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Elle threw up her hands in mock exasperation. “Well, if you keep peddlingthe damn hummus so hard. Sure. Let’s have hummus.”

Gia wasn’t sure if breaking bread and dining on hummus weresynonymous, but once everyone returned to set and they picked up the shoot,Elle seemed lighter. Fun, even, so maybe her efforts had been worthwhile.

“Oh, I think you just smashed into a ghost,” she said quietly,when Gia had trouble with the prop door a few takes in. “Wanna try that again?”

“This damn door shall not defeat me,” Gia said, with a raisedeyebrow, and stepped backward through it as if on rewind.

“See? Now that was way more impressive,” Elle called. “Colleen,maybe Gia could do her part in reverse?”

“I think we’ll stick to the script,” Colleen said, with a wink.

“Hey, Gia,” Elle called through the door. “If you put that same kindof finesse into your surfing, you could really make something of yourself.”

Gia stepped back through the door, her mouth agape. “You won’t belaughing when you’re number two in the rankings.”

“No, I definitely won’t,” Elle said serenely, “because that willnever happen.”

“Did you work out today?” Gia asked, recalling her own four-hourintensive session at the gym.

“I work out every day,” Elle said simply. “That’s not even aquestion. I’m like Ms. Pac-Man on Red Bull.”

Gia laughed. “Okay, but not even close.” She shook her head andreset herself for the shot. The competitive banter was light and surprisinglyfun. Not only that, but it seemed to liven them up. Take after take, theircomedic timing and give-and-take came together all the more.

“Am I wrong or do we have another one of these next week?” Elleasked, as they walked together down the hallway to their respective dressingrooms.

“You’re not wrong. We’re back on Thursday for the secondcommercial.”

Elle paused in front of the door that was hers, her facialexpression sincere. “Thanks for bailing me out earlier.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“You did, and we both know it.” She sighed and ran a hand throughher hair, pushing it off her forehead.

Gia was learning she did this a lot. Hair moves.

“Just a weird day.”

She wanted to ask why, to find out what had Elle on her heels in amanner Gia had never once witnessed in the past, even in the midst of the mostintense pressure imaginable. She didn’t, however. That information didn’t seemto be hers to ask for. “Well, you rebounded nicely.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you Thursday?”

“I’ll be here.”

Two down and only a handful more to go. As Gia made her way to herown dressing room, she took note of the smile on her face. Somewhere along theway, she’d started to enjoy these little promotional shoots.

How had that happened?

She glanced behind her at the closed door to Elle’s dressing room,shook her head, and went inside her own. The olive branch was nice, but thisdidn’t mean she wasn’t still going to take Elle down at the next tournamentstop. Nope. That part was still on. Hummus or no hummus.

Chapter Six

“We need our own bar,” Autumn mused, glancing around the décor ofDive while sipping her virgin daiquiri. “This one’s fine, but it’s not ours,you know?”

“I like it,” Gia said. It had been her turn to pick the locale fortheir night out, so of course, she’d chosen Dive, the little spot off the waterthat catered to locals. Okay, mainly the surf crowd, but she knew her friendswould assimilate well enough.

“What do you mean, our own bar?” Isabel asked Autumn.

“Somewhere that just says us, you know?”