Courting Carlyn

by Melissa Chambers

  He holds up a hand. “This isn’t me letting you off the hook there. I still want you to work on your speed, as much as you can. But I’ve seen this before, and even with some improvement, I think you’re going to need all the help you can get. So what do you say?”

  I think about talking this over with my dad, and how he would tell me to do what is comfortable and safe. No big changes before August. Then I look back at Jeffrey and think about what he’s molded Vaughn into, and I nod instinctively. “Okay.”

  “Fantastic. Let’s start with your grip.” He moves my hand on the racquet, positioning it in a way that’s odd, uncomfortable, and utterly terrifying. “You’re not going to use your wrist or even your arm when you swing. You’re going to use your whole body. Do you hear me?”

  I let him poke and prod at my arm and body showing me proper form and technique. After a few more minutes of intense instruction, he says, “Go on to the other side behind the baseline. Let’s get started.”

  The first shot I try, the ball flies way out of the court, off to the side, and I say, “Sorry.”

  “They’re gonna look like that for a while. Just keep going.”

  So I do, trying not to think about the fact that Vaughn will come through that tree line any minute and think twice about the fact that he hired me to teach the game of tennis to these kids.

  By the time he shows up, I’ve been out here with Jeffrey for the better part of an hour. When the machine mercifully runs out of balls, I turn to face him, but he’s already bent down picking up balls and balancing them on the head of his racquet. I follow suit, cleaning off the court. When Vaughn goes to dump the balls into the machine, Jeffrey keeps him there, discussing something in private. I grab the ball hop and work on the opposite side of the court, feeling like the last hundred and twenty minutes were amateur hour, and now the adults have come out to play.

  I unload the balls into the machine and then face Jeffrey. “Thanks. I’ll keep practicing this week.” I turn to Vaughn, and he smiles at me quickly, and then averts his gaze like we have a little secret to keep. That now familiar shot of sensation bolts through my chest and then exits as soon as it arrived.

  “I’d like for you and Vaughn to ride up with me to a club near Chicago next Saturday after the campers leave. There’s someone I’d like you to meet and work with for the afternoon. It will be a tight trip, but campers leave at ten, and you’ll gain an hour headed that way. You should have most of the afternoon to work once you get there, then the evening will be yours. I’ll have my assistant book some rooms, okay?”

  My mouth is open, but words aren’t forthcoming. A trip? Is that allowed? Am I allowed? Vaughn nods like this is normal, and then gives me a hint of a smile.

  “Okay,” I say.

  “Great,” Jeffrey says. “Vaughn, let’s work on your serve.”

  And with that, I’m dismissed. I make my way back to the cabin for another shower. Chicago? Or some suburb of it, I guess. My dad won’t let me go. There’s no way. But I sort of want to do it anyway…like really want to. I need all the help I can get, especially now that I’m starting from scratch on my backhand. Though I must say, I was starting to really get the hang of it after a while.

  After I’m showered and ready for campers, Vaughn and Jeffrey are still at the court, so I meander to my favorite tree stump in the woods. I can’t get that little bluebird that I met there out of my head. I’ve been to this spot a few times since that day, but she’s not reappeared. That doesn’t stop me from trying to find her, though.

  I sit on the spot, my Rubik’s Cube in my hand. I turn it aimlessly, looking around for the bird. I hum a little in the pattern it sang that day, but nothing. I guess that’s not how this works. “Mom?” I whisper, and then feel really silly for saying it aloud. That was for my own goofy thoughts, not to leave my weird little brain.

  A rustle of leaves has me turning around to find a little brown bunny sitting about ten feet away from me. “Hey there,” I say. It doesn’t answer, of course. It’s a bunny, duh. A warm breeze blows a leaf my way, brushing over my foot. I close my eyes and imagine, as illogical as it may be, that it’s my mother here with me. “What do you think? New grip? One-handed backhand? Trip to Chicago?” I don’t know what I’m expecting…how I think she’s going to reply, but it doesn’t keep me from asking.

  I open my eyes, and the bunny is still there. I really expected her to be gone. And in just a second, she is.

