Love on the Line (Beaumont Legacy #2)

25. Maya

Chapter twenty-five

Maya

T here was a buzz rumbling through Maya as she looked at the school bus outside of the tennis center, and she wasn’t sure if it was from nerves or excitement. Probably both. Launch day had finally come, which meant she was about to meet the first group of twenty children her charity was helping.

And while Maya was sad Cooper wouldn’t be able to make it, she was ecstatic Delilah and Nicola had been able to come around their tour schedules. Their teams had agreed to let them fly in for the day before they had to go back to Florida to train for Wimbledon.

Maya jogged from the parking lot to right outside the office, where two of her closest friends stood, and without a thought, she threw her arms around them both .

“You’re really here,” she breathed, closing her eyes and imagining she was back on the tour, just one last time, enveloped in a hug in her tennis gear.

Delilah laughed, trying to wrap her arms around Maya as Nicola cracked a soft smile and patted Maya on the arm.

“Of course we are. We’re so proud of you, we had to be here. You know Harper and Sahar would be here too if Berlin weren’t so very far,” Delilah said, squeezing Maya tight.

Maya pulled away and asked, “Ready to meet the kiddos?”

They both nodded.

“Oh, also, my friend who manages this center is absolutely going to ask you to sign a tennis ball for her, sorry. She’s done a lot for me though, so hopefully that’s okay.”

“Are you kidding? I never get to talk to fans. I can’t wait!” Delilah responded, already pulling open the door to the center, Maya and Nicola following behind her.

The kids, all elementary school-aged, were running around, their backpacks on the tables that took up the back area of the center. Viola was behind the counter, as she usually was, stacks of tennis rackets in front of her. When she saw them walk in, she smiled wide and waved.

“Oh, come in, come in! We’ve got the courts set up with baskets for the three of you, and here are rackets for the kids.” Viola nodded toward the rackets.

Turning to address the children, she said, “One, two, three, eyes on me,” and a hush fell over the center, kids stopping mid-stride. “Great job! You’re my best group yet. If I put you in group one when you came in, please follow Ms. Maya to court one!”

Maya waved so they knew to follow her, grabbing the rackets Viola handed her with a matching smile and walking backward to make sure she could memorize the faces of her group. Viola asked group two to follow Nicola to court two, then group three to follow Delilah to court three.

Out on the court, Maya had each of them give her their name a couple of times until she’d memorized those as well.

“Have any of you had tennis lessons before?” They all shook their heads, so she smiled and passed out the rackets, showing each of them how to hold it.

“Okay, let’s get a line started right here.” She walked over to the center of the court and had them line up ahead of her.

“I’m going to throw a ball to you, and I want you to try to hit it like this.” She showed them the motion, her wrist only barely twinging thanks to physical therapy, and then she had them practice, spacing them out a bit more when Jimmy almost smacked Andrea in the head. “Okay, one at a time, show me how you would hit a ball.”

They did so, and when she’d helped them fix their grips sufficiently, Maya grabbed the basket and began tossing the balls to them. Most struggled to get their racket on the ball the first few times, but after a couple more rounds of trying, Maya coaching them, picking up the balls, and trying again, they were beginning to get the hang of it .

Jimmy walked up, and his toothy, six-year-old smile made her heart warm. When the frame of his racket thwacked the ball, he giggled, and Maya joined in.

“I hit it that time. Coach Maya, did you see? I hit it that time!” Jimmy’s excitement was infectious, and she held her hand out for a low five, his little hand slapping at it.

“Great job, Jimmy! You keep at it and you’re going to be a pro in no time.” She smiled as she watched him hop to the back of the line.

She continued feeding the balls to the children, and when the basket was empty and the kids were trying out the new move she’d taught them to pick up a ball without bending over, Maya looked to the court beside hers, still a little shocked to see Delilah there giving lessons too. Across the walkway was Nicola, who was smiling more with the children than she did with most adults.

Unexpectedly, Maya felt tears prick her eyes, and she smiled, because for the first time in a while, they weren’t tears of grief or frustration. How lucky was she that she got to feel this happy accomplishing a dream she hadn’t even known she’d had until a few months ago?

Cooper had been right about good days and bad days. Some days, she woke up and felt like she had to crawl back out of the well of emotion. Other days, she felt on top of the world. A lot of the good days were because of this charity, the work it was already doing, but also what it had the potential to do. Maya had carved out a new path for herself, one she’d never seen in her future, but it was quickly beginning to feel so right for her.

Sure, twenty kids wasn’t a lot, but Viola and Maya had already been contacted by five or six coaches from all over the city who were interested in helping, and Maya knew that someday soon, On the Line was going to help many more.

It was like the sun had come back out and the feelings of anger and grief had skittered away again. Never gone, but held at bay for longer and longer, just like the ones that had been with her since her mom had died.

Once the basket was full again, she continued tossing balls to the seven kids on her court, correcting their form the best she could for it being their first day. Viola walked by, monitoring the lessons with a big smile.

Maya let the kids take a quick water break, laughing at their squeals of delight as they ran back into the air-conditioned center. Los Angeles in May was no picnic on the tennis courts, but Maya loved the feel of the sun beating down on her.

With a tennis racket in her hands, a hard court beneath her shoes, her hair in a braid, and her best friends on the court beside and across from her, Maya was finally back.

