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“Super-cool Carlsbad lesbian stuff,” she answered. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Hey!”

The greeting came from Vanessa, who, out of the Jeep now was heading towards them, carrying a sports bag. The rest of her party was following behind her.

“Madre de Dio,” Charlotte muttered.

Becca stifled a laugh.

“I didn’t know you speak Spanish,” she asked her friend quietly.

“I don’t,” Charlotte replied, staring at Vanessa with wide eyes. “I have no idea where that came from.”

Vanessa was wearing cut-off denims and a gray V-neck tank that fit her very, very, very well.

As soon as Vanessa was close enough, Charlotte advanced and stuck out her hand.

“Hi, my name is Divorced and I’m recently Charlotte,” she said.

Becca and Krissy couldn’t help but burst out laughing, especially with how red Charlotte became.

Charlotte closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

“I mean,” she tried again, “my name is Charlotte and I’m recently divorced.”

With an amused look on her face, Vanessa shook the outstretched hand.

“Well…” she began, “my name is Vanessa and I’m two years engaged. And this is Amber…”

Amber shook Charlotte’s hand.

“…and I’m perpetually single,” Amber finished for Vanessa. “Wow, you guys have a weird way of greeting new people.”

***

The way Becca figured it afterwards, if anybody had been videotaping the day’s antics on the volleyball court, they could post it on YouTube and it would be the sports comedy hit of the season.

It was all Vanessa’s fault, really.

The volleyball gang—most of them gay—seemed to have lost all coordination and athletic ability today due to Vanessa’s presence. Players were running into each other, getting smacked in the head with the ball or just plain missing easy plays.

Quite frankly, Becca couldn’t blame them. Seeing Vanessa in a sports bikini, her full breasts miraculously contained by some kind of wonder fabric, her pubic region barely covered by bottoms that seemed to have as much material as an average handkerchief, was…spectacular, and proved to be too much of a distraction for several of Becca’s friends, who played as if they had never been on a volleyball court before.

At one point, it was Becca’s serve to the team Vanessa was on. Preparing to deliver the ball, with her team down by a point, Becca noticed that Natalie, also on Vanessa’s team and on the backline, was admiring Vanessa’s ass instead of paying attention to the game. Natalie even had a dreamy smile as she ogled Vanessa and Becca could only imagine what was happening inside her friend’s imagination. Becca delivered a cannon shot that struck Natalie’s feet, causing Natalie to fall flat on her face in the sand.

Of course, the incredibly cute—and incredibly young—Amber caused quite the sensation as well. Even Becca had to admit that seeing Amber out of the usual clothes she wore at La Vida Mocha was a mouthwatering sight. Between sets during one match, Andrea, the oldest of the bunch at thirty-nine, whispered to Becca, “I would age-gap the hell out of that young woman!”

It turned out that both newcomers were just as good as Rachel. When the three of them were on the same team, the other team was slaughtered. Naturally, Krissy was on the team that had lost and, being the super-competitive dynamo that she is, she lodged a formal protest which, after some discussion, led to a variation of the Rachel Rule (Rachel must switch teams after each match; also created after a formal protest by Krissy months ago). The variation of this rule stated that Amber, Rachel and Vanessa couldn’t be on the same side of the net together any longer.

“I’m sorry,” Becca apologized to Vanessa and Amber, after the last match as they walked back to the locker rooms. “As a group, we tend to suck at this game, but not as badly as today.”

“Right,” Krissy agreed. “I hope you’ll keep playing with us, though.”

“Are you kidding?” Vanessa asked. “All women? Totally chill vibe? I definitely want to keep coming back to play with you all.”

“Trust me, no one is going to stop you,” Krissy said.

“By the way,” Amber, who was walking with them said, “Rachel is an amazing player, and you’re both pretty good.”