The Prodigal
Three
YOU GUYS NEED to figure out how to be together,” Lissa said. Allie and I looked at her blankly. “I know. You’re together. But when you are down on the island, you’ll be together without us. I had more in mind than racquetball when I tied you together this week. You need to depend on each other when you’re on tour.”
“I think we got past the part about feeling tense with each other,” Allie said. “What else do you have in mind?”
We all walked into the house and Lissa called “Family meeting!” Wendy and Kate came up from the basement and Melody and Bree poked their heads out of the kitchen. Whitney was in Louisiana to be with her family for a few days before Olympic trials.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Melody said, kissing Lissa and then me. Kate took the opposite approach and kissed me first. Wendy held back and waited until I reached out to her. She didn’t try to kiss me, but melted against my side. Allison got a faceful of Melody as soon as her lips were free. “How’d our weary warriors do this weekend?” Melody asked.
“We all had a great weekend and tournament,” I started, but Lissa glanced at me and I left it at that.
“Wendy and Bree, you need to be in on this, too,” Lissa said as she pulled Kate and Melody to the sofa. I settled back in my recliner. “Guys, we all have fun together. We all love each other. In fact, it’s great to have the extra mattress in the bedroom and all be in there together.”
We heard the front door close and caught a glimpse of the trips headed for the stairs.
“Sunday, Willow, Rainbow, come join us,” Lissa called. Well it couldn’t be too bad if she was calling the teens to the meeting, too. “You all might face this kind of thing someday. You should get a start at figuring out how to deal with it.”
“Lissa,” I said, “you’re sounding ominous and none of us have a clue what’s going on. Did we do something wrong this weekend?”
“Oh god, no!” Lissa said as the teens settled on the floor. “I just realized as we were driving home what it means that World’s are coming up. You kids won’t know what we’re talking about all the time, but do the rest of you remember what early summer was like last year?”
“You mean when I was in prison in Boston?” Melody cracked.
“And I was doing time in Nebraska,” I said.
“And I had two boys out of school,” Lissa said.
“I was here by myself part of the time,” Kate added.
“You only had two kids,” Allie said. “When I left Chicago, I reported to work at camp in Kansas and had forty kids at a time.”
“I was scared,” Wendy said quietly. Her grip on my arm tightened.
“God, I wish I’d known you better then,” Bree said. “I don’t think I left my room for two weeks.” She reached across me and touched Wendy’s cheek, eliciting a weak smile. “But at least I had a room.”
“Why bring up such a painful time for all of us, Lissa?” I asked.
“Here’s the thing, Tony. You and Allison are hitting the road next month. You’ll be gone for about four weeks—first to California and then to the Dominican Republic. Whitney’s trials start this weekend and then, win or lose, she’s headed to the Olympics either to compete or to watch. We’re going to be scattered again. Only this time, we’ll all know that you have someone important with you. It’s going to be hard for any of us to go to bed at night—even with each other—and not think of you and Allison together in Santo Domingo. And I can tell you for a fact that it is a sunny, sexy paradise in the Caribbean and I for one am going to be insanely jealous.”
I could feel Wendy’s grip on my arm and her shaking. I pulled her down onto my lap and held her.
“Uh… I don’t know if this helps or makes it worse,” Kate started. We all shifted our attention. “Well, I talked to Mama Gypsy after our exhibition. Tony and I made a lot of money. I know that Tony’s share goes straight into the partnership and you all know that I’ve been reluctant to become a full member. Someday I’ll explain that better—I hope. Mama said to set aside part of my earnings after I’d made my contribution to household expenses and do something special just for myself.”
“I agree,” Lissa said. “Jack had me do the same thing with my first modeling check. It wasn’t that much, but I took Mom and Dad to Disneyland. I’m sure I didn’t pay for everything, but everyone made a big thing about how I’d provided a fun week for my family. Since I lost them a few months later, I always treasured that time.”
