Page 25 of A New Chapter in Rosewood Beach (Rosewood Beach #7)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Terrence pulled his car into one of the parking spots outside the tennis courts.

Although it was still fairly early in the morning, he could tell that it was going to be a warm day.

The sun was shining brightly, and he could feel the heat begin to seep into his car the moment he turned off the air conditioning.

He glanced at his reflection in the rearview mirror.

All he could see was his face, which didn’t help him at the moment.

He was feeling terribly out of place in the workout clothes he’d purchased and put on that morning.

He hadn’t worn workout clothes since his gym classes in high school, and he felt immensely strange in a t-shirt.

I feel like I’m going outside in my underwear, he thought, shaking his head with a chuckle . It doesn’t feel right to be wearing a shirt that I didn’t have to button up.

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, feeling a thrilling mixture of nervous and excited. He was looking forward to playing tennis with Vivian, but he was also worried about making a fool of himself.

He grimaced cheerfully as he remembered the way he’d spent his morning practicing his tennis swings all alone in his living room.

He was sure that he’d looked like a complete fool doing it, but he hoped that it would help him look like less of a fool on the tennis court.

He just wanted to look accomplished in Vivian’s eyes—although he had a feeling that it would be a long time before he could look accomplished in anyone’s eyes when it came to tennis.

He looked at his watch and realized that he only had a few minutes before he and Vivian were scheduled to meet on the tennis court.

He didn’t want to be late—he was never late for anything—but neither did he want to leave his car.

He felt self-conscious and nervous about spending time with the woman who he’d been harboring a secret admiration for ever since they’d become friends.

Come on, Rawlins, he told himself firmly. No time like the present. All you can do is try.

He gathered his courage and stepped out of his car.

He had to admit, as he walked over to the tennis courts, that the morning breeze felt wonderful through the light fabric of his t-shirt.

He was certainly going to be much more comfortable playing tennis in this outfit than he would have been if he’d worn his regular outfit of a dress shirt and black slacks.

He reached the tennis court and looked around for Vivian. For a few moments, he didn’t see her, and then he recognized her as the woman wearing pink, approaching him from the other side of the tennis court with a smile.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. He thought that she looked absolutely beautiful, and he loved the color pink on her. It seemed to bring out the sparkle in her eyes and the charming shade of her brown hair.

“Hi, Terrence,” she said, smiling sweetly at him as she neared him.

“Good morning, Vivian.” He forgot all about how self-conscious he’d been, focusing entirely on the way she looked. “Something—something is different about you. You look wonderful.”

She blushed, looking extremely pleased by the compliment, and it was then that he noticed that she’d done her hair differently.

He thought it was a very flattering style on her, and he dared to hope that the extra effort she’d put into her appearance had something to do with the fact that she was meeting with him.

The thought made him ecstatic, but he reminded himself not to get his hopes up too much.

“Thank you, Terrence. You look very nice yourself.”

“Ah.” He looked down at his outfit with a grimace. “I feel terribly out of place, but I

suppose once I really get moving, I’ll realize that this truly is the outfit for me—under the circumstances, at least.”

Vivian chuckled, and though he wasn’t sure why she found him so amusing, he smiled, pleased that he’d delighted her.

“Shall we get started?” she said eagerly. “It’s such a perfect morning for tennis.”

“I quite agree,” he said, and to himself he added that it was an even better morning because of the perfect company.

Although he felt a little nervous about playing with Vivian because he didn’t want to make a fool of himself, Terrence also felt eager to play the sport.

He’d never really been one for playing sports, but he was beginning to see the appeal of the whole idea.

Although he’d felt like a fool practicing in his living room that morning, he had also begun to have some fun.

They took their places on either side of the tennis court and began to swat the ball back and forth at each other.

Terrence grimaced and laughed whenever he missed the ball, which was often, but found that he was having a wonderful time despite his mistakes.

He thought that Vivian was doing exceptionally well for someone who had only picked up the sport a short time ago.

“You’re doing great, Terrence!” Vivian called as she sent the ball sailing in his direction.

He flailed to the side, trying to hit it, and missed it by several feet. “Please, dear Vivian,” he panted, “don’t lie to me.”

She let out a peal of laughter that he thought sounded like bells ringing. “I’m not lying. No one can expect you to be perfect at this, you just started.”

He huffed as he chased the stray ball across the tennis court. “Well, thank you for your good faith in me. I hope I’m better at this the next time we play.”

She smiled, and he wondered if she loved the idea of the two of them playing together again nearly as much as he did.

“I’m sure you will be,” she told him, grinning, “although I’m still going to beat you. You’re no match for my skills.”

He grinned back. “Is that so? We’ll have to see now, won’t we?”

“You’ve already seen how well I can aim for your car. Do you really think you’re up for the challenge of beating me in a game?”