  “I miss you,” I whisper.

  I make my way to the tables in the pavilion and sit at the one where Nancy is setting up the check-in table. I wonder what she thinks about me going on this trip. I’m still seventeen, and she knows how overprotective my dad is. If she says no, then I won’t even have to ask my dad, then it will all just be settled.

  “Jeffrey said something weird earlier,” I say.

  “Oh, yeah? What was that?”

  I huff a laugh, a little too hard and obvious, so I rein it in. “He wants Vaughn and me to go to Chicago with him, to a racquet club.”

  She lifts her eyebrows, focused on a form she’s making notes on. “Yeah, he mentioned it.”

  “That’s kind of…far, don’t you think?” I ask.

  She finishes her thought on the paper, and then sets it down and grabs another. “Not too bad. Just under two hours from here.”

  I scratch my ear. “Yeah, well, don’t you think it’s just a little inappropriate? Given what happened this week?” I should win an Oscar for this performance, truly.

  “Sure do,” she says, and then looks me dead in the eye. “That’s why I told him he had to bring a female chaperone.”

  “Oh,” I say, my bubble deflated a bit. I hate my late birthday. If I were eighteen, there would be no questions here. I’d just go and everyone would have to deal.

  “I’d do it myself, but we better not all be gone just in case there’s any car trouble or whatever. I would hate for the campers to show up Sunday with nobody to welcome them here. Now, do you want to run it past your dad, or should I?”

  I purse my lips. I love this woman as much as she frustrates me. “Actually, if it comes from you, I think it will go over better.”

  She gives a single, finalizing nod. “I’ll get it done.”

  …

  For the Sunday night welcome Vaughn and I stand side by side, a united front for the campers.

  He leans down into my ear. “Notice any familiar faces?”

  “Micah’s back. I saw him at dinner. What’s going on?”

  “He jumped on the bus with the other kids at the center. Brought his same bag of clothes from last week. Fred put them all in the wash about a half hour ago.”

  “Do his parents know?” I ask.

  “Nancy talked to his social worker. She’s going to let him stay.”

  “Where’s he going to sleep?”

  “Fred’s got a sleeping bag. That floor’s hard, though.”

  I give Vaughn a look. “I’m guessing sleeping on the floor of that cabin is the least of his problems if he’s in the foster system.” Vaughn frowns, concern etched on his face. I pat him on the shoulder. “We’ll just have to make this week worthwhile.”

  “Are you two married?” a twelve-year-old boy asks.

  “No, dumbass. They’re not even adults,” an older, wiser, sixteen-year-old twerp answers.

  “Mmm,” Micah hums, looking at Fred with raised eyebrows. Fred leans forward and opens his mouth, but Vaughn holds up a hand. Fred relaxes back.

  “We don’t cuss here,” Vaughn says. “You signed a document to that effect a few hours ago. You get one strike in that category, then we call your parents to come pick you up.”

  “So we each get one cussword, then, right?” a boy looking about fourteen asks.

  “That’s not what he said,” I say.

  “You never answered the question,” another kid says. I glance at Vaughn, but his head is down, checking his clipboard, looking a little stressed.

  “No, we’re not marr
ied,” I say.

  “Are you dating?” a girl asks.

  I freeze, not sure how to answer that question. Fred squirms in his seat with pouty lips. Nancy gives me a reassuring smile. I glance over at Vaughn for reinforcements, and he looks up with a stern expression on his face. “No, we are not dating.”

  It’s the correct answer, but it still stings a little.

  “Are you in love?” a boy asks. Neither of us answer, and the whole lot of them start oohing and ahhing.

  “Do you kiss each other?”

  “Do you make out?”

  “Do you go to second base?”

  “I bet he hits a homerun, dog.”

  Fred stands. Vaughn holds up both hands, the clipboard high in the air. “All right. Anybody else here makes another inappropriate comment, and I’m calling your parents. I’ll close this camp down and every one of you will pack your bags. Does everyone hear me loud and clear?” The group hems and haws. “I said, does everyone hear me loud and clear?” His voice is so stern I almost give him a yes, sir.

