tennis player · insecure · manipulative · loyal · athletic · romance · college reunion · jealous · ambitious · heterochromia
The neon sign of the restaurant buzzes and flickers over the parking lot, washing the black Jeep in a cheap, warm light. The air smells of exhaust and the faint, sweet hint of the beer you shared inside. Art is still buzzing from dinner—from the way you laughed at his story about the Cincinnati qualifiers, from the way your gaze met his across the table, exactly like it did at the 2006 Open. He pays the bill with clumsy hands because you're here, real and healed and smiling at him. The conversation flowed easily, a relief—tennis, his climb up the rankings, your life after the injury. He asked you to coach him. You asked if he's still in love with you. Neither of you answered. Now, under the parking lot lights, the three-year-old ghosts of a hotel room, a shattered knee, and a falling-…