Page 41 of Breakpoint

Brittany didn’t hesitate. She didn’t ask for any more details, didn’t offer platitudes, no recriminations, no I told you so.

Only, “I’m booking a flight. I’ll be there soon, sweetheart.

” Within hours, she was on a plane and then at her door.

She was here when it felt like Dani’s world was falling apart.

Brittany moved her to sit on the couch in the living room. A warm hand, familiar and comforting, settled on her back, gently rubbing circles between her shoulder blades, while she cried. Her mom used to rub her back the same way when she was a kid.

No words were spoken. None were needed. Just the quiet presence, the steady rhythm of the hand on her back. The silent offering of solace. A mother, there for her daughter.

Dani leaned into the touch, the sobs slowly subsiding into hiccupping breaths.

She looked down at the mountain of crumpled tissues that had somehow been created.

After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, she finally pulled herself together to try to speak. Though her tears continued to fall.

“Do you want to talk about it some more?” she asked softly, pressing another soft and slightly crumpled tissue into her hand.

“It's crazy, Mom, it was like in the course of fifteen minutes, everything just fell apart.” She started through sniffles, her swollen eyes finally meeting her mom’s.

“How did everything get so fucked up? Oh, shit…sorry for my language.” She winced, realizing it was the first time she had used profanity in front of her mother.

“It’s okay.” Her mom conceded with a laugh. “I think this situation allows you to use the word fuck and shit.”

Dani leaned back on the couch and blew her breath in a raspberry. “I just don’t know what to do, Mom. Adulting is hard.”

Brittany leaned back beside her. “You’ve always had good judgment, Dani, and knew the right thing to do. And what the right thing for you is.”

She hadn’t expected that statement from her mother, and anger dormant inside of her rose to the surface. “That’s not how you felt before.”

She didn’t mean to go there, but couldn’t help it. The hurt and tension of the past year were simmering. And at this moment, her emotions already raw, she couldn’t fake it.

Brittany’s face became red, but she didn’t turn away from the rebuke. “I deserved that.”

“I’m sorry to snap at you, but in the last year, everything about your actions has shown you didn’t trust me to do what I thought was right for my life. ”

“That’s a fair point. And honestly, I truly thought you were making a mistake.

All I ever wanted for you was to have a normal life and be a doctor or a teacher.

Not the crazy one your dad and I were subjected to by being professional athletes.

Where your entire worth is wrapped up in wins or losses. ”

“But you introduced me to tennis. I fell in love with it because of you.”

“I know, but I also know what it is to be a professional tennis player. Tennis demands everything. Admittedly, it gave me so much, but it took a lot away from me, too. The travel, the missed milestones in people’s lives, and the wear and tear it put on my body.

I didn’t want that for you. It’s lonely, so competitive, and it needs your one hundred percent focus.

You have to be selfish to be great, and you, my baby girl, have always been the most giving person I know.

I didn’t want you to feel the pressure I felt to succeed.

It was suffocating. And I especially didn’t want you to have to deal with that type of pressure as a teenager, but to just enjoy being a kid. ”

Her mother’s eyes were getting red-rimmed like hers.

She had never been this open about her career and all the struggles that she went through.

“I wanted you to get an education and after that, do whatever you want. I never got to do that. I dropped out of school at fifteen to turn pro. I didn’t want you to be put in a box, only to be known as a tennis player and have nothing else to fall back on if you didn’t succeed.

Because most tennis players lose more than they win and struggle to make a living. ”

Listening to her mom, she understood her fears, her parents’ desire to protect her.

And truth be told, Dani had those same fears as well.

Because if she failed, she had no clue what she would do next.

She had people who relied on her. Not Chris anymore, but Tom still depended on her for a paycheck.

But she also knew she needed to figure that out herself and forge her own path, even if it meant defying her parents.

And so far, she had been sort of successful and built a career on her own terms. She had won a top-tier tournament in Montreal, proving she wasn’t just some chick utilizing her family’s name to get ahead.

