the French Open last year. They had some down time so
they came to see me play. I owe them so much, and it makes me happy to look
into the stands and see them cheering me on. You probably think that's
incredibly immature but they are the only family I have."
Parker put her
hands into the pockets of the linen slacks she had put on and looked at the
floor over her admission. Gray and Kimmie were the only two people besides Gary
and Nick that didn't want anything from her. The money, the fame nor the
publicity of making the papers on her arm weren't important to them.
Emily stepped forward and put her hand on Parker's arm.
Seeing this vulnerable
side to Parker let her know that she had misjudged the person on the plane.
This was the real Parker. "No, that doesn't make you immature, Parker,
that makes you incredibly sweet." When the blue eyes focused on her, Emily
could understand why so many women had fallen victim to them before.
"Thank you for thinking so," said Parker.
"Are your parents deceased?" Emily wondered since there were no
pictures of an older couple in any of the frames in the room.
The arm under her
hand turned to stone at the question giving her the impression that they had
died in some horrible accident making her regret asking it.
"No they're very much alive and living in Atlanta. They unfortunately have
major difference with my two sisters and I, and we don't speak very often. I
don't really like to talk about it." Parker took a deep breath and tried
to let out the instant anger that had welled up at Emily's innocent question.
Her parents' attitudes combined with the letters she had been getting were starting
to enter Parker's mind more often. It was disgusting to her that the people
that were supposed to love her the most basically agreed with the content of
the letters she had been receiving.
"I'm sorry." Emily squeezed Parker's arm trying to offer comfort and
was glad when the muscles relaxed under her touch.
"Don't be, it's not your fault and it isn't mine. My parents have
condemned us all to hell for the way we live our lives. One gay child would
have been bad enough, but three was over the top as far as they were concerned.
The cherry was that one or all three of us are constantly in the sports page or
on television rubbing their noses in it." Parker made quotation marks with
her fingers as she spoke. "They've never attended a match or been there for
any of us since I was sixteen. The gulf between us is so big now that it won't
ever be crossed, and at this point I don't think any one of us wants to."
"Well those two ladies did a wonderful job with you then,"
said Emily
pointing to the picture she had admired before. With that the smile returned to
