To her credit she didn’t jump or even flinch.
“I wondered when you’d notice,” she said. “From my back surgery. It’s the only reason I made it back to playing. My surgeon was a miracle worker. Abuela here keeps telling me she prayed for him. So she gets all the credit.”
“I knew it was bad, but that sounds…”
“Yeah. It wasn’t just being able to play at that point. Everything was on the line—being able to walk normally, any chance of having kids… Way too much hanging in the balance for my liking.”
“Wow, that’s insane,” I replied. “Is that something you’re planning? Having kids, I mean?”
Toni shrugged. “I figure there’s time when I retire. No way I’m taking time out voluntarily now. And y’know, I always wanted to do it with someone else, if I found the right one.”
“So Xavi isn’t on the baby-daddy list?”
That made Toni’s eyebrows shoot up, and I rubbed my palms on my robe, worrying I’d messed up by mentioning him. She had to have at least considered it if they’d been together a while, surely?
“You mean as a donor?”
“What?”
“What?”
“Elin, do you think I’m sleeping with my coach?” Toni seemed to be processing fast, looking at me as though I might actually be stupid. Her voice rose as she continued. “Where did you get that idea?”
“It’s what everyone says when I mention your name!” I protested. “And you two are pretty close. He’s always with you.”
“Because some of us don’t have a ten-person team every time we step out of the house,” Toni replied, and I thought she was teasing at first, but there was a definite edge to her words. “He runs a lot of interference with the federation for me. He’s done the circuit himself, so he knows what’s non-negotiable.”
“I’m sorry, I just assumed.” A little bubble of hope was rising in my chest.
“I thought you’d know better than to listen to rumours, is all,” Toni said. “He’ll laugh when I tell him, though.”
That gave me a fresh stab of guilt about the rumours that had been doing the rounds in Singapore. It was the perfect opening to confess about Xavi shopping his coaching services to me, and probably other players, but the words died on my tongue as I realised it would ruin our holiday, which had been close to perfect so far.
“So, uh, babies?” I tried to change the subject back onto safer ground.
“Someday, sure. Sooner if I don’t have to carry a baby myself.” Another clue? Or was she talking about surrogacy? “What about you, Ms Larsson? Will the goddess of tennis be giving the world any… What’s a baby god? Godlet?”
“I don’t know if that’s a word,” I answered. “But sure, one day. I’ve been thinking about it more and more lately. Celeste, she wasn’t interested, but I like to think that with the right person… Hell, I could do it myself. Like you said, I have the ten-person team, right?”
“I don’t think Parisa signed on for diapers, somehow,” Toni said.
Maria came out with breakfast then, the coffee pot and mugs a welcome sight. “Morning, girls. I’ve made molletes.” I wasn’t familiar with the dish, but everything we’d eaten so far had been delicious, so instead of micromanaging every calorie and gram of fat, I nodded in appreciation. Maria set the heavy tray down, and Toni got up to help her grandmother, the delicious scents of tomato and some spices wafting ahead towards me. My stomach rumbled gratefully.
“Gracias,” I said as the egg-and-tomato dish was placed in front of me, sizzling cheese in evidence. My mouth watered at the sight. Getting back in shape for Australia was going to be an uphill climb after this week, and I found I didn’t mind one bit. I did my part by pouring the coffee, and we all settled down to eat together.
We did venture out during the rest of the week, not least because Maria had a lot of charitable projects and social commitments that she preferred Toni to drive her to.
Lake Chapala was certainly as beautiful as promised, and we went out on boats to little towns full of local crafted goods and delicious treats. My favourite part was that no one seemed to recognise me at all, apart from a few double takes from the imported Americans. Toni was much more of a celebrity in in her home country, and everyone who recognised her wanted to talk either about Maria or the Mexican Open in February.
Most days, though, we spent at least some time in the pool or lying around it. I had brought some books that were long overdue for reading, and Toni turned out to be a total podcast addict. I’d never really found one I clicked with. Since my occasional insomnia was usually broken up by listening to people talking on the radio, most podcasts just made me feel sleepy before long.
“So,” Toni said as we sipped at the mojitos she’d made after lunch on our second-to-last day. “This isn’t shop talk, but kind of…what-about-after-the-shop talk. For some reason, I feel like your answer isn’t going to be more of the T-word.”
“It’s true,” I agreed. “I’ve never wanted to coach. The thought of going on television to talk about how other people are playing makes me want to hide under my bed. No, none of that is for me. Maybe—only maybe—some kind of ambassador role if it’s for charity. I’ve been asked about that already.”
“Right, but nobody expects you to retire yet. You’d have to stop winning everything first.”
I snorted. “I don’t know. It’s not like I really have any other skills. I did okay in school but there’s no degree or anything. Could I
