Love's Not Terrifying Page 0,1

man. She bent to get a ball and he was hypnotized by the athletic grace with which she ran and volleyed. He wished he was down there playing with her, wondered whether she was really as skilled as she appeared or if she had set the ball machine to issue easy lobs.

It was a quiet afternoon at the club for some reason and this mystery woman was the only one playing on all six courts. The ball machine shot the balls to her at what seemed to be a merciless rate but from the number of balls on her side of the court versus those that were scattered on the machine’s side indicated she was able to keep up with the pace.

Gus heard his friend, Jim Siler, in the lobby and quickly moved from the deck to meet him. For some reason, Gus didn’t want anyone else to enjoy his view from the deck. He didn’t look into that emotion too closely since it was a ridiculous desire.

“How are you doing, Gus?” Jim called out, shaking Gus’s hand and slapping him on the shoulder.

“Great, Jim. How about you?” Gus asked, returning the handshake.

“Fine, fine!” Jim retorted. “Hey, some others were heading out to play a round and I thought it might be fun to put together a foursome. Do you mind?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Gus replied, shaking his head. He didn’t care how many people played golf, just so long as he could get out and whack some balls as hard as possible. He had been working eighteen hour days for the past three weeks to finish up some projects and he was ready to relieve some stress.

“Great, they were already heading down to the locker rooms. We’ll meet them there.”

They headed downstairs and Gus changed into his golf cleats, then walked off to check in. It seemed as if all four of them had the same intention of relieving stress he noted as they joked while heading out to the first tee.

A flip of a coin later and the first one teed off. Gus took the last position, not in a hurry this afternoon. When it was his turn, he placed his ball on the small tee, squared off his club, pulled back and let the club swing with all his might into a powerful “thwack” that send the ball straight down the fairway. As soon as he let go of his follow through, he felt his nerves release some of the pressure and a small portion of the stress instantly left his body. He didn’t even care that his ball went the furthest and straightest. He just needed the release.

The four of them drove off down the fairway, Gus driving since the other four had at least one more hit before they reached his ball.

Alana Mason used her towel to wipe the sweat from her face then headed to the other side of the fence to start collecting tennis balls. She wished she could go another round against the machine but she needed to meet with a caterer this afternoon and a shower was definitely in order before that meeting. She sighed as she picked up the last of the balls then dumped the whole lot into the ball machine, setting the basket next to the machine for a staff member to collect later.

She wished she could relax like this more often. It seemed that she ran from one appointment to another constantly. And she didn’t even have a job in the normal sense. She supposed she could be considered a consultant for her father’s property management firm since she acted as his hostess, organizing all his social events. When she wasn’t organizing parties for her father, she was organizing fund raisers for the Washington, D.C. orphanages she’d “adopted” three years ago.

She walked the short distance from the tennis courts to the clubhouse, entering through the bottom door that would take her directly to the locker rooms. The air conditioning sent a chill through her perspiration soaked body, but it served the purpose of rushing her through to the locker room so she could shower and change. There was a lot to be done and not much time to do it, she reminded herself. The kids were counting on her and she refused to let them down.

Seven year old David’s comment to her the first time she met him always rung in her ears whenever she felt like slowing down. He’d been eating ice cream with her,