Bam! The ball glanced off his hands in a high arc, easy to pass. Jill set to him again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other team’s second front-row player sprint in a little late to the double block. Aiden cut the ball at a sharp angle and hit the sideline.

The down-ref stood by the pole. “Nice cut.”

“Thanks.”

He heard Lex hooting. He turned, and she clapped and beamed at him.

Beamed at him.

His legs twitched with energy. He could jump higher than the rafters. He was in the zone, his groove was on, and he was on fire.

On the next serve, the other team shanked the ball and they had to bump it back over. Carol set him, high and arcing.

Aiden saw a window – the blocker had left the line shot open.

He cranked.

Blammo! On the other team, a girl dropped to the ground.

His heart stopped. Dread spiraled across his chest. He gagged and sucked in a heaving breath. What have I done?

He ducked under the net and raced to her side. “I’m so sorry.”

She stared dazedly at the ceiling, but she didn’t seem too injured.

Well, except for the “Tachikara” emblazoned across her nose and over her left eye.

“How can I not worry about it?” Aiden banged the back of his head against the folded up bleachers.

Lex adjusted her seat and stretched her legs. She hated wearing heels to work – even the short ones made her calves and hamstrings tighten. “Everyone who plays understands these things.”

“I should have left the game.” His gesturing arm glanced off her.

She shifted sideways on the wooden bleacher seat.

“No, if you left, that would be the coward’s way out. You finished out the game. You shouldn’t have let it hurt your play like it did.”

“That girl I hit left the game – ”

“Camy? She’s a ball magnet. She gets brained just walking across the back of the courts during warm-ups.”

“I hit it right at her – ”

“You hit it exactly where you should have, the only place you could – on line, which the blocker gave you. She should have been back further to dig it.”

Aiden stared morosely at the second game being played. “I should sit out the other two games too.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Her abrasive tone seemed to amuse him. Well, anything to snap him out of this funk. Lex clapped when their hitter gave a great deep corner shot that had the other team’s middle back diving at the ball.

“You know, you’ve been playing better lately.”

His expressionless face warmed a bit. She could almost swear a glimmer of a smile appeared. “You think?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve been taking the Stanford Volleyball Camp the past few weeks.”

“Oh, hey! That’s a great clinic. It’s showing – ”

“Hey, Lex.”

Kin-Mun had appeared in front of her. She hadn’t even noticed. “Hi.”

He gave that familiar smile, the one that turned her stomach into a toasty mug of chocolate. “I heard you got a new job.”

She nodded. “Alumni Association Liaison at SPZ.”

“Awesome. Do you like it?”

“It’s terrific. I get paid to research about schools’ sports teams and then talk shop with their alumni association reps.”

Kin-Mun laughed. “You must be in heaven. One of my cousins used to be an alumni association rep. They made a lot of money off of sports.”

His words had a weird catch, an odd hesitation. She shrugged it off. “Yeah, they like using SPZ’s web presence to promote their school sports.”

“Ever talk to UW?”

“Yeah, I have to call them next week. Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” Kin-Mun glanced at the game being played. “I’ll be in Seattle next weekend. I’d love to catch the football game but don’t know if I’ll be able to get tickets.”

Lex wondered if she could. Other AAs had offered her free tickets when she talked to them, but not all. And next week would be the first time she spoke to the University of Washington Alumni Association.

“Ah, well.” Kin-Mun smiled down at her, and her cup of chocolate reheated. “I’m glad your job is going so well. Going out to eat with everyone tonight?”

“Yeah. We’re going to Chili’s.”

“Great. Save me a seat.”

“Sure.”

Kin-Mun sauntered away.

“He’s a good friend?”

Lex had completely forgotten about Aiden sitting beside her. “Yeah, he and I go way back.”

Except Kin-Mun had seemed almost interested in her tonight. Weird. No, exciting. Well, weird and exciting.

Lex needed to get those tickets.

SEVENTEEN

Sorry, Lex, but tickets have been sold out for a few weeks.”

Her heart dipped, but only for a moment. “Roger, I know most alumni associations have their own block of seats. You couldn’t spare me a couple?”

“Well, now.” Roger’s voice had started to drawl. “I might be able to.”

She knew it. “I could offer some discounted advertising rates.”

“Naw, we don’t really need more advertising.”

Shucks. “Not even a premium story on our home page? What would you like to highlight about UW?”

“Our baseball team is doing really well, but it seems we can’t fill up seats.”

“A home page story would do that for you.” She reeled him in.

“A few scouts at the next game might be nice too.”

Aha! That’s what he was fishing for. “SPZ has connections to many scouts.” She had ten of them to call back today about new high school team stats that had just gone up on the website.

“Well, Lex, let me talk to a few people and get back to you on those seats.”

“I’d appreciate it, Roger.” She hung up. She now understood the rush when magnates closed a deal, or when stockbrokers scored on Wall Street.

Lex reached for her water bottle. Empty.

She glanced at the silent phone. She had time to refill it before Roger called back. She hooked the loop in the Nalgene bottle’s cap and headed down the walkway toward the water cooler.

She sidestepped Grey’s long legs sticking out into the hallway as he sat in his cube, having some serious phone conversation involving San Jose State baseball. Jordan’s voice drifted from his cubicle -probably also on the phone – but too late, she saw his foot shoot out into the walkway in front of her.

Her arms flailed as she tripped. Thwack! Her water bottle connected with something solid.

“Ooomph!”

She thrust out her hands, but the flimsy wall toppled instead into Dan’s cubicle. Konk! Sounded like the partition collided with Dan’s head.

“Ow!”

Lex and the partition went down. She flipped over as Dan’s body slowed the wall’s crash. Her hand, which had still hooked the loop in her water bottle, swung wildly and suddenly let go.

Two things happened at once.

The cubicle partition slammed Dan into the ground. Her water bottle, free and flying out sideways, crashed into the top-heavy water cooler.

Down went the partitions.

Down went the cooler.

Water soaked through the thin office carpet and rushed at her like an ocean wave. It saturated her pants.

“Lex! Are you all right?” Grey appeared. He grabbed one arm, and Jordan, the other. They carefully hoisted her up. While grateful for their help, she disentangled herself from their hands as soon as she could balance.

Dan ran to upend the water cooler bottle and stop the office flood. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure you’re good?” Grey asked. “Nothing broken?”

Dan had a huge red spot on his temple, but he focused all his attention on her. “Yeah, are you sure?”

“For the last time, I’m fine. Dan, are you okay? Jordan?”

Jordan froze in the act of rubbing the swollen part of his jaw.

Oops, that must have been what her water bottle had first collided with. He flashed a Prince Charming smile. “I’m great.”

Okay, she’d walked into the Twilight Zone. “What is wrong with you people?”