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CHAPTER 11

The win had been nice. The prize money had been even better since it was the largest prize pool of the season so far, which was good for her bank account. Yet, instead of being happy about all that, Aspen still felt awful about her foolish move with Kendra. She couldn’t believe she’d brought that up in front of stands filled with people.

Truthfully, she’d been really nervous about talking to Kendra again after the dinner the previous night. It hadn’t gone well, and she’d felt responsible for that. On top of that, when Aspen had returned to the hotel after that awkward dinner, she’d looked Kendra up online and had ended up on some old local newspaper’s online edition featuring an article about a local superstar on the court who’d lost her scholarships due to a heart condition.

At first, Aspen had been angry because she didn’t like the idea of a newspaper sharing information about a high school student’s medical diagnosis, but it had turned out that Kendra had been interviewed for it, so Aspen had just assumed that either Kendra’s parents or Kendra herself had okayed the article being published. Then, Aspen had gotten worried because she didn’t know how bad the condition was. The article hadn’t been specific, but Kendra had been forced to stop playing, so it couldn’t have been a small problem. That had scared Aspen more than she cared to admit, resulting in her nerves getting in her way the next day. Still, she had no excuse for bringing this stuff up when and how she had. She should’ve tried and applied some of that natural filter that most people seemed to possess, preventing them from doing stuff like that; one that Aspen had never developed.

“Aspen?” Kendra asked when she opened her front door.

“Yeah, hey. Feel free to slam the door in my face. I’ll even step into it, if you want, so that it really hits me. I’d understand.”

“I’m not going to slam the door in your face, Aspen. What’s going on, though? It’s, like, seven in the morning.”

“You weren’t up yet?” Aspen asked and looked at Kendra more carefully now, realizing that the woman was still in her sleep clothes, and she looked like she’d just gotten out of bed, with mussed hair and no makeup.

She looked amazing in sweats and an oversized T-shirt and definitely didn’t need all the makeup they made her wear for the cameras.

“No, I’m off today, so I was sleeping in. Is everything okay?”

“I realize now that I made yet another mistake by assuming everyone is up by the time I am, so I’ll apologize again and let you get back to sleep.”

“What? No, I’m up now. What’s going on, Aspen?” Kendra asked. “Come in.” She moved out of the way to let Aspen walk into her home.

“I sometimes forget that while I wake up early, not everyone else does. I was about to head out to practice with DJ and thought you’d be awake and maybe drinking coffee or something. I wanted to apologize again since I didn’t get a chance to do that when we were there this weekend.”

“You apologized, Aspen.” Kendra closed the door behind Aspen and turned to her.

“I did. But I wanted to do it again. I’m really sorry, Kendra. I didn’t know about…”

“My surgery?”

“Yeah. I get curious about things and need answers, but sometimes, I forget that people don’t want to share them.”

“It’s fine, Aspen.”

“Is it? You didn’t talk to me the rest of the weekend and asked DJ all the interview questions when you had to talk to us after we won.”

Kendra sighed and said, “Yeah, well, I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to you; that’s true.”

“I get it.” Aspen nodded. “And I’m still sorry. I read that article, and… I don’t know. I got worried. You had to quit playing sports, so it had to be a big deal, and I guess I just needed to know that you were okay today. It’s silly. I got worried. It’s your business, though. I know we don’t know each other well enough yet, but when I care about someone, I really care about them. I’m the kind of friend who will help you move, and I’ll be there in the hospital waiting with flowers when you’re having a kid or after a… surgery. I’d give you a ride home if you need it. I just… I don’t have many friends who aren’t pro beach volleyball players, and sometimes, I forget how to act, so I’m very sorry.”

“You helped me paint my guest room.”

“What?”

“You really are that kind of friend, aren’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a little laugh. “I like to help people when I can. I stayed at the autograph booth thing they’d signed me up for, like, an hour longer than I was supposed to because there were still kids waiting, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. It’s just who I am. So, if you need me to back off, you kind of have to tell me, or I’ll offer to help you landscape your yard next.” She laughed nervously again.

“We’re okay, Aspen.”

“We are? You’re not just saying that to get me out of your house?”

“No, I’m not.” Kendra gave her a small smile. “I don’t talk about what I went through with anyone, really, so it’s not personal.”

“Not even Monica?”

“Not even her. We’d just started talking again after our breakup when I needed to have my surgery. She was there for it, but I pushed her and everyone else away after that. I’m lucky; she didn’t put up with my crap, but she did understand that I didn’t want to talk about it. I really am okay now, so you don’t need to worry. They repaired what they needed to repair, and now I go to a cardiologist twice a year to have it rechecked. I just went last month, and I’m still fine. All clear.”