He laughed. “My car might be afraid of you, but I’m not. Maybe I can charm you so completely with my witty banter that you won’t be able to pay attention to the game, and I’ll be able to win that way.”

As if proving his point, at that moment he hit a particularly good serve in Vivian’s direction, and she missed it.

“Ah!” she squeaked, chasing after the ball.

Terrence chuckled and then let out a yelp as she swatted it violently back in his direction. He just managed to thwack the ball with his tennis racket, but he sent it sideways across the court.

“See?” Vivian panted. “Even when you distract me with your witty banter, I’m beating you.”

Terrence was just about to offer a sassy retort when he heard someone call his name.

He turned around in surprise and saw his friend Cedric Turner waving at him.

Cedric owned the general store in town, and ordinarily Terrence was happy to bump into him, since the two men had gone to college together and had been friends for many years.

In this moment, however, he wished that Cedric was miles away.

He could tell from the grin on his friend’s face that Cedric was about to say something about the fact that Terrence had never played a sport before in his life.

“Terrence Rawlins,” Cedric said, laughing. “I almost didn’t recognize you. I can’t believe it’s really you playing tennis, of all things. I never thought I’d live to see the day when you would voluntarily play any kind of sport.”

“Really?” Vivian sounded surprised as she turned to Terrence. “You hate sports that much?”

Terrence could feel his ears turning pink as Cedric answered for him.

“Terrence and I went to the same college, Vivian,” Cedric said with a grin. “He was known as the least sports-inclined student on campus. The guys used to joke that even if you paid him to go to one of the football games, he would say no.”

“Oh, he’s exaggerating,” Terrence said, forcing his tone to be cheerful and waving his hand through the air dismissively.

“The guys used to joke, yes, but I wasn’t really all that against sports.

I mean, just because I wasn’t on one of the teams.” Inwardly, he was screaming for Cedric to stop talking about it, as his friend’s storytelling was completely ruining the illusion of athletic competence he was trying so hard to maintain.

“I’m not exaggerating at all.” Cedric laughed, shaking his head. “You loathe sports. You told me so many times—you said that you would rather fast for a week than be on a sports team.”

Terrence grimaced, and Cedric guffawed, blissfully unaware of the discomfort he was causing his friend.

Vivian, however, did seem to be aware of Terrence’s discomfort. “Well, no one would think that now, considering how well he’s doing at tennis.”

Terrence gave her a grateful smile. “Anyway,” he said, turning to Cedric. “How have you been? Business at the general store still good?”

He knew that Cedric always loved to talk about his store, and they spent the next three minutes listening to him talk about how much the people of Rosewood Beach loved to buy a new kind of healthy soda that Cedric had decided to sell at the general store.

Cedric then asked after The Lighthouse Grill and Vivian’s children, and they continued to chat about their lives for a while.

Finally, Cedric glanced at his watch. “I guess I’d better run,” he told them. “Great to catch up. Terrence, I’ll never forget this sight of you in workout clothes. It’s one of the biggest surprises of my lifetime.”

Chuckling and waving, Cedric continued on his way. Vivian waved to him, also chuckling a little, and then she turned to Terrence with a grin.

“Well. You had a reputation, huh?”

Terrence shook his head. “Sports and I have never been on the best of terms. Maybe if I could play any of them decently, I’d feel differently about them.”

She blinked at him in surprise. “What do you mean? Do you really believe that you are that terrible at sports?”

“Oh, I am.” He laughed. “I’ve never been even halfway decent at any sports. I’ve always hated playing them.”

“But—” She hooked her head. “You’re not terrible at all. You’ve already been showing improvement in the little bit of time we’ve spent together.”

“Well, thank you.” He felt thrilled by her compliment, and he wondered if it was at all true. “But I’ve just never enjoyed sports.”

“Why on earth did you agree to play with me then?” she asked curiously. “I didn’t mean to rope you into something you hated doing.”

“Oh, but I don’t hate this,” he assured her hastily. “When you asked me—well, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend more time with you.”

Vivian blinked at him and nodded, becoming quiet all of a sudden. “I see,” she said softly. She smiled at him, but there was a look in her eyes that made him feel sure that she was thinking about something. “Would you like to get back to the sport that you don’t hate all that much?”

He laughed, but he was worried that he’d said too much. He wasn’t sure what her reaction meant, but maybe he had been too forward, telling her that he had been eager to do something he’d always hated doing if it meant that he could spend time with her.

I hope all those things Cedric said didn’t make a terrible impression on her, he thought with a sigh. I never thought that my college reputation for being anti-sports would come back to haunt me like this.

They continued to play, and soon they were laughing and chatting again.

Terrence didn’t forget the way that Vivian had become oddly quiet, however, and he told himself that he needed to be more careful about how much he confessed to her during these delicate beginning stages.

After all, they had agreed to take things slowly.