Stunned Alice allowed herself to rise from her bed and approached the firey brunette. ‘You don’t want to be with me! You’ve made that clear a thousand times. We go out, we break up, we see each other at a club, we have a one night stand and then we clear out…that’s how it has always been with us Gab’.

Gaby walked to the side of Alice’s bedroom and picked up her bag. ‘Not this time. This time it’ll be different, i swear. I’ve changed Alice, i’m not the person i was six months ago. I’m ready to make a commitment.

‘Well i’m not!’ Alice yelled cutting Gaby off in her stride.

‘That doesn’t put me off Al’. she insisted. ‘I’ll call you later and we can talk’. And with that Gaby left Alice open mouthed in her apartment.

‘Wow’! Alice thought to herself. She had finally broken Gaby. For years she had wished that she could make her actually want to be in a relationship with her and finally, she had achieved her goal. Although it was clear to her that she wasn’t in love with her she still considered the possibility of a relationship. ‘It’s not like it’ll do any harm’ Alice thought, prefering dilusion to rationalising. Alice was still in love with Dana but she couldn’t make her want to be with her, could she? Eventually she resolved that she would see Gaby whenever she chose to. It was time for the two to experience a relationship on her terms.

Dana was late for training with the US Open in a month. She rushed through the gates of the country club and onto the court in time to see her trainer Jess tapping her watch and looking extremely unimpressed. ‘Not good enough Dana’, she began gesturing towards the free court. ‘I’m really really really sorry’ Dana admitted struggling for breath, ‘I forgot to set my alarm last night and…well you know how it is, the upside is i jogged here’. Despite Dana’s assurances that she jogged, Jess did not look satisfied with the response. Listen we’re going to have to make this quick you have a meeting with a potential manager in fifteen. ‘God… do i have to’ Dana groaned grabbing a racquet. ‘Yes, you can’t be managerless with a grand slam coming up and this one is more than qualified according to sources. ‘Then i’m sure she’ll be fine, what’s her name?’ Dana asked serving across the court. ‘Tonya’ Jess began ‘i forget her surname’. Dana’s mouth hung open as her trainer handed her a hand written note scribbled on by Tonya.

Dear Dana,

                     I’m sure it has come as a bit of a surprise that i want to work for you but let me assure you that it is all in the interest of professionalism. I learned a lot when we were together about the ins and outs of this business and would not want our personal relationship to interfere with that. I know your game better than anyone and, most importantly, i know how to take care of you. Please don’t let what happened between us have any bearing on this opportunity.

                                  Tonya xx