"My goodness, she's getting so big!" Lana said as I made my way up the small set of bleachers outside the tennis courts.
"Tell me about it. She's six-months-old today." I replied lifting Stella out. "You want to hold her?"
"Yes, please!" Lana held out her arms and I passed Stella over. "Oh, hello sweet girl!"
"How was this morning?" I asked in reference to the matches. The tennis invitational had kicked off early this morning, starting with JV. Varsity was playing now. Lana was there in part because Steve helped coach the JV team and in part to support Keely, who played Varsity.
"JV won their first round of matches 4-2, so they'll play again at 3pm. I heard coach is having Keely play #3 singles today."
I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, she's nervous but excited." Keely had always played #1 doubles, but her coach had been pushing her more and more to play singles. She'd been practicing hard and since this wasn't a conference tournament, the coach decided it was a good time for her to try it out.
"I'm sure she'll do great!"
We watched the doubles matches play out, which were over quickly. The singles matches had been going for about 10 minutes when I caught sight of a familiar looking face on the bleachers across the court. "Oh my gosh." I whispered.
"Huh?" Lana asked, her attention drawn away from babbling with Stella as she bounced her on her lap.
"I think that's Keely's mom, there in the blue." I pointed discreetly.
"I thought Keely wasn't in contact with her mom."
"She's not, at least not that I know of. She hasn't mentioned Michelle in months."
I texted Andrew, curious if he knew anything about Michelle being here. Unsurprisingly, he called me a few moments after the text marked read.
"Michelle's at the match?" Were the first words out of his mouth when I answered.
"She just showed up a minute ago. So, you don't know anything about this either?"
"No, Keely hasn't mentioned her in months. I don't like this. Keely was so heartbroken this summer, I don't want Michelle toying with her emotions again."
My thoughts exactly, I thought. "I know, I'll keep an eye on Keely. How are the meetings?"
"Ugh, don't ask. Just be glad you aren't a unit chief anymore. Your text was a good excuse for me to sneak out for a minute, so thank you."
"Anytime." I laughed. "Alright, I'll keep you updated on things here. See you tonight, I love you."
"I love you, too, Em."
####
Keely demolished her opponent 6-3, 6-1. When all the matches that round were over, Lana and I waited until the coach finished talking with the players before going to find her. She was standing off to the side of the field behind the courts with Ethan when we spotted her.
"Keely!" I called out, not wanting to roll Stella's stroller in the lawn. She smiled and ran over, giving me a loose side hug, still sweaty from the match. "You did great, kiddo! I'm so proud of you!" I said as we pulled apart.
"Coach isn't going to want to let you go back to doubles after that. Good job!" Lana commended.
"Thank you! It went better than..." Keely trailed off as she glanced behind us, her body stiffening. I turned to see Michelle standing a few feet away, looking awkward and more than a little perturbed.
"I thought I told you not to come." Keely said, her tone harsh.
"I missed seeing you play." Michelle replied, unphased by Keely's sudden change in demeanor.
"Yeah, well I don't need you here. I haven't needed you in almost a year now, so you can get the hell away from me."
"Don't talk to your mother like that." Michelle demanded, raising her eyebrow.
"You're not my mother, not anymore." Keely said coldly.
Michelle went to reply, moving a step forward, but I'd had enough. I stepped in front of Keely and held a hand up toward Michelle. "I think you should go, Michelle. Keely clearly doesn't want you here. Please, don't make this any worse."
Michelle huffed and stared for a long moment before finally stalking off. I turned around and Keely immediately fell into my arms. I embraced her tightly, my heart breaking for her. She cried into my shoulder for a brief moment, then pulled back and wiped her eyes. I could see her steeling herself, shutting out her emotions.
"Sweetie…" I spoke softly, reaching for her hand but she pulled away.
"I'm fine." She said, grabbing her bag. "I need to go warm up before the next round."
"Coach said not for another half an hour." Ethan pointed out.
Keely glared at him. "I'm going to warm up, you can either come feed balls for me or I'll find someone else." And then she was off. Ethan sighed and looked to Lana.
"Go. Be home by 10pm." Lana said knowingly.
Ethan nodded, then looked to me, smiling sadly. "I'll watch out for her," he said before following after Keely to the practice courts.
####
The rest of the day was painful. Keely pulled through on another big win for her second match, but when she climbed into the car to go home, she kept her headphones in, a clear sign she didn't want to talk. Andrew was home when we got back and Keely unenthusiastically engaged in talk about her match and then asked if she could go to bed. Andrew sighed sadly but let her go, knowing that pushing wouldn't do any good.
I busied myself giving Stella a bath and her nightly bottle, then laid her down for bed. I heard a sniffle from Keely's room when I was closing the door to Stella's and couldn't help myself. I knocked on her door and opened it slightly. Keely was curled up in bed, tear tracks down both cheeks and eyes puffy. "Oh, sweetheart." I moved to sit on the side of her bed and was surprised when Keely curled into me, moving to rest her head on my lap and wrapping her arms around my waist.
She didn't say anything and I didn't push, simply whispering soothing words as I stroked her hair and brushed the tears from her cheeks. She was asleep in minutes, exhausted from both the physical and emotion tolls of today. I carefully shifted her so her head was resting on her pillow and stood, pulling her covers over her and placing a soft kiss to her brow.
Andrew was on the other side of the door when I exited her room and I pulled him into my arms, knowing if my own heart was breaking for Keely that his was shattered.
"I hate her." Andrew whispered, his voice thick with emotion, and I knew he was talking about Michelle.
"I know, I know."
####
The next morning, Andrew and I were both on the living room floor playing with Stella when Keely came downstairs. She settled on the couch and wrapped herself in a blanket.
"Hey champ, how are you doing?" Andrew asked.
"Better. I'm sorry for shutting you out last night." She spoke quietly.
"You don't have to apologize, Kee. You have every right to take time to process."
"Are you ready to talk, sweetie?" I asked softly.
Keely nodded. "She texted me last week. She heard about the invitational from one of the PTA moms that she's friends with. She asked what times I was playing, said she wanted to come watch." Keely sighed deeply. "I told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn't to come. She had no right. No right to want to come. She didn't respond to a single text or call for months after she left, and suddenly she thinks she can waltz back in?" Keely's voice rose as she spoke, tears welling in her eyes.
Andrew got up off the floor and set next to Keely, pulling her to him and holding her. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to, baby. I'll talk to her, just say the word."
"Does that make me a bad daughter?" Keely whimpered.
"No! I don't ever want you to think that, ok? Nothing could be farther from the truth."
Andrew embraced Keely for another long moment before reaching his arm our to where I was now standing with Stella. I smiled, walking over and gladly indulging in a family hug. When I sat down on Keely's other side, she loosened her drip around Andrew and leaned into me.
"We love you so much, Kee." I affirmed.
Andrew called Michelle the next day. He reamed her for upsetting Keely again and when he finally gave Michelle a chance to talk, she promised not to bother her again. It took a few weeks before things were fully back to normal, before Keely was her usual, happy self, but with every day that Michelle kept her word Keely regained a bit more confidence.