  The campers concede with yesses and nods.

  He glares around the group, and they all stare back at him with wide eyes. “You know what. Get up. All of you. Come with me.”

  He stalks toward the tree line, leading the campers to the courts. I bring up the rear, making sure they all follow him, and they do.

  Keisha holds back and falls into step with me. “Is Vaughn okay?”

  “He’s fine. He’s just trying something new this week.”

  “Do you love him?” she asks.

  I falter in my step but quickly gain back control of myself. “Do you mean, like, as a person?”

  “No, I mean do you love him as a boy?”

  “Oh, no. No.”

  “Do you like him as a boy?”

  My heart rate pitter patters. “I don’t think…I…”

  She grins at me. “You don’t have to answer that.”

  I roll my eyes. “Good. Thanks.”

  She looks at Josh, who trails behind Vaughn. “Can I tell you a secret?”

  I smile at her. “Of course.”

  “I like someone here.”

  “Oh, yeah? Can I guess who?”

  She jerks her head up at me with wild eyes. “You know?”

  “Girl, I’m not blind, am I?”

  “Do you think he knows I like him?”

  I wave her off. “Nah. He’s too busy trying to please Vaughn to notice anything else around him. He’s a boy. They’re pretty clueless when it comes to that stuff.”

  She covers her chest with her hand. “Good. I don’t want him to know.”

  “How come?”

  “Because he might not like me back.”

  “He’d be crazy not to.”

  She grins and looks down at her feet as she walks.

  Vaughn goes over to the storage shed where we keep all the gear. Nancy corrals the kids onto the court with Fred hovering off to the side by the bleachers. I follow Vaughn into the shed. He shoulders one of the bags containing half the racquets. “Can I get the other one?” I ask.

  “I got it.” He hauls it on top of the ball cart and starts to push the cart out the door, but I stand in the way.

  “You got huffy pretty quickly back there,” I say.

  He points at me. “I’m not going to have these kids disrespecting you like that.”

  Aww. How am I supposed to fuss at him when he’s being all sweet and gallant? “I’m fine.”

  “I’m not fine with that. One thing I learned from last week is you’ve got to lay the hammer down quick or you lose all power out here.”

  I nod, impressed. “You’re right about that. So I take it s’mores are out of the equation?”

  “I’m gonna make them earn their damn s’mores.” He takes my arm as I try to walk away, and I turn back around. “If any of these boys ever disrespects you again, you’ll tell me, right?”

  I smile. “Okay.” I grab a ball hop and follow him to the court. I’ve never had a boy be so protective of me. It’s totally hot.

  Nancy and Fred pass out racquets to all the kids, and Vaughn points his racquet. “Form two lines behind the baseline there. One in the ad court and one in the deuce court.”

  They all look confused, but Keisha, Josh, and Micah have a week under their belts, so they each go to head up a line, Josh beating Micah for first, and the other kids fall in.

  “This game is called Catch Your Way In. Carlyn, will you please come feed a line?” I grab a racquet and position myself on the opposite side of the ball cart from Vaughn. “If you miss the ball, come around here to the coach’s side to be a catcher. You can’t get back in line to try again until you catch a ball.” He looks at me. “Ready?”

  I give him a nod with a hint of a smile. He winks at me, turns back to the kids, and starts feeding balls. “Who thinks our side is gonna win?” he shouts. His line yells in unison.

  “Wait, how do you win?” a kid asks.

  “Last woman standing wins,” I shout.

  “Woman?” one of the boys shouts.

  I point to my line, which contains all the girls who naturally followed Keisha. “That’s right. We’re gonna win, aren’t we ladies?”

  The court erupts with shouts and chaos, and we’re herding cats all over again. Balls fly, kids bump into each other, and giggles consume the court. Vaughn shouts, “Go, go, go!” hitting balls constantly while I’m laughing too hard to keep up. He looks over at me with a smile that melts my soul into putty, and I am good as goo.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Vaughn

  I peek out of my cabin door to see if Carlyn’s dad is still standing in the drive. He insisted on coming up to meet Tessa, Jeffrey’s girlfriend who will be acting as chaperone to Carlyn for this trip. I use the term girlfriend loosely. I hadn’t even met her until today.

