Diva
Thirteen
“MELLY!” LEXI SAID as she approached us across the hotel lobby. When she released her mother from a hug, Melody went on to the formal-looking man behind Lexi and greeted her father. Who wears a suit on vacation? I thought.
“Hi, Daddy,” she said, smiling at him. He didn’t hug her, but put both hands on her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Lexi had moved on to give Lissa a hug and then smiled at me and did the same. She glanced over her shoulder as if to make sure her husband had seen. Melody took her father by the hand and led him to Lissa.
“Daddy, this is my girlfriend, Lissa.” He held out his hand and Lissa shook it but he didn’t say a word. “And this is my boyfriend, Tony.” He repeated the gesture. His handshake was as neutral as any I’d ever had. There was nothing aggressive about it, but certainly nothing friendly, either.
“Mr. Anderson, Lexi,” I said, “this is my mother and father, Deborah and Saul Ames.”
My dad stepped forward to shake first Mr. Anderson’s hand and then Lexi’s. Everything was silent and I had visions of catastrophe playing behind my eyes. Then Mom stepped into the breach.
“Oh, the girls have told me so much about you both!” she said, ignoring Mr. Anderson in all but her comment and immediately hugging Lexi. “I feel like I’m meeting old friends. What an exciting time. Have you checked in? We’ve slated a late dinner so we can all go to the final match of the tournament tonight.”
“I thought he was eliminated,” Mr. Anderson said. I thought he sounded just a little too hopeful about that.
“I’m out of the tournament,” I said, “but a friend is playing in the final game for a repeat Championship. We’re planning to see that.”
“It was so cool, Dad,” Melody jumped in, trying to engage her father in something to break his apparent bad mood. “Tony played Karl in a challenge match before the tournament started and it’s all over YouTube. It was amazing. Tony was ahead when they had to stop playing.”
“But you didn’t make it to the finals?”
“No, sir. I had a great game against Karl before the tournament, but I just didn’t have the experience and stamina to hold it together against the competition for the long haul.”
“That should be a lesson to you,” he said, scowling at me.
“Daddy, stop it. Be nice.”
“Melody, I’m here because you wanted me to meet these people. Fine, I’ve met them. They seem very nice. But you have to face reality, sweetheart. This relationship is doomed from the beginning.”
“Doomed from the beginning?” Oh shit! The last time I heard my mom use that tone of voice it was immediately followed by “Tony, you’re grounded.” But she’d swung her focus fully on Melody’s father. The guy didn’t know what he was in for.
“Doomed from the beginning?” she repeated, advancing on the man. He stepped back a pace, but Mom kept coming. “And exactly how is that worse than when you discovered your relationship was doomed?”
Way to go, Mom!
Have I mentioned how much I love my mom? She’s almost a foot shorter than Mr. Anderson, but I swear he went from six-foot to four-foot in 0.2 seconds. Mom was towering over him and going for the coup de grâce when Dad stepped up beside her and kissed her cheek. He turned her smoothly away from Melody’s dad, but she was replaced immediately by Lexi.
“Oh, Harold. Don’t be such an ass. We came here to meet Melody’s friends and family. Do be civil.” I don’t think that Lexi had ever contradicted her husband based on what Melody had told us. He was still trying to form words when Lexi turned to Lissa. “How are the boys, Lissa? Is Jack coming out this weekend?”
Wow! By the expression on his face, it might have been dawning on Mr. Anderson that he’d lost, but I wasn’t sure if he realized how much he’d lost.
“Oh, the boys are doing fine now,” Lissa answered. “Kids recover from these things so much faster than adults do. Kate and Molly agreed to take turns with them this weekend so I could come out here with Melody and Jack could continue to recover. I think he got hit hardest of the four of us and he’s just getting back to normal. You have his phone number, don’t you? You should call. I know he’d love to hear from you.”
“Why don’t we let these kids go save us seats at the arena,” Dad suggested. “The four of us could have a mid-afternoon cocktail before we join them.” Dad is one of the best peacemakers I’ve ever seen. I’ve never heard him raise his voice, even in his classroom. He had Mr. and Mrs. Anderson in tow with him and Mom and waved the three of us off to the games.
I looked at Melody and Lissa and all three of us heaved a sigh of relief.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Melody said, rolling her eyes to clue us in on her sarcasm. “What a shit!”
“Mel, honey,” Lissa soothed, “we knew from the phone conversation a few weeks ago that he was going to be a tough sell.”
“At least he didn’t take me hostage and drag me off to the airport,” Melody sighed. “Tony, your mom and dad are so nice. Wanna trade?”
“I don’t think we actually get to trade in this situation,” I said. “I think we have to share. Both.”
“For better, for worse,” Lissa said. Melody and I looked at her expectantly. When Lissa realized what she’d said she blushed and we all started laughing.
“Darling, that almost sounded like a proposal,” I said as we headed off to the arena.
The matches were great. By the time our folks joined us, it was almost time for the men’s final. Dad was in rare good spirits and I wondered how many afternoon cocktails they’d all had. Mr. Anderson seemed a little mellower. He’d lost his tie, at least. Mom and Lexi were gossiping together like they’d known each other a hundred years. They all enjoyed the match, but I was spellbound. Karl was phenomenal, of course. But this guy, Brian Summers from Clarkson University out East, was a demon.
