Lex almost didn’t pick up on Ike’s words except that Aiden’s mask had subtly shifted at “Chinese restaurant.”

“When were you guys supposed to meet?” She paused at the top of her rep.

Aiden cleared his throat. “This past week.”

He was never vague. Lex’s eyes narrowed.

“I think it was Wednesday, right?” Ike patted his stomach. “That restaurant on Bascom.”

“You set me up!” Lex swung off the machine. The weights crashed down.

“Whoa, whoa!” Ike backed off. Lex ignored him, advancing on Aiden. His face had become fluid, flowing from shock to calculating, from guilt to regret.

“You wanted me to see Ike with Lindsay.”

“You saw us? What?” Ike paled to paste. “Oh, man.”

“You – ” She whirled and advanced a step at Ike, who backed into the freeweights shelves – “are a dork. You never had a chance. And you – ” She turned to stalk Aiden – “are just as bad as Grandma.”

She stood there, nursing a strong urge to knock him to the mat instead of Ike. She had never thought Aiden would trick her. Aiden was the one person she had thought she could trust to be honest.

Wasn’t that one of her original points on her Ephesians list? Honest?

Not manipulative?

“It’s true, I did know Ike and Lindsay would be there, and I took you to see them. But I didn’t make them start macking.”

“You saw that?” Ike plopped onto a gym bench. “Oh, man.”

“You had to have known what he’d do with a pretty female in a dark parking lot.”

Aiden’s mask dropped and shattered. “Do you really want to date someone like that?” He flung his arm at Ike.

Lex had never seen Aiden upset like this – even on the volleyball court, she’d never seen him so mad – but anger fired through her veins too. “It’s not your business. You took that choice away from me.”

“You don’t like not being in control of everything.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Guys.” Ike stepped between them and extended an arm to each.

“Now, you’re just getting snipey. Let’s try to keep communication open – ”

“Shut up!” “Stuff it.”

“Okay.” Hands up, he backed away. “I can see I’m not wanted.”

“I don’t like being manipulated.” Lex wanted to grab something and brain Aiden, but the weights were a little too lethal.

“You’d rather be manipulated by the player over there? I was trying to protect you.”

“I – ” Lex ground her teeth. That was actually kind of nice, but she wasn’t in a mood to appreciate it. “You just keep out of my life.”

She marched down the ramp and turned left to the waiting area.

She ruined her exit by coming back to get her purse from the women’s locker room. She gave Aiden a heated glare when she passed him the second time.

With nose pointed straight up in the air, Lex stormed out.

Hey, Lex, meet my friend – ”

“Not now, Rich.” Lex stomped through Grandma’s front door, past Richard, who held it open, and past his skinny male “friend.”

“Hey, hey.” Richard snagged her arm before she got too far.

“I need to say hello to Grandma.”

“She’s talking with Jenn’s mom. She can wait. This is – ”

“Hi.” Lex stuck out her hand. Mr. Skinny shook it with his own slimy one. “I’m Lex, and I’m not interested, no matter what Richard told you.” She turned toward the kitchen.

“Lex.” Richard caught up with her, thankfully leaving Mr. Skinny in the living room. “Come on, you have to be nice to me today. It’s Boys’ Day.”

“No, it’s May fifth. Technically it’s Children’s Day, not Boys’ Day, which means I don’t have to be nice to you ever. What’s up with all the guys?”

“What guys?” Richard suddenly found the linoleum fascinating.

“You’ve turned into a one-man male escort ser vice.”

“What?” Apparently the jab at his masculinity pricked him. “I have not. I’m sociable. Something you need to learn to be.”

“And you’re trying to teach me by introducing me to the latest Loser from the Street? You hardly know these guys.”

“How do you know? We could be best buds.”

“I’ve seen all your friends. They’re all like you. You wouldn’t be seen dead with Mr. Skinny in the living room, or that Food Leech at Uncle’s birthday party, or – ”

“I’m trying to find sensitive men who would appeal to your feminine sensitivities.” Richard raised a hand to cover his heart. “I have only your interests in mind.”

Lex laughed in his face, the first non-depressed feeling she’d had since her fight with Aiden that morning. “Try another one.”

Richard tried to think fast, but instead gaped like a goldfish.

“While you’re coming up with something, I’m going to say hi to Grandma before she disowns me.”

She heard Grandma before she entered the TV room at the back of Jenn’s parents’ house. “Oh, Trish, your boyfriend is so nice. He has such a wonderful accent when he speaks Japanese to me.”

Lex entered the room, already milling with cousins, aunts, and uncles. Grandma perched on an overstuffed wing chair in the corner, Trish sitting beside her on the couch. Jenn sat rather dejected on her other side, while Venus leaned against the couch arm, looking bored.

The sight of Jenn and Grandma unleashed the dam of anger and betrayal. The sound of praise for Trish’s boyfriend – who’d been influencing her to stay away from church – made Lex’s body go rigid.

Why couldn’t Lex find a nice guy? Why’d Grandma throw all those losers at her? Why couldn’t Grandma leave her alone? Why’d she turn Jennifer against her? Why was she so nice to them and so horrible to Lex?

“Hi, Grandma.” Lex stood a few feet away and spoke through clenched teeth.

Grandma gave her a cool smile. “How’s your girls’ volleyball team?” She said volleyball as if it were Ebola.

Then it clicked in Lex’s head, like the difference on the radio between the 670 AM and 680 AM KNBR station (“The sports leader”). Grandma didn’t want Lex playing volleyball with those girls at all.

“What do you have against those girls?” Lex took a menacing step forward. Her outburst caused the noise level in the room to drop.

Grandma’s nose went straight up in the air. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What is so wrong about me coaching that team?”

“You’re always coaching that team. Every time I call you, you’re out coaching them or playing with your friends.”

“So, you shut down my team?”

“Not at all.” Grandma had a good facade of reason and sweetness.

“I said I’d keep up funding if you found a boyfriend.”

“I don’t want a boyfriend.”

“Now, that’s just silly – ”

“And I’m tired of being controlled and manipulated.” Lex had started breathing hard. “First you, then Aiden. This is my life! What I do with my time is my business.”

“You play volleyball too much. It’s unfeminine. You’re unfeminine.”

The words had stung when Lex’s girly cousins taunted her as a child. They hit her like a slap to the face now, coming from her coiffed and perfumed grandmother. “I’m fine the way I am. There’s nothing wrong with me!”

“Lex!” Jennifer’s mother stepped up to bat. “You don’t talk to Grandma that way.”

“She shouldn’t treat me this way!”

Grandma’s eyes blazed, causing the flush in her cheeks. “Grandma’s treating you the way you should have been treated years ago.

Your father spoiled you. You turned out wild and uncouth just like your mother.”

Jennifer, Venus, and Trish all sucked in gasps.

A red film fell over Lex’s eyes. “You shut up! Don’t you talk about Mom that way!” She lunged.

She actually lunged.

Grandma flinched back in her chair. Jennifer jumped in surprise and fell off her seat. Trish and Venus leaped into Lex’s way, holding her body back while her grasping arms still reached for Grandma’s pearled neck to wring.

“Lex!” “Lex, calm down!”

Her cousins’ alarmed voices brought her back from the wildness that shook through her limbs. She had actually yelled at Grandma. She had told her to shut up, even. She looked at her hands. She had acted on her fantasies and tried to strangle Grandma. No, that hadn’t been her, had it? She had…