  Let’s just say this morning’s brunch at the pavilion goes down as one of the most awkward meals of my life, and I’ve had lots of them traveling internationally and eating with strangers. Tessa, Carlyn, and Nancy carried the entire conversation while Carlyn’s dad glared at Jeffrey most of the time. Tessa either acted or simply was clueless to any friction at the table, which admittedly, helped move things along and keep everything civil.

  Carlyn and I sat at opposite ends on the same side of the table, so we couldn’t even see each other, which was probably best, because I’d just want to make funny faces at her or give knowing looks or something, and I really don’t need to be doing that. I need to be keeping my distance…remaining professional, which is going to be a challenge as we travel to Chicago.

  Tessa gives Carlyn’s dad a big hug, the smile huge on her face. She’s reassuring, I’ll give her that. Although she sort of resembles that woman who was with Carlyn’s dad who Jeffrey stole away, so that’s probably not helping matters.

  Carlyn walks her dad to the car, and I peer out the window, waiting for him to leave. Once his car’s totally out of sight, I grab my duffle and my tennis bag and head to Jeffrey’s Range Rover. Jeffrey gets behind the wheel, and Tessa stands by the passenger door saying her goodbyes to Nancy. Carlyn hugs Nancy, and then gets in the car. Nancy gives me a warning look, and I swallow hard. I start to walk away, and she grabs my arm. “Vaughn, a quick word.”

  She takes a few steps from the car, and I follow her, my chest heating, ready to relive the fun of last weekend. We stop, and she looks me in the eye. “I like you, Vaughn, a lot.”

  “Thank you,” I say, rather than saying something stupid like, “I like you, too.” I do like Nancy and Fred. I’d probably think they were sort of like parents if I had a good idea of what that looked like. But it’d be weird if I said it.

  “I’m too old and have seen too much to think my telling two young kids to keep their hands off of one another is going to be effective.”

  My stomach churns like an ice-cream maker.

  “Whatever happens in Chicago, can I trust you to be respectful of Carlyn and her wishes?”

&
nbsp; “Oh God, yes. Of course. But I’m not planning—”

  She holds up a hand like a crossing guard. “I know you’re not. But plans change more often than they don’t. Carlyn is young, and underage. I don’t need to tell you that.”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “She’s also strong-willed and no shrinking violet.”

  I try to control my grin as I nod in confirmation.

  “Whatever happens this weekend or this summer, just use your head. Can I trust you to do that?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She lets out an exhaustive sigh, and then turns around to leave. She’s a few steps away when she turns back and says, “You dropped something there.”

  Dropped something? I check my pocket for my phone, and it’s there. I’ve got my wallet. I look around at my feet, and that’s when I spot purple wrappers. I reach down and pick up two condoms. I turn around quickly to make sure Carlyn doesn’t see. She sits in the back seat with her head tilted down toward her lap. I shove them in my pocket, heat filling my neck like a boiling cauldron. I let myself in the car and pull the seat belt down.

  “Ready to roll?” Jeffrey asks.

  “Yep.”

  Tessa grins over at Jeffrey. “Road trip time.” She does a little dance in her seat, and it’s sort of immature for an adult.

  Carlyn grasps the side of the headrest and leans around. “Thank you, for meeting with my dad, Tessa.”

  “Oh, that was no problem. I’m great with parents. Always have been.” She shoves Jeffrey on the arm flirtatiously. “Do you want me to meet your parents? Huh? Huh?” She giggles, tossing her hair back and then sliding a pair of sunglasses onto her face.

  I realize that she’s not as old as I thought she was. I guess next to the two old guys, she seemed like one of them, but now I’m thinking she might be closer to my age than Jeffrey’s.

  “I need a Diet Coke,” she says.

  “We’ll get one when we stop for gas.”

  “Thank you, my love,” she says. Jeffrey grunts, and she leans over to him and pinches his side. “Just kidding, you big buzzkill.”