The tears that had been brimming in Brittany’s blue eyes finally fell, leaving dark mascara streaks down her cheeks.

“But I’ve come to realize traveling here to see you that if I win every Grand Slam out there, which I have, but I’ve lost you, then I’ve done something wrong.

I’m a public success and a private failure.

And who wants public success, but at the cost of family…

and my soul? Because when I picked up that phone and heard your voice, every part of me said everything else doesn’t even matter. ”

She leaned over to give her mother a hug, and it felt like coming home. Those arms that had always brought her comfort. Her mom simply was there, a solid, unwavering presence in the eye of Dani’s personal storm. She was her mother, first and foremost, and that was all she needed her to be.

Her mom pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes. “You want your child to have everything they need to be completely independent and successful. But I realize it’s your mistake to make, and I hope I raised a good, kind, well-rounded human that does what makes her happy.”

Maybe, she thought, her mom had been right about some things.

“I like to think I’m a good human being.

And I can admit now, looking back, I get why you and Dad made me wait.

I don’t think I would have been ready for it at fifteen or sixteen, like you and Jaz.

Hell, I’m not sure I was ready for all of this a few years ago at eighteen.

Those few years of college were great, and I had so much fun compared to the adulting I have to do now as a professional.

The finances, the media, and obligations weren’t things I ever had to worry about.

But I’ve fallen in love with the grind.”

She could understand her mother even more, and her fierceness in protecting her childhood and life outside the public eye.

But more importantly, it made her understand Jaz even more because she realized how much of a normal childhood and experiences that Jaz didn’t have by becoming a professional at such a young age.

She could see firsthand the impact the always-on spotlight had on her.

It made her turn inward and want to keep everything close.

“You are a wonderful person, Dani.” Her mom smiled at her. “This may sound a little saccharine, but out of all the things I’ve accomplished, you are my proudest achievement. And it’s not because you’re a successful tennis player. That’s just what you do. I’m proud of who you are.”

She blushed at her mom’s words. “Thanks, Mom, for taking care of me even when I didn’t know you were doing it.

Jaz talks all the time about how challenging it was being a teenager and having all our successes and failures put on display every week in front of the world.

The pressure is intense now, and at sixteen, I might have crumpled.

That’s not even including the media stuff. ”

Brittany looked a bit taken aback. “I never thought I would hear my daughter talking about Jaz Mason with hearts in her eyes. You must really care for her.”

“I love her, Mom,” Dani declared with conviction.

It felt nice and freeing to say the words out loud.

That she loved Jaz. Brittany’s eyes grew wide as saucers at her words.

“I’m just as shocked as you, because I had no idea this would happen when we were paired together for the Olympics.

But our relationship grew and changed over the months we spent together. ”

Her mom stroked her hands through her hair, something that always calmed her and got her to open up. “Then tell me about her and your relationship. What makes her special?”

And Dani did just that. How on paper they were opposites, but in reality, Jaz had turned into someone that she wanted to spend all her time with. Their time training together in Florida, the Olympics, and their dates.

“Yes, she’s super confident and competitive. Some would call it cocky, but I’ve come to understand that she just has this inner belief that no one can beat her on the court until the last point is played. I respect that and she’s helped me channel that same confidence.”

Brittany nodded, her face shifting back into the competitor who won eighteen Grand Slams. “I understand that. You can’t go out there thinking you’re a loser because you’ll have no chance.”

“You’re probably one of the few people who get that. The level of confidence needed to be great. But beyond that, she is sensual, considerate,”—she couldn’t help smiling, thinking about Jaz—“sexy and funny, in a not funny way.”

Brittany smirked. “It’s always the upright ones that are the most fun.”

She had to laugh at that. “But she’s also responsible, sympathetic, and goes hard for the people she cares about. She has been my biggest champion this year. I’ve learned so much from her about how to be a professional, but also how mental the game is.”

“She sounds genuinely lovely.” Brittany shook her head in wonder. “And so much better than that girl you dated in high school.”

“Hey!” Dani scoffed, taking offense. “Staci was—”