Back to Me (Carolina Rebels 1)

“You do look rough,” I tease, causing her to groan.

“I set an alarm to wake me up because it’s been a long, rough day and I knew if I laid down, I’d fall asleep. Tell me I’m pretty or I’m hanging up.” She sounds like she’s joking, but she looks serious, too.

“You look beautiful, Mere,” I quickly but softly say. “I mean it, too.” And I do. Her hair is a bit wild because it looks like she went to sleep while it was still wet. Her eyes are glassy and tired looking. They almost look red and puffy, like she’s been crying. Maybe it’s just from her being tired. It’s three in the morning there.

“I miss you, Noah.” She says it so quietly with such sad eyes, that I know she’s been crying over something.

“Miss you too. What happened today?”

“Nothing; just been thinking too much.”

“About what?”

She takes a deep breath. “About what happened with Vance and me and the thing I don’t want to talk about.”

This is when a piece of my heart chips away and I want to beg, demand, plead, and throw a fit to make her tell me the full story.

“Noah, I...it...” she struggles with her words before sighing.

“What is it?” I gently probe.

“Nothing. Once you get home and we have our welcome home party for two, I’ll tell you. It’s time for me to tell you. Probably past due,” she mutters, glancing down at Leo, if I had to guess.

It takes a minute for her words to process. The remaining road trip is going to pass too quickly while dragging things out at the same time. I’m suddenly scared to find out what took the spark out of Mere’s eyes. What if it’s really bad? How can I prepare myself when I don’t know what to expect?

“Noah?” she says when I don’t respond.

“If you’re ready, I’ll be ready, too.” God, I hope I’m prepared for whatever she says and that I handle it in the way she needs me to handle it.

She gives me a soft smile. “How was the game? I missed the last period.”

“Won four-oh. Erica still treating you okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Got into an argument with her, though, because I want Kira to play tomorrow and she thinks I’m overstepping or overestimating Kira’s ability. We’ll see if she lets her play. I’m hoping for Kira’s sake, she does. I told Erica she could be fifth seed, easy. If she keeps working as hard as she is now, she could be in the top three next season. She’s such a quick learner. And, hopef

ully, her friend, Ginny, will play next year too since the girl who is the reason she doesn’t play will be graduating in the spring.”

God, I love hearing her talk about what she loves. Maybe she wasn’t meant to play tennis forever, because I swear, I never heard her go on and on about tennis, or have such passion in her voice, as she does when she talks about helping Kira. What I actually think she should be doing is private lessons because that’s where she’s getting her high, not on the assistant coach aspect of it.

So I tell her that.

“Maybe after retirement. I’ve started training again to try to get my shoulder back into shape.”

“Your physical therapist thinks you’re ready for that?” I don’t know, since she never mentions how it goes.

Meredith sidesteps my question. “I’ve been rallying with the girls at practice. I think it’s a good time to start back into my routine.”

“Mere,” I start softly. “Are you listening to your physical therapist or are you jumping into things before it’s time?”

That spark in her eyes turns into a fire. “I’m not giving up on my career.”

“I’m not asking you to give up. I’m asking if it’s a realistic expectation for you to return, and I’m assuming no since you refuse to answer my question.”

“If it wasn’t realistic, I wouldn’t be trying.”

I decide to let it go, not wanting to get into an argument with her, especially while on the road. “Anyway, I still think you could do private lessons. You’re essentially giving Kira lessons. You don’t need to go back to school or be able to train as if you’re in the pros; you need to teach, and you can. Think about it. You can do all ages, you can still do what you’re doing now, too, and you’d be happy.”

She groans. “I’m too tired to think about all of that.”