Chapter 181
Chapter 180: Her Plant Motion
Catherine’s POV
I know,” I said. “He called me too. Asked about Dante’s schedule, his timetable, whether I knew anything about his plans.” I paused. “He’s worried. About Dante and Sedona p>
“Should he be?” Alina asked, curiosity lacing her tone as it settled between us.
I considered the question honestly, which was the version I used with Alina because she could detect the dishonest version and found it irritating. Besides she was the only person I could confide in and that meant she needed to know the whole truth.
“Possibly,” I said. “Dante’s been in Seattle longer than the exhibition season required. Normally Dante Wells is well known for traveling to and from different places, countries going on tours and visiting fans. But he denied it this year because he wanted to stay in seattle. He cited training exercises and routine checks but that was just a flimsy excuse. He’s been visiting her during treatment. He was at the party.” I paused. “They have history. Junior circuit, they played each other when she was seventeen. I managed to find out later from from a few colleagues around that time that he was interested in her then and apparently that didn’t go away.” I turned the coffee cup in my hand.
“But Dante is-he’s always been shut off. Emotionally removed from any situation. He doesn’t chase women, nor does he engage in any relationship and has not looked at another woman..even the fact he has a child is shocking because Dante has never been seen with any woman and the mystery woman behind Dante’s son is still a close kept secret. The circuit talks about it. He was the same way when we were coming up. Focused, talented, utterly uninterested in the social dimension of the tour p>
“The rumors,” Alina said. “About him being different lately, that he has been opening up and doing more things he didn’t do before. Someone said he caught him smiling while on the phone with someone. This was the first time it had been recorded in the history of Dante Wells p>
I’d heard the same rumors. The circuit had a long-range information network that functioned with the efficiency of something that never slept-news traveled through agents and coaches and support staff and locker rooms across multiple continents, and the news about Dante Wells was that he’d been different this season. More present, people said. Warmer.
۴
“Something happened to him, and I know what happened to him and that name starts with S.” I said. “Or something changed but he is definitely not like before. He’s been better with people-his press conferences are different and more animated, willing to smile.more and answer more questions than ignoring it, also there is a huge change in his interactions with other players. His coach said something in an interview about his mindset being more open.” I paused. “I don’t know if that’s Sedona’s doing or if it’s the son or if it’s something else entirely p>
“But if it’s Sedona,” Alina said.
“If it’s Sedona, then she’s already done something no one else managed to do in twelve years of trying.” I said it without sentiment, just assessment. “Which would make him considerably more complicated than the purely logistical problem I’ve been treating him as p>
“Do you think she could do that?” Alina said. “Change him p>
13
Hel Plan Ip Motion
thought about Sedona.
Claim
The woman across dinner tables for three years, managed and hidden in the shadows, because she was not good enough to show in the spotlight besides Logan. I had spent three years thinking of her as someone who was in a position she hadn’t quite earned, who was there by circumstance rather than design.
I was recalibrating that assessment.
She’d built a legal case while Logan was watching her house. She’d maintained contact with Nick through channels Logan didn’t control and ones that avoided me..I had assumed with my conversation with her, she would have backed down from trying again, seeing that Nick didn’t need her anymore but she had kept pushing.
She was back in Seattle with her family and a private investigator’s documentation of Logan’s behavior and a stalking complaint that was on official record.
She was not the person I’d thought she was.
“I think she could do a lot of things I underestimated,” I said, which was the most honest version that I could manage right now.
“Then Dante is a real variable,” Alina said.
“Yes,” I said. “Which is why I’m going to do something about it p>
Alina was quiet. The waiting quiet, the one that meant she was giving me room to say what was on my
mind.
“When I go back on tour,” I said, “Dante will be on the circuit. We’ll be at the same tournaments, the same facilities. The Australian Open, the European clay season, the grass swing.” I paused. “I haven’t spent time with him in years. Not real time. But we were on the same junior circuit, we know some of the same people.” A pause. “He’s warmer now, people say. More open. If that’s true, then he’s more approachable than he’s ever been p>
“You’re going to approach him,” Alina said.
“I’m going to be approachable to him,” I said. “There’s a difference. I’m not going to appear with an agenda. I’m going to be on the tour, in the same spaces, and I’m going to let him see me there.”If paused. “He’s been ranked higher than me in every way that matters to that world.
He’s successful in his own right. He has a child. He has the open quality that he apparently didn’t have before.” I looked at my coffee. “If Sedona isn’t definite for him yet-if she’s asked for time and he’s waiting -then there’s a window p>
“That’s ambitious,” Alina said. “Maintaining Logan as the primary and developing Dante as the contingency simultaneously p>
“I’ve managed more complex situations,” I said.
“You have,” she agreed. “But Dante Wells is not a simple person p>
“No,” I said. “But I’m not a simple person either p>
2:3
He Plan (pMotion
Claim
She was quiet for a moment. “And Sedona?” she said. “If she becomes a real factor in his decision-making
“The cancer,” I said, and then stopped myself.
Alina waited.
“She’s milking it,” I said. “The sympathy. The returning mother, the illness, the recovery-it’s a narrative that makes her sympathetic and Logan look like the villain.” I paused. “But people get tired of that kind of story eventually. A lot of people get cancer. Sedona getting it doesn’t make her chosen. It doesn’t make her exceptional. She’s sick, she’s getting better, and eventually the narrative runs its course and people look at what’s actually there p>
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Florence
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.