Game, Set, Match (A Humorous Contemporary Romance) (Love Match) (24 page)

Nick cut his conversation off. From his tone, Jason made the assumption he’d been talking to a girl. “You ready to check out some footage?”

Nick ambled over and gave him a now-typical, one-armed, man-hug. Jason knew the familiarity of the one-armed man-hug, but the foray into the world of “down” handshakes following the hug baffled him.

“Yeah.
Thanks for coming by. Mom let you in?”

Pretty sure Nick meant Izzy, Jason nodded. “Yeah, she did. She seemed pretty surprised to see me though.”

Nick cringed. “Sorry. I mentioned I wanted to review some tapes with a friend. I think she assumed I meant someone from the team.” He shrugged. “Since you’re not her favorite person right now, I figured I’d let her think what she wanted.”

Jason tried to stop the quirking up of his lips. “Okay, but next time,
check with her. I don’t want her to come down hard on you.”

Nick nodded in agreement. “Okay, can do. Though, Mom’s never come down hard on me, unless I screw up pretty bad.”

Jason followed as Nick led him into the house. “That’s good. I doubt you’d ever screw up that bad. My mother loved to get on my case.”

“You were a screw up?”

Jason thought back to his childhood and grinned. Then, remembering his teenaged audience, he curbed the grin. “I got into a little trouble.”

When they settled in the family room, Jason was surprised at how comfortable he felt with Nick.

Jason paused one of the tapes to point out Nick’s opponent. “You see what happened right here? He’s getting ready to come into the net.”

Nick leaned in. “Yeah, it’s where he always gets me. I always misjudge and end up putting a ball into his racket I can’t chase down.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. You want to be careful. Lucky for you he has a tell.” Jason went to the screen to identify the opponent’s footwork. “Notice the weight change?” Waiting for Nick to nod, he went on. “He does it every time he comes into the net. Like a bad habit.”

Comprehension lit Nick’s features. “No shit.
Oh yeah.” Then looking at Jason he grimaced. “Sorry.”

Jason almost laughed out loud. Figuring humor wouldn’t go over well, he said, “You should hear my language on the practice court.”

At Nick’s smile, Jason went on. “I suggest, against this guy, to go in with that strong forehand of yours. When he comes in, put the ball in the corner. He won’t catch on.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “I’ll be able to get him every time. Beating him has been real hard before. Now I have a chance.”

Jason smiled. Pride welling in his heart. “You always had a chance. You didn’t understand till now.” He shrugged and added, “Might only work for a little while though. His coach will coach him out of the habit eventually. For now, it’ll take care of your problem of giving up those crucial first games to him.”

Nick nodded. “I can do that. The coach for
Emmetsville doesn’t seem to care about anything as long as they win. He’s tough to beat.”

“I’m sure you can. You’ll need to stay focused.”

Nick popped in another tape and brought sodas for the both of them. When he settled back down, he pierced Jason with a worried stare. “Can I ask you something?”

Jason’s nerves skipped and jumped to life. He didn’t like the seriousness in Nick’s voice. “Sure.” His mind raced for a kid appropriate answer to a slew of possible questions.

“You used to date my mother.”

It was a statement, and not a question, so Jason waited for the rest.

“Was she always like this?”

Jason let out a breath. Again, he couldn’t decipher if Nick meant Izzy, or Sabrina. “Was she always like what?”

Nick shrugged. “All about herself, I guess.” Shrugging again, he shook his head. “I dunno. Not interested in anyone else.”

Sabrina
. Jason breathed a sigh of relief, but he struggled with what to say. He opened his mouth, but Nick interrupted.

“You don’t have to be super nice about her like Mom is. I know she tries for my sake.”
He quirked his head in a nonchalant teenager’s way. “She doesn’t want to ever say anything bad about her, ‘cause she wants me to have a relationship with her, or something.”

Jason wondered if Nick was really thirteen. He already possessed more wisdom than he should at his age. “Izzy’s number one concern is you. She wants you to be happy.”

