Always More Page 5

  “Sorry,” one of the women said to her. “Joseph Maxwell, stop throwing sand at your sister.”

  On second thought, the kids could wait a while.

  CHAPTER 7

  Everly remained in the café for a while after Wyatt had left for her walk. She thought back on what she had said, how she had said it, and tried to figure out where she had gone wrong. She finished her coffee, tossed the cup into the trash, and walked in the direction of her car. That was when she spotted Wyatt Wicked running so fast on the sand, she wondered how it was even possible. Wyatt stopped near her bag and stared out at the water. Everly wondered what she was thinking about then. Something had clearly gotten to the woman. They’d been having a good time. Hell, they’d even been flirting a little. She lowered her head, silently admonishing herself for flirting with a player. She knew better. She then made her way to her car, drove home, enjoying the lighter traffic, and had another TV dinner in her living room.

  ◆◆◆

  “First match is in three weeks. We have three weeks to get ourselves match-ready,” Kara instructed two days later in the team meeting room. “We’re in a strange but not unique situation here. We have no game film on our opponents. The teams are just as new as we are. The only upside to that is that they’re in the same situation.”

  “But, we know about the players,” Myers said. “We can watch film on them from their other matches.”

  “That won’t work,” Everly spoke up.

  “It’s not ideal, but it couldn’t hurt,” Myers added.

  “It might not, but it definitely could.” Everly stood, joining Kara and Brenden in front of the room. “Looking just at the individual players is a distraction. You’ll find a weakness in one player, but that’s sometimes situational. You might have an outstanding blocker otherwise, working with a middle that just isn’t up to par. They could also have a bad relationship with their coach or teammates. You want game film on the whole team. You need to be able to see how they work together and what happens when they don’t in order to exploit that. If you don’t have that, it doesn’t make sense to waste time watching them as individuals.”

  “Doc’s right,” Kara said. “We don’t have time to waste. Since we don’t have game film, and we’re not going to get practice film – because that’s cheating – we’re going to make sure we’re at the top of our game. We’re going to work smarter and harder. We’re going to be the strongest, the fittest, and the smartest on that court at all times. Today, we’re going to talk strategy. We all know the 6‑2, 5‑1, and 4‑2 formations. We’ve practiced with all three, and we will use them as needed throughout the season, but the coaching staff thinks we can do something to set us up for a win in the first few matches.”

  “It’s an interesting strategy. I don’t think they’ll see it coming,” Brenden added.

  “Dr. Holman, do you want to explain it?”

  “Me?” Everly asked, pointing at herself as if there was another Dr. Holman standing in front of the room. “Oh, okay. We’ll use the 4‑2 to start.”

  “The 4-2 is for teams that don’t have strong attackers,” Nixon argued.

  “Should I take offense to that?” Godfrey chimed in.

  “We have two of the best hitters in the country on this team,” Kara said. “We also have two very strong setters.”

  In the 4-2 formation, there were four hitters and two setters. In order to always have a setter in either row, setters positioned themselves opposite each other in the rotation. Front row setters assumed the center-front position, with hitters flanking after the ball is served. With only two attackers, the team would have fewer options for offensive plays. However, the setter had the option to hit the ball over the net on the second touch as a surprise attack play. It wasn’t something most pro teams used because they had the best talent in the world and didn’t need to compensate for the lack of attackers.

  “We want to hide our hitters. I’ve looked at the other seven teams in this league. Three of them drafted outstanding blocking units. Marcos, Olivera, Davidson, Ramirez, and Turin are all amazing blockers. They’re great at spotting where the ball will be and putting their arms up in its path, but also at making sure their blocks stay in bounds and drop on the other team’s side of the net. We’re going to hide our attackers. We’ll put in the two best setters in the country. We’ll use the set over the net every so often to make the blockers have to back off and play coverage. We’ll use our front row attackers when they don’t expect it. When they start blocking us, we’ll use the back-row attack; that’s when our second setter comes into play.” Everly paused. “It’ll hide Wicked and Godfrey, our two top attackers, and it actually gives us more options where it might give other teams fewer options.”

  “I like it,” Wicked spoke up, eyeing Everly.

  “It’s going to take your kills down, Wicked,” Myers offered, referring to Wicked’s hitting number.

  “The percentage will be fine,” Wicked said. “Besides, I don’t care. I want to win. If this helps us do that, I want to do it.”

  “We’re going to take a look at how it will work in here today. We’ll practice it exclusively for the next week or so. Then, we’ll start moving in the 5-1 and 6-2. I want to find our starting unit by the end of the week, and once we’re split, we’ll see what works for each unit.”

  Everly sat in the front row as Kara and Brenden took over for the rest of the meeting. When it was time to break for lunch, she joined the line, filled her plate, and went to sit down across from Wicked, who was alone.

  “Can I join you?”

  “Sure,” Wicked said, not looking up from her plate.

  “Why are you eating alone?”

  “I’m not. You’re here.” The woman looked up and gave an awkward smile.

  Everly considered not asking what she’d planned on asking but said, “What are you doing tomorrow? We’re off.”

