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“Really? You killed us.” One of them laughed and shook DJ’s hand.

“Seriously. You two just need more time. You’ll get there. You made, like, no unforced errors. Do you know how hard that is? I made service errors today. You had none. That’s not easy.”

“Thanks,” the young woman replied and moved to shake DJ’s hand while the other partner shook Aspen’s.

“Great match,” Aspen said.

“Thanks. You too. You guys are amazing.”

“Thank you,” Aspen replied.

They shook the refs’ hands next and made their way over to their bench, where Aspen saw Kendra waiting for them.

“Can you take this one?” DJ asked.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I don’t feel like it. I’m mad at myself for a few of my kills that didn’t land. I need to go listen to loud music and go over them in my head.”

“Yeah, okay,” Aspen replied.

She ran a towel over her face quickly and walked over to Kendra, who was ready for her.

“Aspen, that was a great match for you two. How are you and DJ feeling right now?”

“Pretty good. They gave us a hard time and came out of a tough qualifier round, so I know how tired they had to be, but it was a great match.”

“I noticed you saying something to one of the players during the first set. Can you tell us anything about that?”

Aspen lifted her eyebrow at the apparently observant Kendra.

“Yeah, I just told them they were playing well and to keep it up. I know the scoreboard might not look like they made it hard for us today, but they did. We hit some good spots, which any team would have a hard time bringing back over the net, and they played a three-set tight match this morning against a tough team to get here, so the fact that they were out there making things hard for us was awesome. I just wanted them to know that.”

“You’ve got the semifinals coming up, and I noticed your partner heading for the tent just now. Any injury worries there?”

“No, DJ likes to get in some time to reflect on the match and get ready for the next one. No injuries. We’re both good and ready for the semis.”

“Thanks, Aspen. Great match. And good luck in the next round.” Kendra turned her eyes to the camera and added, “Aspen and DJ will be back in action tomorrow, in the semifinals, against one of the two other top teams on the tour. We’ll be here watching as well. Join us at seven Eastern, four Pacific to watch the showdown.” She smiled at the camera for a minute before turning to Aspen. “We’re good.”

“Showdown? Really?” Aspen teased.

“What did you really say to her?” Kendra asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You said something else, too.”

“Do you read lips, Kendra Bowie?”

“No, but I know you well enough by now. She said something first. What was it? This is just me asking, not the reporter in me.”

“She wanted to forfeit. I told her not to, following the other stuff I already mentioned before.” Aspen shrugged.

Kendra smiled and said, “Of course, you did.”

CHAPTER 18

It was the semifinal match for Aspen and DJ, and Kendra wished she could just sit in the stands and watch them play instead of having to stand off to the side in the tunnel and interview the coach of one of the other pairs playing in the next match. The interview was only supposed to last a minute, but the guy was dragging out his answers, making it difficult for her to hand it back over to the studio. Kendra was a pro, though, so she caught him mid-breath.