“Dudley?”
“Sullivan Day. Sometimes I call him Dudley Do-Right.”
“Not to his face, I hope. If I was going to switch teams, he’d be the man who could tempt me.”
“You know who he is? I didn’t realize.”
“I don’t know him or anything. Maggie pointed him out to me. Her cousin Buddy is an officer so she’s met some of them.”
“That’s right. I forgot. It’s hard to believe they’re related. Maggie’s—”
“Smart? Sensible? Sexy? And that’s just under ‘S.’ So tell me what happened. I won’t be moved, at least not after I get myself situated here.” She set her butt on the floor and folded her short muscular legs tailor-fashion. The lotus position was never an option for Briony. “We have the court for another twenty minutes before I torture you in the steam room.”
Ramsey’s cheeks swelled then deflated as she blew out a breath. “He didn’t show.”
“You’re kidding. But that’s good, isn’t it? I mean, you got off, right?”
“Yeah. I challenged the accuracy of the gun. He wasn’t there to say differently. That was that. The magistrate dismissed the ticket, the fine, and the points. I don’t even think I was in there ten minutes. Most of it was spent waiting to see if he would show.”
“I don’t understand what part of that is a problem.” She tapped Ramsey on the shin with her racquet. “I would’ve thought you’d be celebrating, kicking my ass. Not losing two consecutive games.” She gave Ramsey a sideways glance when she didn’t respond. “You know what? I think you’re disappointed. I think you wanted to mix it up a little, and when he didn’t show you lost your competitive mojo.”
“I have a competitive mojo?”
“Uh-huh.” Briony raised eyes heavenward and placed her hands together as if in prayer. “Thank you, Sullivan Day, for helping me kick Ramsey’s ass two games in a row.”
Ramsey stopped twirling her racquet and pressed the tip of it against her lips to keep from laughing. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Oh, I know I am.”
“I was thinking that maybe I should ask him out.” She did not need to look at Briony to gauge her reaction. She heard her friend suck in a lungful of air.
“Why would you do that? You can’t date. You have bad date stories.Reallybad date stories. Skip the date and invite him to fuck you. You need to let him run straight past the bases and slide right into home. You get the metaphor?”
“Um, it’s kind of hard not to.”
“Good. Do that. Lord, woman, when’s the last time you let anyone slide into home?”
Ramsey let Briony mistake her silence for trying to think. What it was, was trying not to think.
“That’s what I thought,” said Briony. “It was so long ago, home base was still in the minor leagues. Is that it?”
“Something like that.”
“That has to be because it’s your choice. You know you’re fuckable, right?”
“Aww, jeez, Briony.”
“It has to be said. If you were a sister, I’d want to fuck you.”
Ramsey set her racquet on the floor and pressed her forehead against her knees. “Do you have any kind of filter?”
“Sure, but not between friends, and I’m your friend, so I’m telling you straight, if you’ll forgive the expression. You don’t see a troll when you look in the mirror, do you?”
Ramsey hesitated. “No. I know what I look like.”
“Say it.”
Ramsey’s response was reluctantly given. “I know I’m pretty.”
