“Was that the reason you chose Jekyll Island for that year’s trip? So your grandmother and the woman who stole her heart could relive old times?”
“No, it was more like a happy accident, but in retrospect, I guess you could call it fate. Grandma Meredith and I always chose our destinations at random. She’d pull out a map, and I would close my eyes and point. Whatever city my finger landed on was the one we ended up traveling to. That year, our destination turned out to be Jekyll Island, Grandma Natalie’s hometown.”
“Did you and Tatum hit it off right away?”
“Not even close. Lincoln, her German shepherd, took to me right away, but Tatum and I butted heads from the start. We had differing opinions on pretty much everything. I’m an anti-war activist and she’s a former Marine who was injured in Afghanistan.”
“What happened?”
“She was shot three times when the convoy she was riding in drove into an ambush. She was confined to a wheelchair for several years, and is finally starting to walk again. She can’t do it without support of some kind, but she’s getting closer every day. She was an avid cyclist before she was injured, so she jumped at the chance when the fitness pro on board said she’d be able to take part in spin class. I know how badly she wants to get back to being the physically active person she once was, but I don’t want her to push herself too hard and have a setback. It took her so long to get to this point. She’d be devastated if she had to start all over again. So would I.”
Jordan seemed in need of comfort, so Spencer reached over and patted her hand. “The way you describe Tatum, she sounds pretty indestructible. If she survived getting shot three times, I think she can handle a measly spin class, don’t you?”
Jordan grinned. “My concerns sound pretty silly when you put it that way.”
“It’s not silly to be concerned about someone you love.” And Spencer could practically see Jordan’s love for Tatum oozing from her pores. “But we’re on a ship filled with lesbians, which means there’s probably an inordinate number of doctors, nurses, police officers, and paramedics on board. If something does happen to go wrong during the session, I’m sure Tatum will be in good hands.
“That’s what she said.” The smile in Jordan’s eyes matched the one on her face. “The next time your parents are thinking of traveling to Jekyll, shoot me an email and I’ll make sure their preferred room is available.”
“I’ll be sure to let them know, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to give them a trip to France instead.”
“If you’re talking about the BOGO, you don’t have a chance because I’ve got the winning ticket right here.” Jordan patted the front pocket of her bright orange board shorts. “Do you want to trade?”
“No, thanks. I think I’ll take my chances with the one I already have.”
“If you do win, have you figured out a way to sneak your father onto a women-only cruise?”
“I haven’t worked out that tiny little detail yet. Maybe I can persuade someone to bend the rules.”
“Good luck with that. Some of the passengers take the women-only thing seriously. That’s why they chose to book this cruise instead of the family and friends trip in November that follows the same itinerary.” The house lights dropped, letting everyone know the program was about to begin. Jordan squeezed Spencer’s hand as the audience began to buzz with excitement. “Thanks for talking me off the ledge. If you don’t have any plans this afternoon, I’d love to introduce you to Tatum and buy both of you a drink. I can afford to be magnanimous when the drinks are all-inclusive.”
“In that case, make mine a double.”
* * *
As she waited to go onstage to host the Q and A, Amy referred to the notes she had written on the index cards in her hands. She had jotted down several talking points she wanted to address during today’s session. She gave them one last once-over to make sure she had an equal number of questions about both Laure’s and Sinjin’s tennis careers.
Laure had been the more accomplished singles player—she had won three Grand Slam titles, compared to Sinjin’s one—but they had been a formidable doubles team and were now partners in life as well as in business. Amy had been fans of both when they were on tour, and she didn’t want to appear to favor one over the other now.
“You don’t need those.” Sinjin, the more gregarious of the two, plucked the index cards from Amy’s hands and held them out of reach. Six foot one and still within five pounds of her playing weight, even though she had been off the tour for almost six years, she was easily able to fend off Amy’s attempts to retrieve the cards. “If you start off by asking Laure a question about wine, she’ll talk for at least an hour uninterrupted, and neither of us will have to say anything except Hello and Thanks for coming.”
Laure, who had always been reserved during her matches and the press conferences that followed, pursed her lips to keep from smiling. “Obviously,” she said in the sexy French accent that had earned her nearly as many admirers as her gorgeous backhand, “you’re planning on sleeping alone tonight.”
“In that case, forget I said anything.” Sinjin returned the cards, swept Laure into her arms, twirled her around, and gave her a lingering kiss.
Amy loved the rapport Laure and Sinjin shared. Even though she hadn’t met them prior to the trip, she was well aware of their love story. They had been friendly rivals for years before they began to fall for each during the last tournament either would ever play. Laure had lost in the semifinals of Wimbledon that year. Sinjin had taken the trophy home. She had also captured Laure’s heart along the way.
Even if she hadn’t been privy to the details of Laure and Sinjin’s relationship, Amy could tell they had been friends before they became lovers. Each made jokes at the other’s expense, as most athletes were wont to do, but their jibes were tempered by their obvious affection for each other. Amy wanted a love like that. Someone who didn’t allow her to get too full of herself, but looked at her like she was the only woman in the world. One day, when she could finally slow down long enough to start looking, maybe she’d be able to find it.
