Page 54 of Replay

“I convinced Katie we should be friends. I was ready to take it slow. But that kiss was different. Maybe she hated it and now she doesn’t even want to be friends.”

“Didn’t you talk about it?”

“I was afraid to. In case she said it was a mistake.”

“Not great on communication, you two.”

He had a point. That had done us in last time. “I told her she could kiss me anytime she wanted, so this is definitely up to her now.”

“Maybe she needs time to figure out what she wants.”

I chewed on my thumbnail. “What if she doesn’t want to see me again?”

Fitch shot me a glance. “Not possible. You’ve got your own special charm.”

That sounded like I was a weirdo. “What does that mean?”

“It means she was crazy about you before. She’s afraid of being hurt again. Before she goes all in, she needs to make sure you’re not going to do something stupid this time.”

“I would never.”

He frowned at me before focusing back on the road. “If I’d asked you back in high school if you’d hurt her, what would you say?”

I sagged in the seat. “Fuck. You’re right. But I’ve learned and I’d never do it again.”

“It’s going to take time to show her. You can’t expect to just tell her, and she’ll believe it.”

“I guess. But I don’t want to lose her. Not again.”

We pulled off the 427 to get into the airport. The team had a private jet when we traveled so we didn’t have to go through the main terminals. It was nice, because I’d traveled the regular way and the waiting, the lines—it was all exhausting.

New York was a short trip, so we got there in good time to do a light practice and hit up the hotel for our game day rituals. I still hadn’t heard from Katie, so I didn’t get my usual pregame nap the way I liked. I spent too much time trying to figure out what she was thinking, but I wouldn’t know till I heard from her. Maybe I should just ask her what was going on.

I’d give her another day. So I wasn’t pressing her, but I wasn’t going to ignore her either. Two days should be enough.

Soon, it was back to the arena for warm-ups, and then, the game.

The game was a shit show. Again. We were bad. Just like the last game when I’d watched with Katie. I scored a goal and assisted on one with Cooper, but that was all we got. Meanwhile, New York scored seven times. We couldn’t make a pass to save our lives, and we spent what felt like half the game a man down while someone was in the sin bin for stupid penalties. Petey was peppered, and he couldn’t stop them all.

We trudged back to the locker room, everyone feeling like shit, with a lecture from Coach to come. I pulled off my jersey and pads, figuring I might as well be comfortable for the rundown coming. I checked my phone and there it was. A message from Katie.

Good luck with the game tonight.

That ship had sailed, and sunk in the New York harbor by now, but reading that message put a smile on my face.

“Are we interrupting, Middleton?”

Shit, that was Coach. I dropped the phone. “Sorry, Coach.”

“What the fuck are you smiling about after that game?”

Oops. Still glad to hear from Katie, but this was not the time for it. “Um, just a friend.”

“Did your friend watch the game?”

I shrugged. “Dunno, but the text was from before it.”

Coach crossed his arms. “Because since the puck dropped, there’s been nothing to smile about from where I was watching.”

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