§ § § -- July 29, 2000

"So," Myeko said on her way to the pool with Leslie, "I think what's going to happen here is I'll be meeting Jeff at the pool—after you point out all these other guys to me. You said I'll be meeting ten of them?" Leslie nodded, and she shrugged, grinning. "Okay, I won't have fits at you," she said teasingly. "I asked for dozens, but I realize I have only today and tomorrow, and you have to work within those time constraints. So I forgive you."

"Big of you," Leslie teased back, and they both laughed. "Okay, here we go. Looks like Jeff Lippert isn't here yet, so…let's see. Now over at the far end of the pool near the cabanas, with the crowd around him, is Mike Doyle, a soccer player from England. There's Jason Wellman, a construction worker from Montana, next to the statue. The real looker there with the muscles and the gang of women around him is Adam Baines—and you'll never believe this, but he's a Chippendales dancer!" She grinned at the astonished look and the bright light in Myeko's eyes. "Now, the two guys at this table over here are Nicholas Okada, a veterinarian from Arizona originally, and Dan Cole, an engineer from Rhode Island. The skinny fellow sitting on the edge of the pool over here at the shallow end is Phillip Holliday, an accountant from Pacific Palisades, California. Tony DuLongpré is a store manager from Cincinnati, Ohio—the hot-looking African-American guy over there toting a couple of drinks. And finally, this guy at the umbrella-shaded table reading the book is Rick Larsen, a career military man. He's a staff sergeant in the US Air Force."

"That's nine," said Myeko, who Leslie only now realized had been counting off on her fingers. "Where's the tenth one?"

"He's not here right now," Leslie said. "Actually, he had some business with Father. You'll probably meet him later. Don't worry about that—you've got all these other guys to sample. Now…get out there and start making the rounds! I'll be here if you need me for anything."

Myeko nodded, then surveyed the men Leslie had shown her and stuck her hands in her pockets, thinking. "Well, I don't know about meeting any Asian guys right now," she mumbled. "Too many memories of Toki, you know. But I think—" She stopped and stared in surprise at something, and Leslie followed her gaze just in time to see a very pretty African-American woman step up to Tony DuLongpré and start a conversation with him. "Wow, there went one of my options already!" Myeko exclaimed.

"You're narrowing yourself down pretty fast," Leslie observed, "since you eliminated Nicholas Okada and Paul Chen—he's the guy who isn't here. Seven left. Who do you want to meet first?"

Myeko scanned the poolside throngs, but her eyes kept straying back to the same point. Leslie wasn't particularly surprised when her friend said, "Adam…the Chippendales guy. Heck, I've got as much of a chance with him as anybody, right?"

"Of course," agreed Leslie. "Okay, come with me."

She led her friend over to the table where the handsome, fit young man looked to be holding court amongst a sea of female admirers. Just as they stepped within sight of Adam, one of the women said, "I sure hope you'll be performing here." That was met with a chorus of loud, enthusiastic agreement. Adam's face took on a discomfited look, and he focused on Leslie with relief.

"Oh, hi, Leslie," he said with emphasis, calling attention to her arrival. "Good to see you."

"Hi, Adam," Leslie replied. "I have someone for you to—"

"Wait a minute, Leslie—is he gonna perform?" the same woman broke in hopefully.

Leslie smiled, very amused but managing to keep her expression professional. "Sorry, ladies, there won't be any Chippendales shows here. Adam's here strictly on vacation." At the collective moan of disappointment that arose, she added, "Hey, come on—everybody deserves time off." She grinned to temper the statement and was rewarded with murmurs of reluctant agreement.

Adam looked profoundly grateful when the crowd began to disperse. "Thanks loads, Leslie. Did you need something?"

"I came to introduce you to someone. This is Myeko Sensei. Myeko, Adam Baines."

Adam and Myeko shook hands, Adam rising to meet her, and Myeko took one of the vacated chairs. Leslie left them alone and began to make a slow circuit around the pool, making sure everything was going smoothly. Myeko cast a last glance after her, then turned to Adam and asked a little hesitantly, "What's it like, having the job you do?"

Adam shrugged. "It's kinda dog-eat-dog. You really have to stay in shape, and you've gotta be above-average-looking, and you sort of have to be an ex…" He hesitated. "Well, maybe not actually an exhibitionist. But you can't be shy about your body, y'know? It's great money, and I've been socking it away for the future when I get too old and flabby to do this anymore." That made Myeko grin, but Adam looked completely serious. "I'm not kidding. When I have to enter the regular business world, I want to be sure I can still live in style, even if my looks go." A worried expression flitted across his face. "So I gotta keep those up as long as I can."

"Oh," said Myeko, a little surprised. "I guess I can understand that. I bet you get a lot of dates in this business, though, don't you?"

"Not really," said Adam, surprising her even more. "It's almost like you're too good to be true, I guess. They just admire you from afar and then head home to their real-life boyfriends or husbands. So I thought I'd come here and maybe find a real lady." He focused on her expectantly. "Tell me about you."