“Okay, you’ve convinced me.” Amy tossed the index cards aside. “Let’s just go out there and have an organic conversation. We’ll banter back and forth for a while, open it up to the audience for questions, hold the raffle for the riverboat cruise, then segue into the wine tasting.”
“Or we could start with the wine tasting, then spend the next hour getting hammered,” Sinjin said. “If we go with that approach, I won’t have to work quite so hard at pretending to be charming. An English accent helps, but it can take me only so far.”
“All jokes aside,” Laure said after she finished laughing at Sinjin’s latest. “Would you like us to set aside some time for autographs after the session?”
Laure was always generous with her time when she was on tour. Willing to sign every souvenir and shake any hand that was thrust in her direction. Amy was pleasantly surprised to see she hadn’t changed. “An autograph session would be a wonderful addition to the program, but I don’t want to impose on your time. I’m sure most of the guests in attendance would probably be satisfied simply having an opportunity to interact with you.”
“It isn’t an imposition,” Sinjin said. “We’re retired, remember? We’ve got nothing but time.”
Amy was used to dealing with artists who wanted to cut their performances short, not extend them. That way, they could do less work for the same amount of money. Laure and Sinjin were offering to do more work for free. Their request was practically unheard of, but Amy was more than willing to fulfill it.
“I’ll make the announcement before we conduct the drawing for the giveaway. Thanks for making my job so easy.”
The rotating team of comedians and musicians who provided entertainment for SOS Tours were easy to deal with because they were practically part of the team. The special guests who dropped in from time to time, however, were often more problematic to deal with. Amy was glad she didn’t h
ave to worry about fulfilling any exotic contract riders or keeping anyone’s fragile ego in check. Then again, the week wasn’t over yet. She still had a celebrity chef to deal with. Now that everyone and her sister was a foodie, some celebrity chefs could be even bigger prima donnas than most A-list actors.
“I’ll go out first, welcome the audience, and read both your bios,” Amy said. “Then I’ll introduce you, and you can walk onstage together.”
“I would make a comment about age before beauty,” Sinjin said, “but considering I’ve already been put on notice, I think it’s best if I refrain.”
“Good idea.” Amy watched as Wendy Crane, SOS Tours’ resident lighting and sound expert, fitted Laure and Sinjin with wireless headset microphones. She preferred a cordless microphone because she liked having something to hold on to. That way, she didn’t have to worry about what to do with her hands when she got nervous. “I’ll see you out there. Thanks again for agreeing to do this.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Laure said.
“How are your accommodations?”
“Spectacular.”
Laure and Sinjin were staying in one of the VIP suites on the navigation deck. The suite featured a king-sized bed, a hot tub, a living room, a dining room, a dressing room, a pantry, a full-sized refrigerator, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a private veranda. Amy, in contrast, was residing in the crew quarters deep within the recesses of the ship. The rooms were cramped and the views were terrible, but the parties the members of the crew and SOS Tours employees threw after hours made everyone forget about their surroundings. Depending on how much alcohol they had downed, they sometimes forgot the commitments they had made to the people waiting for them at home, too. Amy had never been in their shoes. She couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or a curse. She liked being able to have fun guilt-free, but she often wondered how it would feel to have someone greet her at the airport at the end of a trip. To have something to go home to other than an empty apartment.
Sinjin draped her arm across Laure’s shoulder. “This is the best working vacation we’ve ever had. I’m tempted to remain on board rather than disembarking in Puerto Rico like we planned.”
Amy hoped Sinjin was kidding. If not, she would have to scramble to find accommodations for Griffin Sutton, the celebrity chef who would be performing a cooking demonstration during the leg from St. Maarten to Nassau. “The ship’s full and your room has already been allotted to the next VIP,” she said tactfully, “but I’d be happy to send you some information about future trips.”
“Please do.”
Amy was overjoyed to see SOS had made a favorable impression on the three VIPs she had spoken to at this point. After her concert yesterday, Reagan Carter had said she planned to make a return trip. Now Sinjin and Laure were echoing her sentiments. If the paying guests felt the same way, the debacle in Cancún might become nothing more than a distant memory. She and the rest of SOS Tours’ employees were eager to put that dark day behind them for good. Today represented another step on the path, and she was eager to continue the journey.
* * *
Spencer didn’t have a clear view of the stage from her vantage point. Thankfully, she didn’t need one. Oversized images of Amy and her guests were splashed across the large projection screens located on either side of the stage. Spencer watched as Amy interviewed Laure Fortescue and Sinjin Smythe. No, interview wasn’t the right word. Amy seemed to be conversing with them, not interrogating them. They chatted like they were old friends. Amy asked Laure and Sinjin a series of questions about their lives before, during, and after their tennis careers. No matter if their responses were funny or touching, they seemed thought out rather than rehearsed.
“She’s a natural,” Jordan said.
“She’s like Ellen DeGeneres without the jokes.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of Rachel Maddow without the professional lesbian haircut, but I’ll go along with that.”
“If anyone has any questions,” Amy said, “raise your hand and Sunny will bring you the microphone so everyone can hear what you have to say.”