After arriving at Maya’s house and showering, Delilah, Nicola, and Maya had decided to stay in for the evening. There was a reporter who looked vaguely familiar standing outside the house, even though neither her brothers nor Cooper were with them.

Delilah and Maya lay with their backs on the floor, legs up against the couch, watching the TV upside down, partially finished frozen margaritas beside them. Nicola lay on the couch, a bowl of chips balanced on her chest and a hand on Delilah’s leg, placed there after Delilah had drunkenly complained that she needed physical touch immediately.

Maya had missed this dearly, and even though Harper and Sahar weren’t here, it felt like old times when they would have a few days here and there to spend together at the Morozov Academy, the girls piling into the tiny apartment Delilah and Maya had shared.

“I missed you so much,” Delilah said sleepily, threading her fingers through Maya’s. “What’s been going on outside of the charity and seeing your family again?”

Maya had debated all night whether to tell them about Cooper.

She wasn’t sure what would happen to her and Cooper once they were public. Maya knew he wasn’t Ryan, that things were different between them, but she couldn’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop and for him to realize he didn’t want to be with her.

Maya looked between her friends, knowing without a doubt they would keep it a secret. She hadn’t shared it with anyone else in her life, and the urge to talk about it was strong, especially with her closest friends. So she told them about it and why they weren’t allowed to tell anyone.

Nicola scoffed playfully. “Worst kept secret of the century, Mai. The one time I hung out with you both, you looked like you wanted to rip each other’s clothes off.” That would’ve been at New Years, right before Maya reinjured her wrist.

Delilah giggled.

“It’s not just that though. Sure, that part is fun, even if we haven’t gone all the way, but I’ve genuinely never felt like this about someone outside of you guys. He feels like one of my best friends. Like if the six of us went out together, he’d fit right in.”

Delilah sighed dreamily. “Oh, to love a brother’s best friend.”

“Yeah, but when are you going to tell your brother? I have to imagine it’ll only be worse the longer you wait, no?” Nicola asked, ever the pragmatist.

Maya knew the time was coming to tell Colton, but she was terrified. She was a grown woman, but Colton was still very protective of her, and even if he weren’t, she imagined it would be uncomfortable for him. Hell, if one of her friends started dating Landon, she’d feel a little weird about it, even if she’d be happy for them.

“Not sure yet,” she murmured. “Soon, I think. We just admitted we have feelings for each other. I’m scared of rocking the boat on something so new.”

“Makes sense,” Nicola responded over the crunch of a chip.

“And you guys? What’s been going on on the tour?”

“Dating wise?” Nicola asked.

Maya shrugged. “Anything. I’ve missed our apartment talks.”

Delilah sat up on her elbows before pointing accusingly at Nicola. “You have to tell her!”

“Oh, I love the sound of this. What happened?”

Nicola rolled her eyes as Delilah exclaimed, “Tell her, tell her! Or I will.”

“Alright, fine. I may or may not find a certain Morozov a little bit sexy.”

Maya gasped, knowing how much Nicola hated Anya. “You think Anya is hot?”

“As if.”

“She has a crush on Anya’s brother ,” Delilah practically yelled, like she couldn’t stop herself.

“I’m not eight. It’s not a crush. I can just admit when I think someone’s attractive, and annoyingly, now that he’s everywhere I turn, I am admitting I’m attracted to him.” Nicola sighed, gazing up at the ceiling. “It’s not like anything’s going to happen.”

Delilah pouted but lay back down. “At least you have prospects. Most of the guys on tour are full of themselves.”

Just as Maya opened her mouth to ask a question, her phone flashed with a call from Cooper. She frowned. She’d told him she wouldn’t be able to talk tonight, and he’d told her he was glad she was having fun, so if he was calling her, it meant something had happened.

She excused herself for a second, feeling the slight dizziness of the second margarita finally hitting her. “Coop?”

“Hi, sweetheart.” His voice sounded strained, and Maya’s frown only deepened. “I’m so sorry to bother you. I’ll only be a minute.”

Trepidation filled her veins. “Coop, what’s going on?”

“It’s…it’s my dad. He had a heart attack.”

Maya blinked, instantly sober. “Oh, Coop. How can I help? I can be on a plane to Charleston in the morning.” It’d only been a few days since he’d come to surprise her, and they hadn’t planned to see each other for a couple more weeks—until the end of May, when Colton accepted the Buck Isaac award in Charleston.

“Do—” He cleared his throat. “Could you come to Tennessee? I just bought my ticket to get in tomorrow and can meet you at the airport. If you want to come.”

“Of course I want to come. I’ll get a ticket now.” Her heart broke for Cooper, who sounded distraught, and she wanted to hold him. He’d been supporting her so much recently, and she ached to do the same for him.

“I just bought it for you. I’m sending you the info.” He cleared his throat again.

She was already accepting too much help from him. Maya didn’t want him to have to pay for her ticket too. “Wait, Coop, you didn’t have to— ”

“You’re doing me a favor. Of course I did. Now go hang out with the girls. Thank you for answering.”

Maya took a few more steps away from the living room. “I can stay on with you if you want to talk.”

“Thank you, sweetheart. I’m going to try to sleep. I miss you, and I can’t wait to see you.”

“I miss you too.”

When Maya returned, her friends were out cold. She texted Viola about her change of plans and packed a bag, so worried about Cooper’s father, she didn’t have time to contemplate that she was about to meet his entire family.