Page 13

Attorney Emily Harris has counted the hours until this day arrived. The match that Leah organized has been a kind of incentive that made the week pass quickly. On the weekend she went to the mall, which isn't her habit; in fact, Emily hates malls because they're crowded and it's almost impossible to move around comfortably, but she had a mission and was determined to complete it: buy new equipment to face the duo of Emma and Mia. The saleswoman spent two hours with her; the lawyer tried on skirts, dresses, sneakers, and even visors, renewed her sports attire and also took the opportunity to get a couple of new rackets. Most people don't understand Emily's excessive passion for sports, much less why she doesn't give up despite how bad she is at them. She doesn't need to explain herself, only her cousin understands clearly that, besides enjoying running after a ball to return it, constant movement greatly destresses Emily.

She appreciates these lessons with Leah, especially now that she's going through a trial that seems like a pain in the ass where she has all the advantages, but the prosecution keeps filing motions to buy time and gather evidence to incriminate her client. She's experienced many like this before, although this one has that special tinge that makes Emily live between past and present, because seeing her ex-partner almost every day, that woman she once loved so much and who shattered her, isn't exactly what she wants. She has noticed Vanesa's intense gaze on her several times while they're in the courtroom and, when they leave, she feels like the other lawyer wants to talk to her. Emily simply does her job and leaves, but she can't shake that unsettling feeling that one day Vanesa will approach her.

"Be careful, Emily," Emma's hand wraps around her cousin's arm.

As is now completely normal, Emily has tripped on a curb when both women got out of the car after parking it in the Walker Elite Sport Club lot. The two walk and, although they appear relaxed on the outside, reality is quite different. Emily feels nervous, scared, and excited all at once. She's been waiting for a long time to play a match, though she can't help thinking that maybe the others won't enjoy it as much as she will because it will be difficult to have the typical rallying between opponents on the courts. It's no secret to any of them that the lawyer can barely stay on her feet without falling. Emma, for her part, doesn't know what she feels; the only thing she's sure of is that playing with Leah Walker's employee has cost her sleep the night before, and she isn't clear about the reason. Obviously, there's animosity between them; Emma thinks Mia is haughty, arrogant, presumptuous, and has an ass she could lose herself in for hours. She quickly eliminates that thought; she's Emma Harris and she doesn't date—or like—ball girls.

Leah and Mia Clark are already on the court, they've hit the ball back and forth for a while, but really they've been talking about a little bit of everything. When they're together, that's what happens; despite the age difference, Mia, at twenty-five, has become a confidante for the tennis player. She knows how her relationship with Stella is going, when her mothers drive her crazy, or even how the club is doing financially. The only thing Leah hasn't told her yet is that small tsunami she's been feeling lately in the pit of her stomach when she spends time with Emily Harris. She hasn't shared it because she doesn't know what it means herself, if she just likes her, if her carefree personality attracts her, or if she simply likes her and that's it because she's a woman who has all the ingredients that fascinate Leah. Until she figures out what's happening, she'll keep it to herself.

"Emily looks like a true professional," Mia says when she sees the cousins approaching. Both are dressed impeccably in tennis dresses, light pink for Emma and white for Emily.

"Emma too," Leah blurts out; she loves teasing Mia with these comments.

In reality, Mia hasn't taken her eyes off the prissy Harris. Since she entered the club, she's felt a murmur settle in her ears, like that story where a man attracted animals through his music. The club employee feels irresistibly drawn to that aura and knows clearly there's something dark about someone like Emma catching her attention.

"Hello," Emily greets with her radiant smile when she reaches the court.

Leah gets hooked on that gesture.

"Good afternoon, today it seems less hot than expected," the tennis player answers looking at the sky with her hands on her waist.

"Then let's not waste time," Emily says as she tosses her bag carelessly on the bench and takes out her racket.

Everyone does the same and Emma disguises her gaze. Mia isn't wearing her usual club employee uniform; this time she wears a skirt and a sleeveless shirt that reveal well-toned arms.

"Looks like you like them," says Mia, who has spent a few seconds watching Emma check her out without mercy. The lawyer hadn't realized her error.

"I'd rather die, ball girl," she spits. "I'm playing on this side," she points to the court on her left.

"Fine with me," she replies in a cocky tone. "I'm good at playing on any side of the court."

As said, an arrogant one.

"Alright, girls. Let's rally for a few minutes and then we'll start, okay?" Leah asks, raising her voice to make sure everyone hears her.

"Roger that!" Emily suddenly shouts, making side-to-side movements with her legs.

Leah lets out a small laugh; Emily Harris is one of a kind.

After the ball travels from one side of the court to the other for a while, Leah Walker announces the start of the match. They're all aware they should play calmly and pass soft balls to Emily so she can return them; after all, the activity has been organized so the lawyer can have some fun. A few hours earlier, Leah realized she planned this match just to make Emily happy.

"Come on, Emily!" Leah shouts, encouraging her.

Emily sprints and reaches the ball, but before she can hit it with the racket, she slips and falls sideways to the ground. She immediately stands up and brushes the dirt off her skirt.

"I'm fine," she confirms when the other three players run over. "Come on, let's go, we're cooling down."

Emily does several small jumps bringing one knee to her chest and then the other.

"Wake up, we're losing," Emma grumbles, unable to stand Mia's amused face.

"Stop being so competitive," Mia replies, positioning herself while waiting for Leah's serve. "We're having fun."

Emma huffs, knowing the match is mere entertainment and her cousin's smile is worth every second she's there, but she can't help contradicting the girl beside her; her crooked smile and mocking expression make her sick.

"Then have fun winning," Emma spits.

