When I looked up, Ben Cho was standing at the reception desk. I hadn't seen him since last summer. He and April had lasted for about six months, which may have been a new world record for her.

"Hey, Ben."

"Oh hi, Kelly. What are you doing here?"

"It's my new job. What about you?"

"I'm here to meet Albert Maisonneuve for lunch. He's an old frat buddy."

"I'll let him know you're here." I buzzed Albert's office. He was a junior sales guy and quite nice.

"What are you doing these days, Ben?"

"I'm working for my father's company. We're in the import/export business."

"Sounds good," I said, nodding. He looked confident and well dressed. Outside of salespeople, hardly anyone who came in here wore a suit.

"So, how's April?" Ben asked with fake nonchalance.

"Good," I replied. "We're roommates now." Poor Ben was clearly still interested. April bugged me about old boyfriends, but she had left a trail of broken hearts throughout the Lower Mainland.

"Really? Where are you guys living?"

"We have a place in Strathcona."

"That sounds like-" Suddenly, he leaned over my desk and peered at the photo. "Hey, isn't that you and Phil?"

"Oh, do you know Kelly's fiance?" asked Albert, who had just arrived at the desk. "Everyone here thinks he's one lucky guy."

Ben's eyes met mine. I sent a desperate telepathic plea for him not to say anything. He raised one quizzical eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah, we used to double-date," Ben said carefully. "I never thought that Phil would actually get a ring on her," he added, glancing down at my ring.

Phew. I released one huge breath and watched the two of them leave.

That night, I got home from work, and April had made dinner. Well, technically, April had brought dinner home from the craft table at work, but I wasn't complaining.

"Oh boy, craft dinner," I said. We ate most of our meals in the living room, since there was no dining room and the kitchen wasn't big enough. Our place looked amazing now. The walls were all white except one lime green accent wall in the living room. Our furniture was a mishmash from thrift stores and movie sets, but once April had sewn white slipcovers, everything seemed to match. She also used her sewing skills to make cushions and curtains out of colourful fabric leftover from her costuming projects. She brought her collection of antique dressmaker dummies, and displayed her vintage designer clothes as our artwork.

One night, I had walked into one of the dummies in the dark and screamed my head off, thinking it was a headless monster-needless to say, alcohol was involved. But otherwise, apartment life was perfect.

"Guess who I saw at work today?"

"If it's an athlete, I'm not going to have any clue," April replied.

"Nope, it was Ben Cho." Not only had Ben not blown my cover at reception, he didn't say a word to Albert at lunch, so my fake engagement was still on. This had rocketed him to the top of my rankings of April's ex-boyfriends. "Gosh, he's such a nice guy and really smart too."

A frown crossed April's face. "I know all that. I liked him a lot." Then she didn't add anything else.

This silence was odd. Usually, April was all too happy to diss her exes and make fun of their flaws. Unless-for the first time ever-a guy had broken up with her! But he had still seemed interested when I saw him.

My curiosity got the better of me. "What happened between you guys?"

"I don't know if you'll believe me. I haven't told this to anyone else." She twirled a strand of perfectly-streaked hair. "He wouldn't have sex with me."

"What? Like ever?"

"Yes. At first, I figured that he wanted to wait until we were more serious. But after three months of steady dating, we still hadn't done it."

"So, were you doing anything at all?"

"Yes. We made out and everything. And that was great." She sighed. "But nothing further. I don't even know what his cock is like."

I tittered. "Nothing? Not even a hint?"

"Well, I can tell he's not, you know, stunted in that department. Everything felt normal."

"Did you ask him what's going on?"

"Of course. Have you ever known me not to grab the bull by the horns?"

"Or the horn in this case." We both giggled.

"He said he wanted to wait for marriage."

"Wow. So he's a virgin?"

"Weirdly, no. He's like a born-again virgin. He has had sex, but he felt that it was hollow without a real commitment. Ben is so strong-minded. He gets these ideas and sticks to them." April let out a puff of frustration.

I laughed some more. "So you've met your match."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Guys are always putty in your hands. You use a combination of sex and smarts to keep them off balance, and then dump them when you get bored. Finally, a guy you can't manipulate."

April scowled at me. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be attracted to someone and not have him reciprocate?"

"You're twisting things around. Ben is attracted to you; he just doesn't want to have sex with you yet. You should accept that. Did he actually want to get married?" That seemed bizarre to me.

"No, he's not insane. But we seemed to be moving towards something... bigger." April sounded really regretful.

