Camy Tang - Sushi for One?

Okay. He sat back. He wasn’t sure how to open a channel to God, but he assumed He’d hear him. Okay. Prove Yourself to me. I’m not promising to believe, but I’ ll listen, for a change.

That’s it.

No thundering revelation. No fireworks, no surge of emotion.

Well? He didn’t feel any different. Was he supposed to?

The pastor suddenly glanced at Aiden, paused in his sermon. Then he picked up his sentence and continued.

That seemed odd.

Spenser turned in his seat, gave him a long look. He turned back around.

Hmmm.

Then Spenser leaned sideways. “Let’s go fishing after ser vice.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been talking to your pastor.” Aiden cast his line into Calero Reservoir. The hot day didn’t say much for their chances of catching anything.

“He’s a nice guy.” Spenser cast out his line and moved a step farther away.

“I like the picture on his wall.”

“Me too.”

Aiden’s lure stuck on something. “Aw, man.” He tugged, but no dice.

“Stuck?”

“Yeah.”

Aiden cut his line. It had been a cheap lure anyway. He selected another one and started stringing it. “I’m starting to understand this Christian ity stuff.” He didn’t look up at Spenser.

“Great.” Spenser didn’t say anything more, just kept jibbing his lure. Aiden looked at him.

Spenser smiled. It wasn’t brilliant, or startled, or even different from normal. But something about it… Aiden somehow felt that now he knew Spenser better than he ever had before.

He cast his lure. Yeah, maybe this was right.

“So this snooty guy comes up and says, ‘Welcome to Green Pastures Church. Are you a visitor today?’ And I was like, ‘Well, duh.’

And then he asked me if I was a Christian, if I went to Bible study, blah, blah, blah. And then he started harping about how I needed to learn Greek. Greek!” Lex shoved at the leg press so hard, her foot caught air.

She could tell Aiden tried hard not to be amused. “Greek is a worthy study.”

“Oh, don’t start. So then I told him – ”

“Hey, Aiden, where were you, man?” Ike walked up to Lex’s leg press. “Hi there, Lex.”

She stifled the urge to knock him to the mat, the two-timing flirt. “Hi, Ike.”

“So, Aiden, me and Lindsay waited twenty minutes for you, and then we just went inside to order.”

Aiden had gone still – so subtle, Lex almost didn’t notice it. He shrugged. “Sorry. I tried calling you, but my cell phone died.”

“No prob, no prob. Next time. That Chinese restaurant was great.”

Lex almost didn’t pick up on Ike’s words except that Aiden’s mask had subtly shifted at “Chinese restaurant.”

“When were you guys supposed to meet?” She paused at the top of her rep.

Aiden cleared his throat. “This past week.”

He was never vague. Lex’s eyes narrowed.

“I think it was Wednesday, right?” Ike patted his stomach. “That restaurant on Bascom.”

“You set me up!” Lex swung off the machine. The weights crashed down.

“Whoa, whoa!” Ike backed off. Lex ignored him, advancing on Aiden. His face had become fluid, flowing from shock to calculating, from guilt to regret.

“You wanted me to see Ike with Lindsay.”

“You saw us? What?” Ike paled to paste. “Oh, man.”

“You – ” She whirled and advanced a step at Ike, who backed into the freeweights shelves – “are a dork. You never had a chance. And you – ” She turned to stalk Aiden – “are just as bad as Grandma.”

She stood there, nursing a strong urge to knock him to the mat instead of Ike. She had never thought Aiden would trick her. Aiden was the one person she had thought she could trust to be honest.

Wasn’t that one of her original points on her Ephesians list? Honest?

Not manipulative?

“It’s true, I did know Ike and Lindsay would be there, and I took you to see them. But I didn’t make them start macking.”

“You saw that?” Ike plopped onto a gym bench. “Oh, man.”

“You had to have known what he’d do with a pretty female in a dark parking lot.”

Aiden’s mask dropped and shattered. “Do you really want to date someone like that?” He flung his arm at Ike.

Lex had never seen Aiden upset like this – even on the volleyball court, she’d never seen him so mad – but anger fired through her veins too. “It’s not your business. You took that choice away from me.”

“You don’t like not being in control of everything.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Guys.” Ike stepped between them and extended an arm to each.

“Now, you’re just getting snipey. Let’s try to keep communication open – ”

“Shut up!” “Stuff it.”

“Okay.” Hands up, he backed away. “I can see I’m not wanted.”

“I don’t like being manipulated.” Lex wanted to grab something and brain Aiden, but the weights were a little too lethal.

“You’d rather be manipulated by the player over there? I was trying to protect you.”

“I – ” Lex ground her teeth. That was actually kind of nice, but she wasn’t in a mood to appreciate it. “You just keep out of my life.”

She marched down the ramp and turned left to the waiting area.

She ruined her exit by coming back to get her purse from the women’s locker room. She gave Aiden a heated glare when she passed him the second time.

With nose pointed straight up in the air, Lex stormed out.

Hey, Lex, meet my friend – ”

“Not now, Rich.” Lex stomped through Grandma’s front door, past Richard, who held it open, and past his skinny male “friend.”

“Hey, hey.” Richard snagged her arm before she got too far.

“I need to say hello to Grandma.”

“She’s talking with Jenn’s mom. She can wait. This is – ”

“Hi.” Lex stuck out her hand. Mr. Skinny shook it with his own slimy one. “I’m Lex, and I’m not interested, no matter what Richard told you.” She turned toward the kitchen.

“Lex.” Richard caught up with her, thankfully leaving Mr. Skinny in the living room. “Come on, you have to be nice to me today. It’s Boys’ Day.”

“No, it’s May fifth. Technically it’s Children’s Day, not Boys’ Day, which means I don’t have to be nice to you ever. What’s up with all the guys?”

“What guys?” Richard suddenly found the linoleum fascinating.

“You’ve turned into a one-man male escort ser vice.”

“What?” Apparently the jab at his masculinity pricked him. “I have not. I’m sociable. Something you need to learn to be.”

“And you’re trying to teach me by introducing me to the latest Loser from the Street? You hardly know these guys.”

“How do you know? We could be best buds.”

“I’ve seen all your friends. They’re all like you. You wouldn’t be seen dead with Mr. Skinny in the living room, or that Food Leech at Uncle’s birthday party, or – ”

“I’m trying to find sensitive men who would appeal to your feminine sensitivities.” Richard raised a hand to cover his heart. “I have only your interests in mind.”

Lex laughed in his face, the first non-depressed feeling she’d had since her fight with Aiden that morning. “Try another one.”

Richard tried to think fast, but instead gaped like a goldfish.

“While you’re coming up with something, I’m going to say hi to Grandma before she disowns me.”

She heard Grandma before she entered the TV room at the back of Jenn’s parents’ house. “Oh, Trish, your boyfriend is so nice. He has such a wonderful accent when he speaks Japanese to me.”