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“They’regoing to practicehere?”

“Yes.”

Four

“How is that even goingtowork?” I asked when I finally got my thoughts into some sort of order.

Cam shrugged one elegant shoulder “I’m not sure. It’s going to be a lot. We’ll have to get extra mats and maybe a curtain to divide the space. It’s my job to figure that out.” She gave me a lukewarm smile that showed how excited she was about the task. “It’s fine. I know I shouldn’t be talking like this. They lost their gym and it’s not their fault. I just don’t like it when my plans are disrupted.”

If there was one thing to know about Camille, it was that she was addicted to order and spreadsheets and schedules. She ran the department with the passion and care of managing an NBA team, and she had to deal with a lot of people demanding more money fortheirprogram, not to mention scandals and overzealous parents and coaches who went too far. It was a job I wouldn’t want, that was for sure. One of her eyes was twitching and she kept tapping one foot. Camille was stressed.

“We’ll make it work,” I said immediately. “Hey, it’ll be fine.”

She inhaled through her nose and then exhaled slowly. “I know, you’re right. I should have gone in my office and taken a minute before I talked to you. I don’t want you to think I’m being unprofessional.”

“I would never think that,” I said, and she smiled and it was like looking into the sun. Why were there so many beautiful women in my path recently? It was beginning to wear on me.

“Thanks. So, now I have to go on TV and do an interview about how we’re taking in the Bulldogs.” She made a face.

“Oh, yikes. I hope they don’t want to interview me.” The article last week was bad enough. I didn’t want to be on camera if I could avoid it.

“You might get tapped. Just be prepared.”

“I’ll make Dom do it.” He was much better for that stuff than I was, and he enjoyed it more.

“Make Dom do what?” he said, slinging an arm around my shoulder. If he wanted, he could use my head as an armrest, and he did, much to my constant chagrin.

“A potential TV interview because we’re taking in the Bulldogs and letting them use our gym,” Cam said.

He nodded as if he wasn’t surprised. “Makes sense. Where else are they going to go? We’ll have to divide the space somehow, but we can make it work. It’ll give us an up-close look at our competition. This could be the best thing to happen to us. They’ll be on our turf.”

I hadn’t thought about that. I guess he could be right, but all I could think about was that, for the next three weeks, I had to share a gym with Echo. She was going to be in my space, I would hear her voice, and I would see her all the time.

Cam started typing on her phone, oblivious to me and Dom.

“This is going to be a nightmare,” I said to Dom.