An African-American woman in the front row raised her hand. She had the bearing of either a soldier or a law enforcement officer. Her posture was so perfect it prompted Spencer to improve her own. “I have a question,” the woman said as Spencer sat straighter in her seat.
“What’s your name, and where are you from?” Amy asked.
“My name is Bathsheba Morris, and I’m from Washington, DC,” the woman said after Sunny handed her a cordless microphone.
“Thanks for coming today, Bathsheba,” Laure said. “What’s your question?”
“I would ask you to say my name again, but I think my partner might take issue with that.”
“You’re damn right I would,” the woman next to Bathsheba said. Her voice projected so well she didn’t need a microphone to make herself heard throughout the room.
“I might have a problem with that, too.” Sinjin jogged to the edge of the stage to give Bathsheba’s partner a fist bump as the butches in attendance roared in approval.
“Now that Raq’s day has been made and my dreams have been dashed,” Bathsheba said, “let me say it was a privilege to watch you and Sinjin play. I’ve always dreamed of having a backhand like yours, Laure, or a serve like yours, Sinjin. Since I was blessed with neither, I’m much better at watching tennis than I am at playing it. Both of you walked away relatively early. Laure, you were twenty-seven. And, Sinjin, you were just twenty-five.”
“I think you know our bios better than we do,” Sinjin said, prompting a round of laughter.
“My question is,” Bathsheba said after the laughter died down, “do you still watch the game, or did you completely leave it behind when you retired?”
“That’s a great question,” Laure said as Bathsheba returned the microphone to Sunny and resumed her seat. “Even though people speculate we left the game too soon, I think I speak for both of us when I say we left because we both knew we had nothing left to prove. For me, winning the French Open fulfilled a lifelong dream. Winning Wimbledon did the same for Sinjin. Once we accomplished those goals, we were ready to get on with our lives. We don’t regret our respective decisions, but we do miss the game. To answer your question, there are far too many tournaments for us to keep track of every single result, but we do pay close attention to each of the Grand Slams because they’re the pinnacle of our sport, and it’s always awe-inspiring to watch someone make history. Thank you for your question, Bathsheba. And for having such a beautiful name.”
“So no chance of a comeback?” someone shouted without waiting for Sunny to hand her the microphone.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Sinjin said, “but I wouldn’t count on it, either. I wanted to be a tennis player from the moment I held a racquet in my hands. Walking away from a sport I loved was simultaneously the easiest and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Hardest because I was walking away from the only life I had ever known. Easiest because I knew I was heading toward a life I always wanted.”
Spencer couldn’t help but tear up when Sinjin clasped Laure’s hand. Jordan’s reaction was slightly different.
“I could eat her up with a spoon, couldn’t you?”
“I think that’s the perfect segue into the next part of our program,” Amy said. “In case you weren’t aware, Laure and Sinjin own a vineyard in Saint-Tropez. They have generously brought a few bottles along with them today. Would you like to try some?”
The women in the audience whooped so loud Spencer’s ears rang.
“Before we pop the corks,” Amy said, “let me point out that Laure and Sinjin’s vineyard is a popular location for picnics, weddings, and tours. It is also the site of an optional excursion during SOS Tours’ upcoming riverboat cruise from Montpellier to Monaco. All food and drinks are included. Each dinner will feature a French entrée, and local cheeses will be included in the dessert course. The centerpiece of the trip, aside from the excursion to th
e vineyard, of course, is a three-course meal served in a chateau overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We’ll have two of your favorite SOS Tours entertainers on board as well.”
“She makes the trip sound even better than Sunny did,” Spencer said.
Jordan clutched her ticket. “I’ll tell you all about it when Tatum and I get back.”
“I can skip directly to the wine tasting if you like,” Amy said, “or I could give away a buy-one-get-one for the riverboat cruise. What do you say?”
“BOGO, BOGO, BOGO,” the crowd chanted in unison.
“I thought you might say that. Sunny, may I have the numbers, please?”
As Sunny handed Amy a black drawstring bag, Spencer pulled her ticket out of her pocket and stared at the numbers she had already committed to memory.
“Good luck,” Jordan said.
“You, too.”
“The tickets in this bag correspond to the ticket each of you were given when you walked in earlier,” Amy said. “I hope you held on to your half because Sunny will have to take a look at it in order to verify the winner. Winners have to be present to win, and if you think you won’t be able to take part in the trip, please let everyone know so someone who can attend will have a chance to win.” She gave the bag a good shake and pulled it open. “Sinjin, would you do the honors?”
“I’d be happy to.”
Spencer’s palms began to sweat when Sinjin stuck her hand in the bag, pulled out a ticket, and handed the ticket to Laure. She felt like someone who had used her last dollar to buy a lottery ticket and the winning numbers were about to be drawn. Life would go on if she didn’t win, but it sure would be a hell of a lot better if she did.
“Please say five-seven-nine-six-two,” she whispered. “Please say five-seven-nine-six-two.”
“The winning number is five, seven…” Laure paused as several groans of disappointment echoed around the room. “Nine.”
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