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.