  “I was going to continue unpacking. Why?”

  “Would you like a distraction from the unpacking?” Everly asked, trying to be upbeat.

  “Depends on the distraction,” Wicked replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Everly swallowed and said, “The Getty.”

  “The museum?” Wicked’s eyebrows stopped wiggling.

  “The art museum. Have you been?”

  “No. I’ve always meant to, but never gotten around to it, I guess. I’ve been to LA a million times for national team tourneys, but I don’t usually have a lot of time left over for museums.”

  “Well, it’s one of my favorite places here. It’s pretty touristy, but I forgive it for that.” Everly shrugged with a smile. “It’s something I think everyone should see, not just because of the art. The views of LA are great when there’s no smog covering them up.”

  “I guess I could go for the chance of smog,” Wyatt teased.

  “Great. It’s, like, fifteen bucks a car to park up there, but the museum’s free. I could swing by and pick you up to save on parking.”

  “And save on the smog?”

  Everly laughed just as Kara approached the table and said, “Hey, you two.”

  “Hey, coach,” Wicked replied, still looking at Everly.

  “Dr. Holman, can I talk to you for a minute about something?”

  “Oh, sure.” Everly stood, bringing her plate with her. “I’ll talk to you later?”

  “Later,” Wyatt replied.

  Everly nodded and followed Kara through the room, down the hall, and into Kara’s office. She sat down in the center guest chair, resting her plate of uneaten food in her lap.

  “Listen, I thought about not talking to you about this because I don’t know that anything’s going on… But if there is something going on, I wanted to let you know that I knew, you know?”

  “No, I don’t know,” Everly replied, realizing she would not be eating lunch today.

  “You and Wicked,” Kara said, sitting forward in her desk chair.

  “What about us?” Everly gulped, hoping she’d been able to hide it.

  “You two have been spending a lot of time together. You seemed to get along well.”

  “We get along fine, yes, but I wouldn’t say we’ve spent a lot of time together.”

  “So, Maxwell didn’t see you two having coffee after practice the other day?” Kara asked, referencing another of the players.

  “She probably did, because we did have coffee after practice, but it was just coffee. She’s new to the city, asked me to tell her about growing up here, and we talked. Then, she left for a run on the beach, and I went home.”

  “So, nothing’s going on between the two of you?”

  “I’ve read my contract, Kara. There’s nothing in it about fraternizing with the players. We’re allowed to spend time with them outside of practices and matches. For me, it’s actually beneficial to see them when they’re not playing.”

  “Wicked is special, Everly. You realize that, don’t you?”

  “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  “She’s the best volleyball player in the world.”

  “I know that.”

  “One of the reasons she’s the best player in the world is that she doesn’t get distracted.”

  “And I’m a distraction?” Everly asked.

  Then, she realized she had just used that word to define herself with Wyatt only moments ago. She glanced down at her plate before looking back up at Kara, who was staring at her.

  “You could be,” Kara replied. “I’ve known Wicked for a long time.” She sighed. “She’s always been focused on her sport. Have you followed her career at all?”

  “A little,” she lied.

  “Do you remember her second season in Brazil?”

  “Not really.”

  “It was her worst season.”

  “That’s like saying Van Gogh’s worst painting. Her worst season is still better than nearly every other player in the world.”

  “But do you know why it was her worst season?”

  “No.”

  “She met this girl, this woman, I guess. She was twenty-three and gorgeous. A model, I think. They dated. It didn’t end well.”

  “Oh,” Everly muttered.

  “She can tell you the whole story if she wants to, but you should know that she was devastated by the breakup. She considered quitting altogether. It took a few of us to snap her out of it. She didn’t play like herself again for months.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Everly replied. “Nothing’s going on between us, though. We’re friends, I guess.”

  “Okay.” Kara nodded. “If that’s all it is, then, I’m sure we’re going to be fine.”

  “That’s all it is,” Everly reassured her.

  She was certain that if Wyatt was in the room right now, the woman would be able to tell that she was lying.

  CHAPTER 8

  “This place is a maze. Didn’t we just go into this room?” Wyatt asked. “I feel like I’ve seen this painting before.”

  Everly laughed and replied, “You haven’t, but yes, this place is maze-like. I like to pretend I’m in an M.C. Escher sketch when I’m here. It kind of feels like the staircases lead everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”

  They’d made the drive to the museum at ten that morning, parking the car in the lot. Then, they’d taken the tram up the hill to get to the actual museum. Everly talked to her about the museum’s construction the whole way up, despite the fact that the tram’s speakers were doing the same thing. Wicked liked Everly’s version better. She also really liked that dimple on her right cheek that came out when the woman was very excited about something. Apparently, she was very excited about museums.

  They’d started on the top floor and had worked their way through rooms and rooms of paintings, large and small. Wicked liked art enough, but she wasn’t a connoisseur. She couldn’t tell which painting was brilliant and which was something a fifth-grader had done, and his mother had had it framed for her wall. She wasn’t exactly bored, though. Being here with Everly, feeling like she actually had a friend, was all the entertainment she needed. Of course, it didn’t feel like just a friendship with them.

