Corporate Secrets

Chapter 12: Guilt

Jake and I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare before boarding. We sat next to each other in the business lounge as we waited for our flight. I looked outside. It was overcast, the clouds were warning us of impending rain. It reminded of me the day I saw Frank once again after meeting him for the first time at a friend's house.

It was several years after I first bumped into him...

"What do you say we finish the game some other time?" Nicole, aka Nicky, stood behind the baseline on the other end of the court wearing an all white ensemble, swinging slightly from left to right. We were in the middle of the three courts in the tennis complex. It was deserted except for the two of us.

I craned my neck upwards and looked at the sky as I held a tennis ball with my left  hand and a racquet with my right. The clouds were moving in.

"Okay." I said as a light breeze blew. I walked away from the baseline and towards the bench where our bags were, a little disappointed. I was doing really well too. Her long legs made her quite a competition. Her serves were fast and low and her backhand is just brutal. She hates volleys and high balls though, which is where I get her most of the time. Today, she was struggling.

"Don't worry, I know the score. You have the first two sets." She said coyly as she placed her racquet in the black racquet-shaped bag.

"It's not fair you know, the court is very accessible from your house. You get to practice whenever you want." I shoved the balls in the white mesh tennis bag I borrowed from her.

"You were killing me today though." We both started walking back to their house.

"You were off today." I smiled and inwardly acknowledged that I was killing it.

"Yeah. Just a lot on my mind." 

We crossed the street to get on the path that led to their house.

Nicky just found out that her parents were getting a divorce. She tried to keep the sadness in as much as she could but, most days, she seems to be in a distant land. She would stare off into the distance in the middle of a conversation and get lost in her thoughts. Amazingly though, her grades were not suffering. Maybe she is using school as a distraction...To keep things off her mind.

Her mom was home when we got to their house. She's tall, skinny, and a brunette who loves wearing yoga pants. We dropped off the bags in the closet then headed to the kitchen. I love their black and white marble counter, it looked so elegant with the stainless steel appliances. An espresso machine stood in one corner, right next to a very cool looking toaster.  Nicky made espresso once, it was a total disaster. She hasn't made an attempt to make another one since.

"Want a muffin?" She opened the pantry and paused. 

"I don't know. Kind'a not hungry." I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. "Besides, I gotta go. It looks like it's going to pour and I don't want to get drenched." I drank the water then washed the glass and placed it back in the cupboard. It felt like a second home.

"K. See ya." Nicky started working on the muffin and gave me a hug.

"You're gonna be ok." 

She didn't say anything.

I said goodbye to her mom then headed for the front door when I remembered that my folks weren't going to be home and I needed my key. I kept walking towards the door while I fidgeted with my pockets, my skirt only had two and I couldn't feel the key. Did I drop it? Man. I started turning the pockets out when I heard a soft clink. Ah, it was in my pocket!