"Well, I'm 35, divorced, two kids," she said and smiled a little self-consciously. "I was born and raised here, and I've never really lived anywhere else, except when I was in college."

"Oh, you live here!" said Adam, looking impressed. "Do you see a lot of weird things here?"

Myeko admitted laughingly, "Not really. Leslie and I go back a lot of years, but I'm not an insider on the business or anything like that. I guess the only time I ever really saw much of the 'fantasy' part of this island was when I met Eros one time. What a night that was. He really lived up to all those old legends…"

"Eros?" said Adam, staring at her.

Myeko felt herself go hot with embarrassment. "Well, yeah. I didn't expect it either, but I really did meet him."

"The old god," Adam said, looking stunned. "If he does really exist…aw, man. He's supposed to be the best-looking being ever, mortal or not. No woman can possibly resist him. How could I compete with that? I hope he's not planning a visit to this island while I'm here!" Anxiously Adam began to examine his own physique, and even pulled out a mirror to minutely check his face while Myeko watched, open-mouthed.

"Hey," she protested faintly, "it was a one-off…y'know?"

"No way could I measure up," said Adam and shook his head, his eyes troubled. "Come to think of it, maybe I should talk to Leslie about scheduling a performance here after all…" He got up and melted into the crowd. Myeko stared after him, then fell back in her chair and blew out her breath.

"Strike one," she mumbled. "I wonder if Jeff Lippert's here yet?" After some thought, she got up and searched the throngs for him; spotting him at the bar finally, she left her table to a group of vacationers and sidled up to him. "Still up for a chat?"

Lippert looked around and brightened. "Myeko, good, you're here! Geez, this place is a zoo—the second you get out of a chair, you lose it. You still willing to take a swim?"

"Sure," Myeko agreed. They eased into the pool, getting used to the water and exchanging the usual vital statistics. Then Myeko said, "Leslie told me you came here with a friend."

"Yeah, Paul and I go back to second grade," Jeff said, grinning. "Back then I was bigger than he was—now he's the bruiser and I'm the guy who keeps him out of jail."

Myeko laughed. "You're his attorney?"

"I am, actually. Paul has kind of a temper on him. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, and if he finds a good woman she'll be lucky as hell. But he has a couple issues and some sore spots, and sometimes I have to step in and remind him to keep cool. I've already had to bail him out of a couple little scrapes—nothing illegal, mind you, just a friendly reminder that he's getting in over his head and needs to back up. But seriously, he's cool. He sends clients my way pretty regularly. I need to go over notes for a couple cases that're headed to trial pretty soon. It's an interesting case, this big one I'm defending. Spousal abuse—wife beating the husband, rather than the other way around. This could be a groundbreaker. Don't think Paragould's seen anything like this before. It could make me partner, and I've been working on that for years. If I do, I aim for the big time next. I could set my sights on running for A.G. Now if the jury doesn't get hung…assuming we can find a dozen impartials—gotta tell you, this case is notorious statewide. Anyway, if we do…" And he carried on enthusiastically for quite a while, spouting legal jargo that made Myeko wonder if he was fluent in Latin and began to have a soporific effect on her. When she felt herself start to yawn, she sucked in a breath and ducked underwater for a second to wake herself up.

When she came back up, Lippert looked apologetic. "Hey, I'm sorry. Really hate to cut and run, but I can't let this case just sit idle. Listen, it was nice talking to you."

"Happy defending," said Myeko, watching him wade to the nearest ladder and climb out of the pool. She rolled her eyes to herself with mingled amusement and chagrin. Somehow she'd managed to meet a guy who was twice as talkative as she herself was! Laughing to herself, she got out of the pool and waylaid Leslie some distance from the cabanas, where the soccer player was still playing to a bunch of his fans.

"Hi," said Leslie, eyeing her. "I guess you got in your swim with Jeff Lippert."

"Sort of," Myeko said, "if you can call standing in the water swimming. He must really love being a lawyer, because he talked about it nonstop for fifteen minutes. And I think Adam the Chippendale has an inferiority complex. I mean, I mentioned meeting Eros that time, and he got all flustered and checked his pecs and whipped out a mirror. Probably looking for wrinkles." She rolled her eyes again. "Six to go…" Then she tipped her head to one side for a moment as if listening, before making a face and amending, "Come to think of it, make that five."

"Why?" asked Leslie, greatly amused.

Jabbing a thumb behind her, Myeko said, "I can barely keep my train of thought on track because Mike the Motormouth back there's been carrying on about his wonderful soccer feats the whole time I've been standing here talking to you. Even if he didn't have his fans to fawn all over him, he wouldn't need me—I think he'd be thrilled with his own voice for company."

Leslie laughed. "Okay, then, in that case, let's move on. Jason's over there by the diving board. Let's go see if he's interested in meeting you before he does a cannonball or something into the pool."

"Do grown men still do those?" groaned Myeko. "Alexander loves them. He regularly displaces all the water in my parents' swimming pool." Chatting companionably, the two women approached Jason Wellman, the construction worker from Montana.