Dan blinked. “What do you mean?”

“When did you all suddenly become nice?”

Grey lifted a hand over his chest. “Lex, we’re hurt. We respect you deeply as a coworker.”

“Since when?”

“We’ve heard you on the phone.” He passed her water bottle to her. “The AAs like talking to you. You’re doing a great job.”

His eyes seemed sincere. Lex warmed to his praise.

Grey pointed to some papers on his desk. “Their advertising orders are up by ten to twenty this week alone.”

She hadn’t thought they’d noticed. She shouldn’t have assumed they were all still having hissy fits about her getting the AAL position.

“Dan, get her a few more towels. Here, I’ll go to the next office and fill your bottle from their cooler.” Grey took her bottle from her.

“Thanks.”

“Jordan, you help her back to her office.”

“No, I’m fine.” She started back down the walkway.

“Here are some towels.” Dan looked so earnest, Lex feared he’d mop up the water from her derriere if she didn’t stop him, so she took the towels from his hand. “I’m good, thanks.”

“If you need anything, just ask.” Dan smiled.

“Thanks.” She turned into her office and closed the door.

Ugh, her butt was soaked. She sopped up her pants and dropped the towels onto her chair before sinking down.

They were actually pretty nice guys. She’d misjudged them. And really, they weren’t bad-looking. Plus, they knew as much about sports as she did. When she asked any of them about the Chico stats or the latest Pistons scouting report, they were quick to get her the info and even chat intelligently about it.

Maybe she’d find a boyfriend right here. Even outside of her group, there were tons of men who lived and breathed sports. She wouldn’t need to get into Wassamattayu to find a date she could talk to.

Not that she still wouldn’t be willing to give up her firstborn child to get into Wassamattayu.

The phone trilled. She almost snatched it up mid-ring, then slapped her hand. Don’t be too eager. She let it ring one more time.

“Lex Sakai, SPZ Alumni Association Liaison.”

“Lex, it’s Roger. We’re all go for the tickets.”

“Great! Thanks, Roger. I’ll talk to my scouts. I can get several to a few games in the coming weeks.” Yeah, she knew a few whose arms she could twist.

“That’d be fine. Thanks.” He clicked off.

Lex called a few scouts and left messages for them to call her back.

She had other things to do while she waited, but her mind kept going back to her favorite topic of the month, the Wassamattayu tryouts. She tossed a tennis ball in the air. “Am I high enough on the waiting list?”

The tennis ball dropped to earth.

“Who can I call to find out?”

The tennis ball remained silent.

“Who would know someone who works at Wassamattayu?”

“Wassamattayu?” Grey poked his head into the doorway and held out her Nalgene bottle. “Here’s your water.”

“Thanks. Yeah, they have an opening for women’s volleyball.”

“Oh. My cousin got asked to try out for men’s soccer.”

What luck! “Did he get in?”

“Naw.”

“Oh.” Rats.

“When did they open tryouts?”

Lex shrugged. “I heard about it a week ago.”

“They’re probably scouting the waiting list now.”

“They scout the waiting list?”

“That’s what my cousin said. They don’t invite anyone they haven’t seen play.”

Lex’s throat tightened. Her heart did a rapid thump-thump. The two Caucasian guys. At the tournament, at the Nikkei gym. Good thing she never went over to punch their lights out. The thought made her clutch the edge of her desk in horror.

“Thanks for the info.”

“Not a problem. Had a good weekend?”

“Yeah, watched lots of ESPN.” She’d done some weight lifting in front of the TV. If she didn’t get asked for tryouts, it would be for nothing. “How about you?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. Decorated the couch. But next weekend I’m visiting my cousin up in Berkeley.”

“You’re close?”

“He’s like my other brother.” Grey’s gaze wandered to her tiny window. “You haven’t, by any chance, talked with the AA for Cal recently?”

Lex knew she usually didn’t pick up on social cues, but the disinterested mask on his face, the twitchy way he drew patterns on the surface of her desk, made her narrow her gaze. “I talked with them last week.”

His eyes gleamed like gold fire. “Think you could score me some tickets to the basketball game this weekend?”

Lex felt… plastic. Not real. Like a thing. Grey didn’t move, but suddenly a gulf cracked open between them that made him seem not real either. And she realized she didn’t like being used. Imagine that.

“You can leave now.” She leaned back in her chair and stared him down.

“What’s wrong – ”

“You have three seconds before I throw this water bottle at your head, you slime.”

He scurried out.

The phone rang, her outside line. She really didn’t want to talk to anyone. Maybe she could let it go to the main operator. No… talking sports with someone might cheer her up. “SPZ Alumni – ”

“Lex, it’s Jennifer.”

Lex straightened in her chair. “What’s up?”

“I’m in your area – I had to drop Mom off at a friend’s house for Mahjong. Have time for an early lunch?”

What timing. “I’ll meet you at Union.”

“I’ll have the House Special Hong-Kong-style noodles.”

“I’ll have the same.”

The waitress bustled off, hollering in Cantonese through the doorway to the kitchen.

Jenn sipped her jasmine tea. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, why?” Lex blew to cool her tea.

“Well…” Jenn twirled a lock of her long hair. “You don’t usually volunteer to go to Union for lunch.”

“What do you mean? I love Chinese food.” Lex rubbed at the clear glass covering the tabletop.

“Not when you’re training.”

“How’d you know I was training?”

Jenn’s eyes popped up, alarmed. “Was I not supposed to know?

I’m sorry. Richard told me – ”

“Relax, Jenn, it’s not a secret or anything.”

“Oh.” Jenn’s shoulders sank back to their normal hunched position.

Lex didn’t feel like nagging her again about her posture. She started playing with the spoon that went with the little condiment canister of spicy peppers in oil.

“So… is work going okay?” Jenn bit her lip. “Nothing… bad?”

Poor Jenn. She had an excess of tact while Lex had none. “Why?

Do I look extra stressed?”

“No… just that… when you’re training extra hard, you eat better than Denise Austin.”

Lex laughed, and her mood lightened. “So Denise Austin wouldn’t eat Hong-Kong-style noodles?”

Jenn’s sweet smile peeked out. “Are you really trying to tell me they aren’t unhealthy?”

“It’s just salty and saucy over deep-fried chow mein noodles.” Just saying it made her feel like fat was congealing in her veins and depositing on her hips.

Who cared – she was out and didn’t have to deal with Grey or any of those dorks. “The day was a little bad, but it got better when you called. We haven’t been out to lunch in a while.”

Lex unloaded. She kept talking even while they chowed down on their salty, saucy, and deep-fried lunch.

“I mean, Jenn, I knocked the partition on his head. Not even a grimace from him.”

“And that poor guy you nailed in the chin.” Jenn bit into a piece of broccoli.

“Exactly. They were all, ‘Are you all right?’ Not even yowls of pain.” Lex chomped on a crispy noodle. “It was all for the tickets.”

Jenn didn’t answer.

Lex glanced at her.

Jenn screwed up her face. “Well…”

Lex sighed. “That’s encouraging.”

Jenn shrugged and kept eating.

“I thought I’d look for a boyfriend at work. You know, for Grandma’s ultimatum. I only have three more months. But now I can’t tell the cools from the creeps.”

“Yeah, that’s tough.”

“I just don’t like being forced to date someone. What is it with Grandma and great-grandchildren?”