The ball caught the top of the tape and stayed on Tess's side.
She waited for it to fall. It came down slowly, almost straight, and she caught it after the second bounce. Double fault. Thirty all. Behind her someone called encouragement in a voice that suggested something worse had happened.
She had served for a place in the Hudson semifinal twice now. Sonia Dante had broken her the first time, driving the return through the middle and staying close enough to the baseline to take away every easy reply. Tess had got the break back. Now, at six-five in the second set, she had another chance to end the afternoon.
The first set was hers, six-four. She had won it because she had made Dante move farther than she wanted to move, not because every forward step was a good one. Dante had passed her three times in one game and once laughed aloud when Tess retrieved a lob that ought to have ended the point. Tess liked her a little for that. She still wanted to stop playing her.
At thirty all she served into the body. Dante made room and drove the return deep. Tess got behind the backhand, hit, recovered. The next ball rose higher than she expected. She took it early anyway and sent it long.
Break point.
She turned toward the back fence. There were people sitting beyond it, close enough that she could see the wet ring at the top of a paper cup. She took her towel, wiped her hands, put it down. Hana was in the box near her end. Tess could have looked. She could feel Hana waiting without making the waiting into a command.
The first serve missed long.
Tess caught the second ball. At Merritt she had taken a return early because she was tired of seeing somebody else enjoy the next shot. This was different. She had the ball. She had to send it somewhere and then be ready to play what came back. A soft second serve would arrive safely and give Dante the whole court to work with.
She tossed higher, reached and drove up through it. The ball moved into Dante's body, deep in the box. Dante stepped away, made the return and left it short. Tess moved inside the baseline. The forehand wasn't a winner. She hit it with enough weight to push Dante back and went in behind it.
Dante passed low. Tess split her feet, moved and took the volley out in front. She didn't have the angle she wanted. She sent it deep through the middle and waited.
The next pass came crosscourt. Tess reached it, felt the ball catch cleanly, and placed it beyond Dante's right hand.
Deuce.
She heard Hana then, one clap distinct from the others. Tess went back to serve. Her legs were shaking, not badly, just enough that she noticed them as separate parts she still had to use.
The next first serve landed. Dante's return caught the frame and went long. On match point Tess got pulled forward by a ball that barely cleared the net. She arrived late, racket low, and had to play the half volley instead of the shot she had imagined. It went deep. Dante tried to take it early and missed.
Tess stood with her racket in front of her after the ball landed, waiting for another shot that wasn't coming. Then she laughed and went to the net.
Dante took her hand and shook it once, firmly. Her own fingers were cold despite the heat. “Good serving,” she said.
“Thank you.”
It pleased Tess absurdly, more than being told she was brave. She had served well when it mattered and still needed three more shots to win the point. There would be footage of the volleys. She wanted to remember the second serve first.
At her chair she put the racket away and sat for a moment, while the court crew waited for her to leave. The afternoon had been hotter than forecast. A patch of her dress stuck to the chair. When she stood it came free with a small unpleasant sound, and she looked around to see whether anyone had heard. Hana was already coming down the steps, smiling at someone who had stopped her.
Tess went to meet her. They didn't hug. Hana held her by the upper arm, squeezed and said, “That was good.”
Tess nodded. She could still feel the final service game in her legs.
“The second one,” she said.
“Yes.”
They walked through the passage together. Tess wanted to tell her exactly how it had felt, the moment she had committed to the serve instead of asking the arm merely to get it in. Hana had seen it. That was a pleasure too, having someone beside her who didn't need the whole thing reconstructed before they could talk.
“I thought I was going to give her the net,” Tess said. “When I had to go down for the half volley.”
“You got it deep.”
“Barely.”
Hana touched her elbow and stopped her before the doorway. A cart was being pushed through from the other side, loaded with clean towels. They waited while it passed.
“I need twenty minutes before film,” Hana said. “My sister's waiting on a call. Is that all right?”
“Of course.”
“Shower first. I'll find you.”
Tess went into the changing room alone. There were women already finished for the week, putting dirty clothes into bags. One was arranging a car for the airport while her coach waited by the door. Tess had been that woman often enough. Today she could leave her rackets where they were. She had another match tomorrow.
She showered, stood under the water longer than she needed to, then came out with her hair loose. The room felt cooler. Her phone had messages from Owen, April and three people who had apparently watched only the last game. Beneath them was Mara's message from the night before.
Back in Richmond.
Tess had answered with a heart after dinner. She hadn't asked why. Inez was out; her mother was home. The facts could sit beside each other without Tess having to turn them over in her hands.
She opened the conversation and typed, Did you see it?
Mara replied before Tess had put the phone down. Yes. Had it on the laptop. Well done.
Tess smiled. She wanted the answer again, though she had just read it. She pictured Mara at the kitchen table with the screen tilted back, the fan running near the window. She hadn't watched her watch a match on television in years.
Good second serve, Mara wrote.
Tess read that one twice too. There were several things she could say about it. She could explain where Hana had put the target, the way the toss had moved, the feeling of Dante having to make room. She could also let her mother have seen it without turning the next ten minutes into analysis.
She sent, Thank you. I'm very pleased with myself.
Mara sent a laughing face. Then, You should be.
Tess put on her shoes. In the next stall someone was telling a friend that her flight was delayed and she would be in the hotel another night anyway. The person laughed, then stopped laughing, then began again. Tess had a semifinal to prepare for and wanted, suddenly, to get home.
She called Mara from the path outside. The air smelled of cut grass from the other side of the fence. Her mother answered with a noise in the background, a drawer opening or closing.
“Have I caught you?” Tess asked.
“No.”
“Monday. Is that still okay?”
“Yes. For me.”
“I'd like dinner. At mine.”
“All right.”
Tess watched a groundskeeper push a mower across the far strip of grass. He turned at the edge, retraced the last line and went back. She could hear Mara waiting. It was not the frightened silence from the Friday before the hire. Tess had made the call and knew what she wanted to say.
“Not too late,” she said. “I have to start again Tuesday.”
“Five-thirty?”
“Perfect.”
“Do you want me to bring something?”
Tess almost said no. Then she thought of the cupboard at home, the bottle of olive oil nearly empty, the shopping she would leave until the last minute because she didn't want to fill a refrigerator before going away again.
“Bread,” she said. “Something good. I'll do the rest.”
“I'll bring bread.”
“Okay.”
For a moment neither hung up. Tess wanted to hear her mother keep speaking, some small thing she was doing or had seen. She was also standing outside a changing room with wet hair and an appointment in ten minutes.
“I have to go,” she said.
“I know. Well done today.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Afterward she sent April a picture of the order of play. April replied with a photograph of a sheet of her own, almost entirely covered in handwritten marks. Mine's less fun.
Tess enlarged it. She couldn't understand most of it. She sent a heart, then a question about one phrase she could read. April didn't answer immediately. Tess left it there and went to find Hana.
In the film room Hana had the second serve stopped at the top of the toss. Tess sat beside her. They watched the point once without speaking, then Hana went back to the start and asked what Tess had been trying to do.
Tess told her.