“That’s who you’ll have to beat to win the championship next year,” Lissa said to me. She leaned in close and made sure I was seeing his “isms” as well as the unbelievable plays he was making. Karl fought through to eke out the championship by two points in the last game.
“How did I ever get ahead of Karl when I played him?” I asked, shaking my head.
“You haven’t watched the video yet, have you?” Lissa asked. I just shrugged and shook my head no. “It’s going to be part of your training this fall. Probably for your whole club. Your little challenge match got 25,000 hits on YouTube before we came out here. It’s probably double that by now. But this one will have three times that number. It was no more amazing, but it will have the title attached to it.”
“This will be on YouTube?”
“I’m sure someone will figure out a way to put it up there, but it will be on ESPN and USAR websites by morning. Yours will be pulled up a lot as we head into the fall.”
“Why would anyone want to watch me play when they could see this?” I asked. This was a match that I’d be spending hours watching. It was like going to racquetball school and seeing the masters teach a class.
“Brian is a junior. That means he’ll enter next season as the number one seed and national silver medalist. Karl is the unifying gauge of talent,” Lissa explained. “Any time a competitor draws a match with someone Karl played in this tournament, they’ll view that video. And then everyone will view the video of Brian playing him to see how it’s different. They’ll all figure they have to beat Brian to get to the podium. But once people start seeing your match with Karl, they’ll start comparing the two. They’ll be able to see exactly how you both played against the same champion and no one else will count. The target on your back is almost as big as the one on Brian’s.”
“But I’m only…”
“…only a freshman,” Lissa supplied. “That’s what makes you so dangerous. You’ve got at least three years of eligibility ahead of you. You are the biggest threat to any upper classman ever getting to that podium.”
“Shit.”
We had Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at for dinner at Pizzeria Uno. These guys really know how to make pizza. We had to wait forty minutes to get in and the pizza didn’t arrive until nearly an hour later. By that time, we were all so hungry that we’d gone through the breadsticks and the older folks had finished two bottles of wine. Lissa had a glass, but switched to sparkling water before things started getting rowdy.
We walked back to the hotel in a ragged line and it seemed like there were a lot more jokes being told than were being laughed at. When we got into the hotel lobby, things took a turn for the worse. I was wondering when the other shoe would drop, so to speak. It was a big shoe when it fell.
“Melody, you and your mother can go to our room while I have the bellman get our bags and deliver them,” Mr. Anderson said as we were all hugging Mom and Dad goodnight.
“That’s okay, Dad. I have a room of my own with Tony and Lissa,” Melody answered sweetly.
“Not in my house!” he bellowed back at her.
“This isn’t your house,” Melody shot back. “And I won’t be staying in any house that doesn’t welcome my lovers.”
“You will get yourself in line right now, young lady. This has gone on entirely long enough. I’m not having any daughter of mine shacked up with two… two… people,” he finished weakly. But Melody was all over it now and I wasn’t going to get between her and the object of her wrath.
“Why don’t you just go back to Boston and forget about me, then,” Melody shouted. “It’s obvious that you don’t care enough to even give us a chance. I’ll go back with Lissa and Tony.”
“You most certainly will not. Alexandra…” he turned to address his wife.
“Oh stow it, Harold. Melody has a good idea. Go back to Boston and let the rest of us enjoy our weekend,” she said.
“Alexandra! How dare you challenge my authority?”
“That’s been the problem for the past twenty-five years, hasn’t it Harold? I never challenged your authority. Well, listen here. You walked out on me, on our marriage, and on our family. It was your choice. My choice is not to lose my daughter. And for your information, I’ll have my own bag delivered to my own room. There’s no reason I can think of that I would spend the night with my ex-husband!” Melody’s mouth hung open. I don’t think she’d ever heard her mom stand up to her father like that. And the way Lexi said “ex-husband,” you could see that he’d driven the final nail into his own coffin. Lexi was flushed and panting.
Mr. Anderson looked at all of us. Lissa and I had our arms around Melody and Lexi had moved over to stand beside us. My parents, wisely, were staying in the background to let the scene play itself out. He turned on his heel and disappeared into the lounge.
We looked at Lexi and tears were running down her cheeks. Melody wrapped her arms around her mother.
“Oh, mom! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin everything for you.”
“Hush now, Melody,” Lexi said quietly. “I’m sorry I never stood up to him before. I was a terrible mother. It’s me that needs your forgiveness. I love you, Melly.”
My mom and dad came up and Dad laid a hand on Lexi’s shoulder.
“Would you like me to go talk with him?” Dad asked. “Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”
“No. Thank you, but no,” Lexi said. “It’s run its course. I only just realized that it’s truly over.”
“Anything we can do,” Mom said, “just let us know.”
“There is one small thing,” Lexi said softly. “I don’t actually have a room of my own here. Do you have a spare bed in yours that you’d loan me?”
Mom laughed.
“Of course. Let’s go get your bag and let the children get on with their lives. Saul, why don’t you get us a bottle of something?”
“Hmm,” Dad said, considering. “Two women and a bottle of something in my room tonight? Like son, like father, I guess.” That earned him a swat on the shoulder and he laughed as he left to hit the nearest liquor store.
We got Lexi’s bag from the bell station and she went with Mom. Melody, Lissa, and I went up the elevator to our little room breathing a sigh of relief and leaning heavily into each other.
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