“Yeah I know.”

Understanding he should address the question about Sabrina, Jason took a deep breath. “Your mother—” Changing his mind, he started again. “Sabrina is lost. Always has been. She’s always been searching for love and acceptance in all the wrong places.”

Nick didn’t face Jason but gave Jason a sidelong glance as he swiped his hair out of his face.

Jason continued, “Because she’s always been hurting inside, she can’t relate and identify well.”

Jason frowned. How could he dissect someone he hadn’t seen in years? “She wants someone to love her in the exact way she needs, and when things don’t happen how she wants, she searches for love somewhere else. When she does find love, she doesn’t know what to do, so she runs.”

Nick pondered for a minute. “Why does she treat my mom the way she does?”

A prickle of sweat rolled down Jason’s back. He hadn’t realized reviewing some tapes would turn into an inquisition. “Uh, well—”

Nick gave him a look that said he knew Jason was trying to find a graceful lie. “You don’t have to make up an answer.”

Damn
. He didn’t want to lie to the kid. “Because your mom lets her.” Truth was the truth. Izzy had always let Sabrina steamroll her.

“Oh. Okay. Do you have a thing with my mom?”

Jason choked on his coke, the sweet liquid running down his chin. He swiped at it and laughed. “God, you’re gonna make a great lawyer one day. What’s with the twenty questions?”

Nick smiled. “It’d be okay.” He indicated his head in the direction of the bedrooms. “I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to take her out or something.”

Wow
. Jason hadn’t been so nervous since asking out Mary Lou Sims in the sixth grade. A small part of him was touched at the gesture of Nick’s blessing, but he didn’t want the kid’s hopes up. “Your mom is great, but it’s, uhm…”

“Complicated?” Nick offered.

Jason nodded. “Yeah complicated.” 
Good save
.

Nick shook his head. “That’s what adults always say. Then they tell kids to be honest about what we’re feeling and stuff.”

Nothing slipped past this kid.

Jason needed to get back on solid ground, so he changed the subject back to tennis. “What’s your plan? Are you going out on the
Juniors round this year?”

The noncommittal teen shrug made another appearance. “I
dunno.”

Relishing the idea of not having the spotlight on him, Jason prodded, “What’s not to know?”

“Mom says I don’t have to go if I don’t want to.” He took a deep breath. “Coach seems to think everything’s all final and set. Keeps talking to me as if we’re heading out on the road together.”

Jason nodded encouragement to keep going. “You don’t think you’re ready?”

Nick took a sip of soda. “I guess I’m ready, but I guess I feel like I have to. What would you do?”

He thought about it as he took another sip. “What is it about
Juniors you’re not into?”

Nick glanced toward the bedrooms again. “I’m not sure I want to play tennis forever. I think I need to think through some stuff. Get a chance to do the school thing and friends thing.”

He had a point. So many of the kids who went to the Juniors circuit ended up chasing the dream, unsure of what to do when they discovered not everyone could be the next Sampras. “Sounds like you’ve given it a lot of thought.”

Nick furrowed his brow. “I also don’t want to end up like Mom.”

Jason stopped mid-sip of his soda, put his drink down, and leaned in further toward Nick. “What do you mean?”

“She used to love the game. She lived for tennis. At least that’s what grandma says. I guess she lost it after her dad died, and she hasn’t played again.” He looked confused. “She’ll hardly pick up a racket to play with me.”

What had happened to her? “Maybe she’s just more focused on other stuff now and has lost the urge to play?”

“I
dunno. Sometimes she acts like she wants to, but then she doesn’t.” He shrugged. “Like she’s scared.”

They reviewed another tape before Jason had to leave. He hadn’t enjoyed that kind of companionship in ages. Somehow, he’d found a friend in a thirteen-year-old.

