Chapter 2: September 1998 - Mixed Doubles
The Tangled Web is a story spanning several years and is based on the complicated lives of a brother and sister and those they live with. Set in the English Midlands, the tale is told through a series of interlocking short stories. Although designed to be read in sequence, I have tried to make each chapter stand as a complete and satisfying story in itself.
Sara and her older brother Sam returned from their holiday in Spain determined to continue their new relationship. After careful thought, they eventually found a way to meet in secret whenever they felt the desire - and they felt it often. They simply joined the tennis league in the sports club to which they both belonged. By entering the mixed doubles competitions as a pair, they had a perfectly acceptable reason to be together one or two evenings a week for matches (real or not) and especially for club training on a Thursday night.
Sam's wife Lynn worked on Thursday evenings as a Personal Trainer at a rival club. Sara's boyfriend David was not a member of either club, so neither partner was in a position to notice that the training sessions were often only 30 minutes long rather than the 2 or 3 hours that Sara and Sam were away for, or that they were usually lamentably behind in playing their league matches.
It was a Thursday night. Sara, who still lived with her parents while she was at University, was due to visit Sam at his and Lynn's house. She was getting ready carefully in her bedroom.
*
Sara stood upright before the full-length bedroom mirror and inspected her preparations. She was, she felt, pleased on the whole with the results. She hoped Sam would be pleased too. Sara had been counting the hours impatiently since his call that morning to confirm their arrangement, and the time for her to go had now finally arrived. She pulled her white sleeveless tennis top firmly down over her small, firm breasts, and straightened the pleats of her short tennis skirt. Her smooth, slender legs, still nicely tanned from their summer holiday in Spain - Sara smiled and blushed when she remembered that magical first night with Sam - were framed top and bottom by her short white skirt and white cotton socks. Her brown, shoulder length hair was shiny, sleek and just a little sun bleached. She leaned forwards to check her lightly applied make-up, and nodded in satisfaction
To outward appearances she looked as she should look to play a serious game of tennis. A perceptive observer might have noticed that her make up was perhaps a little heavier than it would normally have been for sport, that her breasts were surprisingly unsupported for such strenuous exercise - even for small breasts like hers, and that her new g-string panties were hardly the norm for Centre Court. But then, Sara thought happily to herself, she did not expect to be involved in much racquet work that night.
With an excited shiver, Sara smiled broadly at her reflection, turned and grabbed her green Slazenger bag from the bed, then swept from the room and down the stairs.
"Off now?" her mother called from the kitchen.
"Ye-es." she sang back happily.
"Would you tell Sam we'll expect him and Lynn at around 12 on Saturday? Oh - and good luck in your match."
"Okay Mum. Thanks. Bye." she replied and disappeared through the front door.
In his modern semi detached house, Sara's brother Sam was feeling anxious. His wife Lynn seemed to be taking an age to get ready and leave for her exercise class. As an Instructor, Lynn always had to really look the part - something for the rest of the class to aim at - but even so, Sam thought, she could have been quicker. The result was, he had to confess, always worth the wait. Lynn was simply stunning and he was a very lucky man, he knew. But Sam had discovered needed more. He wanted and needed Sara very badly. He tried to relax a little. After all, he told himself, it would not be too difficult to explain things away if Sara arrived before Lynn had left. They were supposed to be playing tennis that night, and he could always say she was picking him up on her way to the club.
But tennis was the last thing Sam wanted to play with his beautiful, sexy sister.
To keep up the tennis deception and for his own peace of mind -and to give Sara the opportunity to change her mind and really play tennis - he had changed into his own tennis clothes. Sam could not bear the thought of Sara being anything but a full and willing partner, and on each occasion they had 'met' since that first unbelievable night in Spain, he had tried to give her an easy way out if she wanted one. He had tried hard never to take her for granted, and always tried to appear as if anything that happened was a pleasant surprise for him. In fact, had he but known it, Sara desired him even more than he desired her and their sexual compatibility was growing quickly.
Finally, Lynn rose from the dressing table and turned to kiss him lightly on the cheek before gracefully descending the stairs. Sam heard the front door slam and the sound of her car engine revving up in the driveway. He looked out of the bedroom window and waved as his wife drove speedily away along the narrow road. Sam turned and sat on the bed, gazing at his reflection in the wardrobe door mirror. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest, and forced himself to take long, slow breaths to calm himself.
After only a few minutes, another car engine sounded outside and Sam jumped to his feet. Dashing to the window, he saw Sara's small car turning into the driveway. He rose slowly, and descended the stairs just as a soft knock sounded on the front door. Sam opened it wide.
Sara stood outside the door, her bag over her shoulder, feeling the slight coldness of the evening air on her bare legs and arms. She knocked and waited, goose bumps beginning to appear on her soft brown skin, and was pleased when Sam opened the door promptly. He looked good; very good, she thought, in his white shorts and polo shirt.
"Hi Sam. Sorry I'm a bit late." she said, a shiver of excitement joining the shiver the cool air had brought and with a broad smile she squeezed past him into the warm house.
Dropping her sports bag in the hallway, Sara walked through to the kitchen. Sam followed, admiring his sister's slim, athletic body. Why had he never noticed her attractiveness over the many years they had lived in the same house? Why had it taken so long for them to discover each other's bodies? Sam shook his head at the wasted opportunities and entered the brightly-lit kitchen close behind her.
"Did you book a court, Midge?" he asked hesitatingly, as always allowing her to signal whether she really wanted to play tennis or......
"Oh no! I forgot!" Sara grinned back. Sam felt a warm glow of excitement inside him. It would be all right tonight.
"So did I. Funny isn't it?" He crossed to the fridge. "In that case, how about a drink?" he asked. "A glass of wine?"
"Mmmm. Yes please."