“Well, I was thinking something similar. I haven’t been around the racquetball scene a lot except for some local tournaments. But I thought maybe I could take Wendy with me and we could go to watch Tony and Allison in World’s. If it would be okay with you two and you didn’t feel we were infringing on your private time,” Kate said.
Allison grinned at me.
“If you don’t mind us teasing each other and letting off steam after the events, I certainly don’t have any objections,” Allie said.
“That would at least make it like four in each location,” Melody said. “We’d all have company.”
“Only three,” Lissa said sadly. “Whitney will be at the Olympics. She’s had opening ceremony tickets since the day they went on sale. This is a big deal for her, even if she doesn’t compete. She figured that if she does compete, the tickets would go to her parents.”
“Why don’t we go with her?” Bree asked. Everyone turned to look at us. Wendy had breathed a huge sigh of relief when Kate made her suggestion and tears were silently leaking from her eyes. “Well, I mean we might not be able to get tickets this late, but we’d be there and I’m sure even if she’s competing, Whitney could find some time to join us. She’s only trying for three events. We could have four people in the Caribbean and four in England.”
“Everybody gets a fun trip with loved ones,” I said.
“I like it,” Melody said.
“Just one thing,” I said. I had to lift Wendy out of my lap so I could stand up and go to Melody, Lissa, and Kate. “Kate, even though you haven’t joined the partnership, you are part of us—our family. Allison, Wendy, Bree, and in absentia Whitney, we are growing to love you more every day, but I think everyone realizes the difference between what we have with you right now and what the four of us together have. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but my life would in the shitter without these three women, no matter who else was with me. Splitting up to go with four people to each location is fun and something we’ll probably do even more often in the future. Clarice has already said that she’s sending Kate and me to opposite coasts for our winter shows. I’ll go to New York or Boston and Kate will be in either San Francisco or LA. So, what I’m saying is that even when we’re split up, the four of us are a family and being in different places doesn’t mean we aren’t together.”
Wendy got up out of the recliner and came over to kneel in front of the four of us. I was a little worried about what she might have in mind. I don’t much like it when she goes all submissive.
“Tony, I once promised you that I would never take Kate away from you. Kate, I make the same promise to you. And to you, Melody. And to you, Lissa. I know I’m more involved with Tony and Kate, but the four of you mean the world to me and I will do anything I can to protect your relationship—even if it means giving up my own,” Wendy said. I was floored. Before we could respond Bree knelt beside Wendy.
“Melody, we’ve never said anything quite like that, but I love you and I love Tony and I’m awful damn close to loving Lissa and Kate and Wendy. I promise I will never try to take any of you away from the others and I will do anything I can to help and protect your relationship—even if it means giving up my own. Nice words, Wendy. I really needed to say them, too,” Bree finished. She hugged Wendy and I could see the two had forged an intimate bond.
“Hell, I’ve got a girlfriend,” Allie said. “But yeah. What they said. Kate, I know we haven’t been as intimate as I’ve been with Tony, Melody, and Lissa, but loving each other doesn’t mean we all have to have sex with each other. And God! Wendy, after that speech you gave at the dedication, I start crying every time I look at you. I want you for my friend. And Bree, I’ve had fantasies about you ever since you attacked me in Tony’s room in Tempe. I love the games we play and someday I hope I’ll have a real relationship with someone that is like yours. And if the tall skinny one doesn’t agree with the terms when she gets back from Louisiana, I bet the three of us can make her see reason.”
The tall skinny one got back from the Bayou and was too hyped up about National Trials to even think about her relationship with the rest of us. Lissa, Whitney, and I headed for Eugene, on Thursday. Another carload was coming next weekend. Whitney’s events were at each end of the meet. Hundred-meter hurdles had qualifiers on Friday.
Geez! Remind me not to get in a situation where I need to run away from that girl! She won her first heat on Friday in the hundred-meter hurdles with a time of 12.88. I mean she was flying. It wasn’t the fastest time out there, either. These are big-time serious athletes and not just college students. I was stunned at the number of athletes who listed themselves as being ‘from’ Nike. Whitney was definitely in the big leagues here like Lissa and I were in amateur racquetball.
