Page 24 of Replay

I shifted in my chair. It sounded so bad when Andrea said it out loud. Even though they’d done it out of love.

“I’d say you had perfectly realistic expectations about what was going to happen and didn’t need your parents to step in and make a choice for you. Wait, you said you just found out. You met your ex, and he told you?”

I nodded.

“Your parents have kept it secret all this time?”

“I spent all these years thinking he was a total asshole. And that my judgment about guys was shit.” That I wasn’t good enough.

Her eyebrows rose. “Have they done anything else like that?”

I started to shake my head, but had I even considered that possibility? “I—I don’t know. I would have said they’d never do something like that, but now I’m not sure.”

“In my opinion, you have every reason to be pissed. What happened with your next boyfriend?”

“I never got really serious about anyone after Josh. But you know, after all those college applications, I ended up staying home and going to Dalhousie.”

“Was that your choice?”

“I thought so. With Nora having the baby, and me wanting to help out, it just seemed like staying home was the best option.”

But had that been my idea? I was second-guessing everything now.

Andrea started to put her napkin and plate on the tray. “I should get moving. Another class of first-years to deal with. But here’s a thought—see if your ex wants to go out with you again. Just to mess with your parents. He’s here in Toronto now, right? Since you just ran into him?” She stood up, throwing her bag over her shoulder.

I nodded. “Yeah, but it’s been a long time. Honestly, he’s more out of my league now than he was then.”

A strange expression crossed her face. “Uh, did he get drafted?”

“Yeah. Nashville. Which wasn’t any place I’d applied to.”

She stared at me. “And he’s in Toronto now?”

“Uh huh.”

“Is he, like, one of the players? On one of the fucking NHL teams?”

I eyed her warily. “Yeah.”

She ticked off her fingers. “From Halifax. Drafted by Nashville. Playing in Toronto.”

My cheeks heated up. If I’d been trying to keep his identity a secret, I’d blown that.

Andrea’s eyes widened. “Is that your ex—Ducky?”

I turned to look at the TV, where a team photo of Josh was up on half the screen. The other half had words like injury and treatment.

My stomach dropped. What the hell had happened to him?

Chapter 9

Totally Worth It

Josh

I sat on the trainer’s table, trying to keep my knee still while Carlos worked on it. They’d done an X-ray and nothing was broken, but it still hurt like hell.

The rest of the team were finishing practice, getting showers, heading for the airport to play the last preseason game in Ottawa. I was supposed to play tonight. I had a bad feeling about being scratched.

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