AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Wooooo!” I yell, run over to him, and throw my arms around him, and he laughs and hugs me.
“Game Dr. Hart and Ms. Beaver,” the umpire states.
“No,” David yells. “It was out. The ball was out.”
We break apart as the cheers of the crowd die down.
“It was out,” he repeats furiously. “Way over the line. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“The ball was in,” the umpire states. “Game over, Mr. Clarke.”
Mack gives David an amused look, then goes over to put the cover on his racket.
“No!” David smashes his racket on the ground.
“Dude.” Mack’s smile fades. “You lost. Show a bit of sportsmanship.”
“Fuck off.” David grabs his bag and ruined racket and walks away, leaving Felicity standing there, looking horror stricken.
“I’m sorry,” she mutters before picking up her own bag and following him off.
Mack purses his lips and approaches the umpire. “I’m sorry about that. Are you sure the ball was in?”
“Absolutely,” he replies through his microphone so everyone can hear. “Not a doubt in my mind. The game is yours.”
At the same time, several people sitting in the stands near the baseline yell, “It was definitely in!”
Mack nods, and the crowd cheers and whistles again.
He comes over to me, puts his arms around me, and lifts me up. “Champions!” he says, and laughs. And then he lowers me down and crushes his lips to mine. “You’re amazing,” he says when we finally break apart. “Do you have any idea how crazy I am about you?”
But there’s no time for me to reply, because Victoria, Jamie, Emma, and some of the others who’ve made their way over from their matches come up to congratulate us, and I’m lost in a whirl of happy exultation that’s only increased by the memory of Mack’s words as they continue to swirl in my head throughout the rest of the afternoon.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sidnie
We eventually make it back to the function room, where everyone continues to congratulate us. A waiter comes up with a tray of glasses of champagne, and Mack and I toast each other with a smile before joining in with the cheers as Huxley urges everyone to raise their glasses to us.
Then it’s time for the awards ceremony. It’s only as Huxley takes the mic and starts talking about how successful the day has been and how much money we’ve raised that I look around and realize I can’t see David and Felicity.
“They’ve left,” Mack murmurs when I ask him where they are. “Talk about bad sportsmanship.”
But there’s no time to talk about it because Huxley is entertaining the crowd by awarding certificates and gifts like cans of tennis balls or T-shirts for best lob and best drop shot, and fun things like best-dressed player. Titus gets the award for the largest tennis bag. Chrissie gets the one for fanciest shoes. He gives Elizabeth the award for the best victory dance because apparently she moonwalked after they won a match, and she promptly repeats it and makes everyone laugh. I get best hair, which makes me roll my eyes and poke my tongue out at him. Mack gets ‘player who ate the most at lunch’, which makes me giggle and him grin. Elizabeth then goes up and gives Huxley the award for best trash talker, which makes us all cheer.
Then it’s the trophies for the top three places. In third place are Rawiri and Ngaire, and they go up to get their trophy to lots of cheering and whistles.
“Second place goes to David and Felicity,” Huxley says. “Unfortunately they’ve left, so I’ll have to pass it on to them later.”
Everyone claps politely, but I can see people muttering about David’s performance at the last match. He didn’t do himself any favors there. What an idiot, considering there were a lot of his business colleagues here.
“And first place goes to Mack and Sidnie,” Huxley announces with a smile.
Mack takes my hand and leads me through the crowd and up to Huxley, who presents us with the trophy of a tennis ball on a small plinth and a magnum of Champagne. We lift the trophy in the air together and laugh, then rejoin the crowd with everyone cheering and clapping us on the back.
“Thank you all so much for making the day so successful,” Huxley adds. “And don’t forget, it’s the New Year’s Eve Party tonight at the club from seven p.m. I hope to see you there!”
“Well done you two,” Elizabeth says as we walk up to her and the others.