Mia ignores her and returns Leah's serve. She softly sets it up for Emily and the lawyer, concentrated with furrowed brow, takes two steps and touches it with her racket. The ball goes to the other side of the court and Emily shouts happily while raising both arms in celebration, at which point Mia reaches the ball again and they score a point because Emily was distracted.

Leah laughs, amused, she can't believe it. She approaches the lawyer; as her coach, she must correct her.

"Emily, when you return the ball, you have to pay attention to the next play."

"Did you see that, Leah? I passed it to Mia," Emily says, happy.

"Yes, I saw, but if you don't stay in position, what happened now occurs: the opponents scored a point."

Emily listens with a unique expression of attention while nodding her head.

"Okay," the lawyer answers, "let's go for it."

The match continues in the same vein. Soft balls and measured movements except from Emily, who jumps like a cricket, throws herself on the court trying to save a ball that's too low, and hits such powerful shots that more than once she sends the ball out of the court. In a movement that's meant to be a play, Emily crosses in front of Leah and she almost crashes into her. The tennis player has good reflexes, so she manages to move aside and then prevent another fall by the lawyer.

"Are you okay?" both are pressed together, sweaty and breathing fast, and Emily thinks it's an incredible moment.

"Perfectly," the attorney answers with a wide, beautiful smile.

Leah nods, nervous, and returns to her position. The duo continues having fun, as does Mia, but Emma is frustrated. She doesn't know why that permanent smile on her partner's face and the way she ignores her bothers her so much, so she starts behaving like a spoiled brat who just wants attention, though she reminds herself she's not trying to do that, much less to make that girl notice her.

"Let's go!" Emma shouts raising a fist; it's the second time she returns one of Leah's plays and scores a point by sending it past Emily's side.

Mia huffs.

"Relax, we're not at the Australian Open."

"This is knowing how to play," Emma responds without looking at her. "The other day you got lucky."

Mia ignores her again and waits a few seconds when Leah calls time to talk with Emily.

"I'm sorry, the ball comes too fast," the lawyer apologizes.

Leah knows it; her cousin is slipping them all past her, that's why she scores the points, and it bothers her that she's using her like that.

"Do you want to win?" Leah asks her without answering that apology because it seems absurd; Emily doesn't have to justify herself.

The lawyer's eyes light up and she smiles.

"Yes, I want to win."

"Then let's win," the tennis player states.

The beatdown is almost hard to watch. Leah has made serves that turned the ball into a missile, has run across the entire court returning balls, both those that come to her side and those that Emily watches pass by her side without being able to do anything, showing her power and humiliating their opponents. She knows it's cheating, but hearing Emily laugh and seeing that excited face makes the tennis player want to cheat many times. What Leah doesn't expect is that, after the last point—the one that proclaims them winners—Emily celebrates in that way.

"Take that!" the lawyer shouts and runs across her side of the court to end up climbing onto Leah Walker's body, giving her a fleeting kiss on the lips and jumping away from her to continue celebrating the victory.

It's a silly thing, a gesture that at first glance isn't of great importance, but Leah remains completely paralyzed. She has felt warmth on her lips, fluttering in her chest, and an exquisite vibration in her belly. It reminds her of those times when they won a big match, that pulsating excitement, the racing heart. She hasn't experienced it for a long time, and a tiny gesture from a woman has made her body feel that burning sensation she missed so much.

"Good match," Emily says politely while extending a hand to her opponents.

Emma narrows her eyes and Mia laughs with happiness.

"You played very well," the club employee answers. "The improvement shows."

Although Emma dislikes this girl—very much, she repeats to herself—she likes that she has this attitude with Emily. It's clear she's not doing it to suck up to her, but to encourage her to keep training.

"Did you see that backhand?" Emily asks, making such an abrupt movement with the racket that she nearly loses her balance. Mia stretches out an arm and steadies her.

"I saw it," the girl answers. "Try doing it with less force and you'll see how it comes out better."

"How about we get something to refresh ourselves?" Leah proposes and puts an arm around Mia's shoulders. She knows her and she's quite capable of staying to clean up the court instead of joining them; there's more staff for that.

Once seated with drinks ordered at the bar, the three women remain silent. Each one of them mentally thanks Emily for not stopping talking about the match, how good she felt, and the plays they all made. Emma still has her head muddled; there's a force, a magnet that makes her want to be near Mia, but her brain sabotages her by repeating that a Harris has to be with someone of her status. It's absurd because in her family that doesn't exist, those stupid differences between social classes, and despite that, she has mixed with people during part of her life who do give it importance, and it seems that a part of that thinking has tattooed itself to her hippocampus. Mia, however, is clear that she's attracted to the lawyer, a prissy woman with airs of superiority that she could perfectly keep in check. Nevertheless, she feels a slight annoyance thinking that Emma doesn't notice her because she considers her a simple ball girl. Leah tries to control the whirlwind in her head, although she doesn't feel any kind of anguish. She only has her heart so accelerated that she needs a few minutes to calm down; Emily is the cause of her revolution.

"We have to do this again," Emily says, "if you want to, of course."

"I'm in, we could..."

Mia can't continue the sentence because her phone starts ringing. It's a number she doesn't have registered in her contacts, so she gets up from the chair and moves a few meters away from the table after apologizing to her companions.

"But, is he okay?"

The voice of anguish reaches the table and the three women turn to look at her. Mia has gone pale and moves erratically. Leah doesn't hesitate, approaches her and, when she hangs up, they exchange a few words.

"Let's go, I'll drive you," the tennis player offers. "Girls, I'm sorry. Mia's brother has had an accident and we're going to the hospital."

Emma gets scared. Emily turns serious.

"Do you need anything?" the question comes from Emily's mouth.

"Don't worry," Leah says while picking up her phone from the table. "Thank you."

The two women leave hurriedly under the watchful gaze of the cousins who remain silent, knowing that there go two people who don't stop dancing in their thoughts.