Before he left, he gave Nick some advice. “It’s important you commit yourself to the things you do. It’s even more important you speak up about the things you don’t want to do. Be honest, and let whatever happens happen. At least you’ll be honest with yourself.”

Nick nodded in understanding. “Thanks, Jason.” Then catching himself, he amended. “I mean, Mr. Cartwright.”

“How about you call me Jason when your mom isn’t around.”

Nick nodded and gave him a sheepish smile in return. He lifted his baseball hat to shift hair out of his eyes. The sunlight hit his face, and Jason could see all of Sabrina in the set of his eyes and the outline of his nose. He could also see something else.
A faint purplish bruise under one of his eyes. His gaze honed in on it, sharpening.

Nick flushed. “It’s no big deal.”

Cold ice settled in Jason’s stomach, wrapped around the organ and squeezed. He kept his voice even. “What the hell happened?”

Nick squirmed.
“Nuthin.”

Jason rocked back on his
heels. “Sure doesn’t look like nothing. Someone do that to you?”

Panic flashed in Nick’s eyes. “No.”

“Did some asshole at school do that?” If some idiot hit the kid, he’d make a special trip out there to let them take a crack at someone their own size. Though given Nick’s height, it didn’t seem likely that some teenaged boy would have the stones to step to him. “C’mon, Nick. I could do this all day. You need to tell me.”

In that moment, Nick looked every bit the kid he was. Big brown eyes plead
ed with him. “Please let it go. It’s no big deal, won’t happen again.”

Realization clawed at his gut.
 
Sabrina
. “Fuck. When did this happen?”

“Please don’t tell Mom. You can’t.”

Jason tried to step back in the house, but Nick blocked him. “Nick, I need to tell your mother. Sabrina hitting you is way out of line and unacceptable.”

“Please don’t. Mom already laid into me when I told her I got hit by a loose ball. She thinks I got into a fight, but she can’t prove anything. Things are already tense enough around here. Sabrina will be gone soon. And it wasn’t her fault anyway. I think she was high. And I talked back.
Called her a bitch. I shouldn’t have, but I was so angry and…” He sucked in a jagged breath cutting off the verbal diarrhea for a moment. “Please. I trust you. Please don’t make everything worse.”

Shit
. The pleading in the kid’s voice broke his heart. Nick couldn’t face his mother now, but Jason wouldn’t let this go. Sabrina had more than overstepped the line, and he was going to make sure it didn’t happen again.

Chapter
Eighteen

“Hello gorgeous.” Izzy whirled her head around at the sound of Simon’s voice. Careful of her position on the ladder, she gave him a quick smile and turned back to focus on her wall hanging. Also to get a handle on her nerves.

“Two
secs—I want to see if this hanging goes here.” Inching down the ladder, Izzy took several steps back to survey her work. She was playing with frame types for the opening.

“Izzy, everything looks great, but the studio can do this for you, if you just let me—”

She cast him an irritated glance. “It’s important to me I be able to make the decisions and choices.”

He gave her his patented, “Whatever makes you happy” look.

She wanted to smack him, but turned back to stare at the canvas of the young Masai girl. Tension and nerves rode her most of the morning. She shouldn’t take it out on Simon.

“I think I don’t want to split up the pieces by region. I should combine the ones that speak to each other.”

“Well, it’s your gallery opening. Has Rachel from the Hudson Gallery called yet? She can review the layout and…”

Izzy tuned him out. She focused on the sorrow and loneliness in the Masai girl’s eyes. A thought flashed, and she hunted through the framed photos lying against the wall. When she came across the one of the children in the Chinese village of
Wampei, she smiled. Most of them had run toward her grinning, but one small boy hung back, scared and alone. She’d chosen to focus on him. His bright red cap would offset the red robes of the Masai girl.

“Earth to Izzy.
Are you listening to me?”

Brought back to earth, she sighed and pulled out the framed photo, dragging the bulk toward the wall. “Yes, I’m listening. Sorry, I’m trying to map out how this is going to go in my head.”