  As they’d walked, they’d talked a little more. Wicked had learned that Everly’s parents still lived in Los Angeles and that she had one brother and one sister. She was the middle child. Everly’s parents owned their own business. Her older sister worked from home, selling cosmetics, and had two children of her own. Her younger brother was getting his MBA and would then take over the family business. Wicked had listened as Everly had talked about her brief time in Finland. It had been her one and only trip out of the country. Everly had been hopeful that she would play for a couple of years there and would get to explore the world. That hadn’t happened. Wicked could see the light dim in the woman’s eyes a little when they spoke about it. So, she had changed the subject back to art and to Everly’s Ph. D. program. That had brought the light back.

  “I think I like the outside a lot more than the inside. Does that make me uncultured?” Wicked asked as they stood just beyond the circular rose garden, staring out at the LA landscape.

  “I like it, too. It’s peaceful up here.”

  “Well, if that speech you gave in the tram is to be believed, that was the idea.”

  Everly pulled on her hand and said, “Let’s go over to the sculpture garden. There’s usually no one over there. We can sit down and talk some more.”

  “Why are you trying to get me alone, doc?” Wicked lifted an eyebrow at her.

  “Because three girls have come up to you since we’ve been here to ask for a picture. I thought you might want the privacy,” she replied.

  “It happens.” Wicked shrugged. Then, she added, “I don’t mean that like it happens all the time. I’m not famous for real. There are a few volleyball fans out there, though, and if they see me, they sometimes ask for a picture or an autograph.”

  “Do you like it?” Everly asked as they walked up the path to get to the sculptures.

  “The pictures? It’s fine. It only takes a second for me, but they remember it forever.”

  “That’s sweet of you,” Everly replied.

  “It’s worse overseas. Well, you know,” Wicked said.

  “No, I wouldn’t. I was out before that all started for me. I’m not sure it would have, anyway. I wasn’t even close to being as good as you are.”

  “You were pretty good the other day,” Wicked told her. “You had a couple of kills on that beach.”

  “That’s about all I can do. I was so sore after that match, I needed a hot bath and some ibuprofen.”

  “That’s because you haven’t played in a long time. Your muscles weren’t used to the movement anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t handle playing.”

  “I can’t, Wyatt,” Everly offered as they sat in the grass in front of the sculptures. “I can get by for a quick match like that, where there are five other people on a small beach court, who all know what they’re doing, but I’m too banged up to be diving all over a court, trying to make a pass.”

  “What did the doctors say?” Wyatt asked, placing her palms on the grass behind her, leaning back on them.

  “That I was lucky to be alive. They say that when you have a collapsed lung and most of your bones are in pieces. I have scars pretty much everywhere, though most of them are either small or pretty faded by now. My mom kept rubbing that scar lotion stuff on me after every surgery. She didn’t want me to be walking around with giant marks all over my body when I was just starting out in the world. Those were her words, by the way.” Everly chuckled. “I just think she wanted me to find a husband one day and worried the scars were a turn-off.”

  “Husband?” Wicked asked, caring about the rest of the speech, but wanting clarity on that very important point first.

  “Oh, she didn’t know back then,” Everly replied, turning to look at her. “You knew, though, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Wicked nodded with a smile.

  “How?”

  “I kind of caught you checking me out once.”

  “I’m pretty sure straight girls check you out, Wyatt.”

  “I like when you call me Wyatt,” she stated. “Most people don’t. It’s nice.”

  Everly smiled at her and replied, “I call you Wicked, sometimes.”

  “When we’re around the team. But when we’re alone, you usually call me by my first name.”

  “I guess I do.” Everly glanced back out over the hill toward the view of the city.

  It seemed so far away to Wicked. There was a whole world down there, of people milling about, trying to get from one place to another. Some were stuck in traffic. Others were trying to cook a meal. Others still were staring at a beautiful woman, wondering how she could possibly breach the subject Wicked had been scared to bring up for weeks now. She opted for actions as opposed to words and reached for Everly’s hand. She took it in her own, moved to cross her legs in front of herself, and put Everly’s hand in her lap.

  “Wyatt…”

  “Am I wrong?” Wicked asked.

  “We can’t.”

  “Because of the team?” she asked. “Or because you don’t feel that way about me?”

  Everly turned toward her completely, pulling her own hand away, and said, “Look at me, so you know I’m telling the truth, okay?”

  “Everly, it’s–”

  “Wyatt, I’m a psychologist for the team. You haven’t really sat down to talk to me yet, but one day, you will. We’ll talk about things that a psychologist and patient talk about.”

  “I am not your patient, Everly.”

  “But it’s important to me, Wyatt. My relationship with all of you is important.”

  “I’m not the team.”

  “Yes, you are.” She moved a little closer to Wicked. “Wyatt, yes, you are. You’re not just this team. Right now, you’re the entire league. If things work out, that won’t always be the case, but you’re the most well-known player in the world. When people come to the first match, it’s going to be to see you play.”