Jules didn’t use the middle of the court the way I did. She stayed close to the net and made Mara take a step farther behind her on returns. Within two games they had found an arrangement that worked.
I stood on the Vale balcony with a paper cup of tea and watched them win a point I would have played differently. The difference made no difference to the score. Jules caught a difficult volley with the face of her racquet hardly moving and sent it into open court. Mara touched her shoulder once as they changed sides. Nothing about the touch belonged to me; it was the sort of thing partners did.
That didn’t stop me from feeling it.
Anika found me at the railing. She had come to watch the later match and had arrived early enough to see me pretending that the court, rather than the people…
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