Jenn paused with a piece of char siu pork in her chopsticks. Her extra-large brown eyes leveled with Lex’s. “You don’t know?”

“What do you mean?”

“Lex, for our parents and grandparents, children are their immortality.”

Lex was suddenly dipped into a bucket of ice water. Grandma favoring her right hip, that vulnerable moment when she’d looked so old and tired. Was Grandma feeling her age and working to increase her legacy? An extension of her own life?

“I also think… I hope this isn’t gossip…”

Lex waited. Jenn would spill eventually.

“I heard Grandma telling Mom that she stopped seeing her friend Mrs. Matsumoto.”

Mrs. Matsumoto had babysat each of the cousins. She was also Christian, and very vocal about it too. “Grandma and Mrs. Matsu-moto clash all the time. They’re too much alike – both outspoken.”

“No, this time I think it’s serious. I don’t know what Mrs. Matsu-moto told Grandma, but she won’t talk to her at all.” Jenn feverishly jabbed her chopsticks at her bed of crispy noodles. “I think that’s why Grandma’s after us. After you.”

“Huh? Speak up.” Jenn had a tendency to not only lower her husky voice, but to also talk to her chest.

Jenn looked up with a troubled gaze. “I don’t know this for sure, but… maybe she’s being hard on you because you’re always so adamant about dating a Christian.”

Lex blinked. Mainly, that had been a tactic Lex used to keep Grandma from throwing the sons of her Buddhist friends at her. “That doesn’t make sense. Grandma’s never liked the fact we four are Christian, but she’s never been outright hostile about it…” Until now.

Jenn went back to stabbing her noodles. “I’m wondering if Mrs. Matsumoto said something that really made Grandma uncomfortable.”

“And so she’s cutting off Mrs. Matsumoto and poking at us.

At me.”

Jenn nodded.

Lex sighed. That meant this whole thing could be so much more complicated. She hated complication.

“You know…” Jenn bit her lip again.

“What is it?”

“You’re not going to like hearing this.”

“I’m not going to bite your head off.”

“Well… those tickets are probably influencing men outside of work.” Jenn’s eyes radiated sympathy – not a pitying kind, but the kind that wished she could take away Lex’s pain.

“What do you mean?”

“Kin-Mun.”

She started as if a blast of air hit her in the face. “But he didn’t ask for the tickets. I’m the one – ”

“How did he bring up the subject?”

Lex thought back. Hi, Kin-Mun. Oh, new job. Yeah, going to Seattle. Wish I could go to the game…

Her lungs collapsed. Or maybe her heart caved in. Regardless, she felt a huge echoing emptiness in her chest.

“Well, now I’m just depressed.” Lex sat back in her chair. To add to the List: Must either not know about the perks of my job or not care about college sports events.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Jenn pushed her plate away.

“No, don’t feel bad. I needed to get my head out of the sand.” Lex stared at the steaming noodles and sighed. “I need a new strategy. I can’t really trust anyone who knows enough about my job.”

“That rules out your workplace, but not all volleyball guys.”

“And not Wassamattayu. I had planned to find another sponsor, but Grandma’s got her claws in practically the entire Japanese American community.”

“Oh, Lex. Grandma really does love us. She thinks this will make us happy.”

“Who are you kidding? Grandma just wants to make herself happy.”

Jenn’s eyes dropped. “It’s easier for you. She’s always at my parents’ place. Sometimes it’s just better to give in, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t. That’s not how I am.” Lex signaled for the waitress. “I’m not going down without a fight. Grandma can’t get at everyone – I just need to be more unconventional.”

Lex liked the beach but hated sand. It got everywhere, like it did now – into her shoes and socks, working into the waistband of her shorts and under her sports bra.

And like an idiot, she kept doing volleyball drills.

No, she wasn’t an idiot. She was dedicated. She needed to focus on the prize – getting into Wassamattayu, assuming she’d be invited to tryouts. She had to get into even better shape.

The Hong-Kong-style noodles for lunch yesterday hadn’t helped her any.

She finished her side-to-side shuffles and folded in half, panting. The breeze from the nearby business park cooled her and made the outdoor volleyball net ripple. The sun had warmed the sand, and it radiated heat like a toaster oven.

She set up for blocking drills at the net. Old and left out in the weather, it had been provided by the accounting firm from the business park, and it sagged toward her. Well, it hung between the two poles. Good enough for her. She squatted, then leaped.

The net slapped her elbow. Ow! She paused as the pain tingled and subsided down her arm. She wished she’d been more careful in self-defense class an hour ago. As long as the bruise didn’t affect her passing, she’d be fine.

Voices made her hesitate. Her back muscles stiffened.

In the large parking lot, a group of men all in their thirties, a mix of Asian, Indian, and Caucasian, headed toward the sand volleyball court. No, toward the basketball court nearby.

Most dressed in shorts and sneakers, but a few still had on business casual slacks and polo shirts. An evening pickup game, probably coworkers from one of the businesses. Nothing to worry about.

A few glanced at her. Were they really neutral glances?

Stop it.

There were a lot of them. What about mob mentality? Didn’t she read about that in Newsweek once?

You’re being paranoid.

She was by herself.

Now you’re just illogical.

Maybe she should get into her car and leave.

You need the training. They’re harmless guys.

Lex took a deep breath and stared at the gray, tattered net. She was such a basket case.

She squatted deep and leaped in a rapid series of three blocking motions. She sprinted a step to the side, then leaped into another three blocks. She continued all the way down the net.

She stood sucking in air by the pole, the net flapping against the metal in a soft, hollow ringing sound. The group of men had reached the basketball court and started stretching, practicing free throws. Very little chatter. Some good-natured ribbing and heckling.

It relaxed her. They looked and sounded like her brother or her male cousins and their friends. The pickup games in Campbell Park, her whining to be included and holding her own against them.

A movement in the parking lot caught her eye.

A tall, wild-haired Caucasian man, dressed in a cotton button-down shirt and slacks – both creased from a long work day. Staring intently at her.

She hardened her eyes to hide the violent shiver that shot from her neck to her lower back.

He wasn’t someone she knew. With his narrow face and scraggly beard, he reminded her of recording artist David Crowder, but since he probably worked for one of the tech companies in the business park, Lex wouldn’t be surprised if he had the IQ of Einstein and a couple PhDs under his belt. If only he’d stop staring at her.

Lex considered marching over there and getting in his face. He couldn’t stare at women and get away with it. She pursed her lips and stepped off the sand court.

A car horn. An SUV zipped into view and parked near the sand court. Her heart ramped up for a second, then Aiden got out. Funny, her heart rate didn’t slow back down.

Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t start a fight with Mr. Santa Cruz.

“What are you doing here?” She shaded the sun from her eyes with her hand.

“I should have figured you’d be here. The people at the volleyball clinic suggested doing sand drills, and some players from Nikkei told me about this court.”