"Why don't you go out with him again? I think he's still interested in you."

"Really? We had so much fun together. Ben's very sophisticated." April was all aflutter. Was love finally hitting my cynical bestie? Then she shook her head. "No, the whole thing was too impossible."

"You have to decide. Do you need to be in control of all your relationships, or can you let go?"

She threw a pillow at me. "This is not right. I'm supposed to be the one who gives relationship advice to you."

"Ahhh, the student teaches the master," I assumed the lotus position on the couch.

"I don't know. I can't call him. It would seem too desperate-like I was ready to settle down, which I am definitely not." There seemed to be some kind of internal struggle going on until she shook her whole body. "No. No way. Anyway, while we're on the topic of relationships, how did your date with Michael go?" Michael was the last of my home reno dates. He was an actor/musician/cellphone salesman.

"This fake engagement thing is turning me into a psycho. I thought I saw someone from work and I literally dove under the table. He thought I wanted to give him a b.j., and things went downhill from there." Not that they had ever gone uphill. He was also a part-time DJ who insisted on going to some loud club and then complained about the sound system and the music.

She laughed. "I'm guessing there's not going to be a second date."

"Ugh. I'm cursed. What if I never meet any guys better than my first two boyfriends?"

"Of course you will. Although, they were pretty hot."

"Ha. You called Jimmy 'the Googler' and made fun of him."

"Yes, but he did have a great body, and you thought he was cute. Do you ever think of calling him again?"

"No. I'm sure he's forgotten all about me. Pro hockey players have no trouble getting dates."

"Too bad you're not a pro then," April quipped.

"I think I'll keep my dating life simple and stay home. At least until I can engineer a fake break-up of my engagement."

"If your dating life were any simpler, you'd be a nun. No sex, no complications."

"Apparently I could date Ben then."

"Stay away from him," April hissed.

6.

Fore Play

"Hey, I'm here to see Brian Ford."

There was a big, athletic guy standing at the reception desk. He had thick, curly brown hair cut short on the sides. His blue eyes looked sleepy even though it was 4:00 in the afternoon.

I smiled cheerfully at him. "Sure, I'll buzz him for you." Brian was the producer of the afternoon drive show, so this guy was probably here for an interview.

He kept staring at me.

"Have we met before?"

I shook my head. I was pretty sure I'd never seen him before. "I just moved back to Vancouver, so probably not."

"Actually, I don't live here all year either. I play hockey."

"Me too," I said. "Maybe we met at a tournament?"

"No, I mean I play in the NHL." Okay, maybe not. I had to give him credit though, he didn't sound like a total egomaniac as he said this. In fact, he sounded like he was actually trying to figure out how we knew each other.

"What team do you play for?"

"Chicago Blackhawks."

I raised my eyebrows. Boy, that was a coincidence. But there was no way we could be connected through Jimmy. I hadn't seen him since he moved to Chicago.

He snapped his fingers. "Wait, I think I know-"

"Tyler?" Brian appeared at the desk. "Thanks so much for coming to the station. I got all your tournament info here, so we can do quick run-through and get you on the air...." They disappeared down the corridor, and I turned to my trusty computer to figure out who he was.

Tyler Ballanchuk, aka "Baller." Twenty-six years old, 6' 3", 225 lbs. Defenceman. Born and raised in Richmond, B.C. Good stats too. I probably should have recognized him. But that didn't explain why he thought he knew me. It was a mystery. I gave up and started stuffing envelopes for an upcoming promotion.

Half an hour later, Brian and Tyler returned.

"Thanks again, Ty. Best of luck with that fundraiser."

Tyler nodded and turned to me. "I'll see you later, Kelly." Then he left.

Brian came over to see me. "You're a lucky lady."

"I am?"

"Yup. We get to send two people to his golf tourney. Ty specifically requested that 'his old friend, Kelly Tanaka' be one. I'm fighting it out with Lenny to see who gets to be the other."

"You're kidding, right? I've never seen him before."

"Hey, he mentioned you by name, and he knew you played hockey and everything."

"Are you sure you didn't tell him who I was?"

Brian shook his head.

"That's weird. But I don't even golf, so what's the point?"

He pursed his lips. "The point is connections. I heard a rumour that you want to be a producer like me, is that true?"

I nodded, and he continued, "Well, one of the best tools anyone in the media has is the contact info of every one he meets. Having the phone number of an NHL player like Ty Ballanchuk would be golden, not to mention all the other people you could meet. You should not be passing this opportunity up."