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I heaved a sigh and sat back down beside him.
“I was,” I acknowledged, “I’m not anymore. I’m just Cami Smith now.”
“But...but...” he spluttered, “you were the best. I couldn’t turn on the tennis without seeing a TV interview with you or about you. You were going to be the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon. They said you were the best in the world for your age. So, why...” he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t understand.”
I leaned back and looked at the rainbows in the fountain. “I know you don’t, but you didn’t have to live with all that hype.”
“So, you just bailed?” He was looking at me now like I'd just grown two heads.
“Yes.”
“Your manager said you’d withdrawn for personal reasons.”
“Not my manager, my mother. And there were personal reasons.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice.
“Were you injured? What on earth else would make you throw it all away?”
I shrugged, but he just stared at me, silently waiting for me to elaborate. “My parents got divorced,” I said after it became clear he wasn’t going to speak if I didn’t.
“So what? You don’t give up something you live and breathe for just because they split up.” The outrage was back in his voice now.
“I don’t live and breathe tennis,” I said, firmly.
“Yes, you do! At least, you did then. I know passion, I saw it in you, and you still have it.”
“You see passion in me?” I quirked an eyebrow suggestively, thinking maybe I could redirect his thoughts. But he was having none of it.
“Passion for tennis, you don’t get to be as good as you were without that zeal in your soul. What really happened?”
I thought about just walking away from him, but what would be the point? He’d find me at school, and he wasn’t going to let this go.
“That really is what happened. My parents got divorced, my dad left the country. My mother, who was already as pushy as they come, went into hyperdrive and I couldn’t take it anymore, okay? I quit to follow my dad to the other side of the world and get away from her.”
Luke regarded me for several long seconds and I literally saw the fires of fanaticism slowly dimming in his eyes. His voice was softer when he spoke again.
“What happened?”
I fiddled with my hair, wringing out some water while I debated how much to share. I'd never discussed any of this with anyone before, but really wanted to.
“My dad owned a nightclub and lived on a boat. He was never there and when he was, he would bring home girls. I seemed to spend half my time just wandering the streets because the boat was rocking and there was no place on it for me. He was reliving the youth he’d never had because my parents married too young. No one was bothered if I went to school, and when I did go, everyone spoke French and my French is poor at best. I was fifteen, too young to go with him to the nightclub, but too old to be considered a minor in the Caribbean, plenty of girls there had already left school and had jobs. I just didn’t fit...”
There was silence as Luke mulled this over. “So, you came back?”
“Yes, I’m not an idiot. I was there six months until I realised if I wanted a decent education and a degree, then I'd have to do it here.”
“But you don’t need one, you have tennis,” Luke said, obviously not getting it.
“I’m more than that.”
Luke gave a rueful grin. “I’m not.”
I smiled back, just because he looked so unrepentant about it.
“You don’t know what my mother was like. She took all the joy out of it.”
Luke shook his head. “So what? You were lucky, she gave you the very best, the best equipment, the best coaching, the best opportunities. I'd have grabbed them with both hands. My parents have no money, my mum sold her engagement ring to pay for my coaching and buy my first racket. You had everything and you complain about the joy?”
“But that’s exactly it! Your parents love you and sacrificed for your happiness. My mother did it for her. The expense was nothing to her, she could afford it easily, but it was me who had to sacrifice. My entire life was one big sacrifice to her ambition. She just wanted me to be a poster girl for how successful she was. She used it as a fantastic networking opportunity. Tennis was a social event where she got to be Queen off the back of my talent.”
“So, you gave up, to spite her? That’s ridiculous.” Luke’s expression was dark, and I knew what he really wanted to call me was “pathetic”.
“You don’t understand,” I said through gritted teeth. “You weren’t there.”
“I was there. I was there trying my damndest to be half as good as you were, but I guess you never did have what it takes after all.” He looked disgusted as he got to his feet. “Excuse me, I think I need a drink.” He walked away towards the house, leaving me sitting alone in the darkness.
I didn’t want to follow him inside, not after that. So, feeling rejected, angry and depressed, I slunk away into the night. This time, it really was the end, it just wasn’t worth it. I was never going to play tennis with Luke, or anyone else, ever again.