Page 12 of Sparks Like Ours

Gia nodded. “I’ve heard that somewhere.” She’d heard iteverywhere. They sold that calendar at vendor stands at the tournaments. Thosethings flew off the shelves and people lined up in droves for Elle to signthem. Some of the photos had her in action, shredding like she was born to doit. Other months were a little more…sexy in nature. Elle in a swimsuit, simplyholding her board. She’d thumbed through it once or twice, purely out ofcuriosity.

“How did you come across an Elle Britton calendar?” Isabel asked,scratching her head.

Taylor scoffed. “One of my writers used to have it pinned to theircubicle at work.”

Isabel turned to her, amusement plastered all over her face. “Andyou just happened to notice one day as you breezed through? ‘Oh, would you lookat that! A hot girl in a bathing suit!’”

“Not hot,” Gia supplied.

They ignored her.

Taylor held up both hands. “I will completely admit to findingthose shots…motivating.”

Isabel laughed. “That motivation is causing you to blush. Oh! Andit’s spreading. This could get embarrassing. Look out, everyone.”

“You’re awful,” Taylor said, now the impressive shade of a tomato.

“Of course I am. I don’t have my own calendar or anything. Noteven a desk version.”

“There’s always Christmas,” Taylor said innocently. “I’ll needsomething under the tree. I don’t think you even need the swimsuit.”

Isabel’s mouth fell open. “And nowI’mblushing. Perfect.” She shook herhead. “I think posing naked might be a little beyond me.”

Taylor smiled. “Not if memory serves.”

Gia held up a hand. “You guys get that I’m sitting here, right?”

Isabel laughed. “My fault. C’mon, let’s get my stuff,” she said toTaylor. “G, you’re in charge of the complex until I get back. No loud parties,understand? Larry Herman rule.”

“On it.”

Gia rolled her shoulders, wondering what was in the air that hadher friends all sexed up. If there was time to be jealous, or the smallestburst of energy available, she would have been.

“Oh, wow! Is that it? Is thatthecontract?”

Gia stared hard at Hadley as she approached, keys jangling fromher hand. Her hair was swept up in that posh way she did it for work in somesort of blond twist. Her designer clothes only confirmed where she’d been. “Youguys planned this? Isabel put you up to this, didn’t she?”

“Planned what?” Hadley asked.

“To all open with the exact same sentence? It’s like GroundhogDay.”

Hadley shrugged, dismissing it. “It’s cuz we all live together.Mind meld. It’s real. Now, is that the contract we’ve been waiting on?”

“It’s the contract.”

Hadley stared in awe. “Can I hold it?” she whispered.

Gia passed the stack of papers her way. “You’re so weird.”

“I’mreverent.” Hadley held the contract to her chest as if to soak itin, swaying slightly as if backed by a choir. “There’s a difference, and thiscontract is huge for you, which makes me extra happy. Next level stuff, Gia.I’m proud of you. You should be proud of you, too.”

Hearing Hadley gush made it hard to hide her own smile, becauseHad was right. This was the kind of exposure she’d been looking for, and withexposure came opportunity, and those were the kinds of things that kept acareer afloat and tournament fees covered into the future. Leave it to Hadleyto remind her of life’s little business truths. “Yeah, well, sometimes I getcaught up and forget to celebrate the small victories.”

“Not small. Huge. This is a huge victory.”

Gia swallowed the urge to downplay and nodded instead. “Huge.”

“And in preparation for this campaign, have you figured out yourElle strategy? You probably want to if you’ll be working together a lot. Ican’t even imagine how that’s going to play out. You two working side by side.”

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