Saturday at three-fifteen, Whitney flew in the semi-finals with a new personal best of 12.70. And she got second! I had no concept of how long thirteen seconds were, or how incredibly fast. Lissa and I were both hoarse by the end of the race, and crying all over each other. Whitney didn’t come to sit with us and laugh and joke during the interim before her last race. She and her coach were off someplace stretching, relaxing, and getting pumped for the five-forty-five finals.
Whitney couldn’t quite make it in the finals. Damn! She was chasing the leaders, and half the field when you looked at them. In reality, there was just twenty-four hundredths of a second separating first and last. Whitney was sixth which made her the third alternate for an Olympic berth. All three of Team USA’s top runners would have to be unable to run in order for Whitney to be called to London. She was heart-broken and Lissa and I just sandwiched her between us and held her all night long.
“I ran faster than her in the semis! I could have beaten her. I could have done it,” Whitney cried. But as all of us know, what we could have done and what we did can be two different things.
Melody, Bree, Kate, and Wendy got to Eugene on Thursday in plenty of time to get seats for the 400-meter hurdles at five-thirty. Whitney was in the third heat. Want fast girls? Forget pick-up bars.
Whitney ran a personal best 56.72. She hadn’t been running 400-meter hurdles that long. All her high school races had been 200 meters. She came in third and moved on to the finals on Friday. Of course, she couldn’t stay with us Thursday night as she was on a strict regimen between events. The six of us remaining all piled into the king-size bed in our hotel room and spent the night snuggling with each other. There wasn’t a lot of sex (yeah, what’s a lot to one guy with five beautiful girls in his bed?) but we just all wanted to touch each other as much as possible. We all craved just being in touch with each other.
On Friday, we got to the field and looked at our program realizing what Whitney was up against today. The 400-meter semi-finals were at 3:20. The long jump qualifiers started at 3:30. This was going to be hell. When Whitney walked up to her starting blocks in the first heat, she stood up and looked around. When she saw us waving and shouting, she smiled, nodded her head once, and settled into her blocks.
“Blow it off, Whitney,” I heard Lissa breathe. “Focus on the long jump. You can do it.”
Well, Whitney couldn’t hear her and it wouldn’t have made a difference. You can’t tell a thoroughbred to lose a race. Whitney ran a personal best 56.18. It was only good enough for sixth and she bowed her head with a sigh when she realized she was out of competition for even an alternate berth in the 400.
It took about thirty seconds for her to catch her breath, spot her coach, and refocus on the long jump.
She fouled her first jump. That race just took a lot out of her concentration. But that gave her a few minutes to catch her breath and settle down before the next jump. In long jump they take your best jump out of three. Whitney’s third jump was a qualifying 6.4 meters. She was still in the hunt for an Olympic selection.
She had Saturday off and joined us for a late breakfast.
“You look sad, baby,” Lissa said as they hugged.
“I’m just thinking about spending another four years training,” Whitney said. “If I was just two years older…”
“That would just make you older,” I said. “You should be glad you’re young and ready to kick some old-lady butt.” We all laughed.
“You’d think. And if any of those ‘old ladies’ wanted to race me to you and Lissa, I’d beat their asses. But they’ve got two to four years of experience and training on me. I’m nowhere near my peak yet, but I could be past it by the time the next Olympics come around,” Whitney sighed. “By the next Olympic trials, I’ll have gone from being pretty, smart, and fast to being smart and pretty fast.”
“You’ve got the world ahead of you, baby,” Lissa said. “Believe me; we’ll all help you get there.”
Sadly, Whitney’s words were prophetic. On Sunday she leaped 6.45 meters, but that was only good for tenth. The winner, our Team USA representative, launched a 7.15-meter jump.
After the event, Whitney gathered up her gear and dragged herself over to where we were still recovering from the way we’d been yelling.
“Can we go home now?” she asked. We loaded into the two cars and headed for Seattle.
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