Page 9 of What Are the Chances
I’ll see you soon
WILL
I couldn’t fucking believe it. Maybe I should’ve pressed more when Levi sent me in his place, but I’d figured the odds were so low there was no point getting myself worked up about it.
Famous last thoughts.
I could barely focus as Riley moved around the small space. She was dressed in gym leggings and a Phil-U polo. I mentally traced the familiar curve of her ass, which transitioned to toned legs. She must still run.Of courseshe did. She might’ve been able to give up many things in her life, but running wasn’t one of them.
Her brown hair was in a low ponytail, hanging halfway down her back. It whipped around as she turned to face me, her steel blue eyes boring into mine.
Unlike the last three examinations, which I’d overheard sitting on the other side of the partition, we were alone. My friends were waiting outside. That had been their subtle way of giving Riley and me privacy, not that we needed it. We had nothing to say to each other. We hadn’t for three years and that wasn’t about to change today.
Riley had started each of the past three consults by asking whether any injuries were giving the athletes grief. I’d already formulated a response –no– even though my shoulder hadn’t been the same since getting slammed into the boards when we played Washington earlier in the season, but Riley threw me for six.
“Is this going to be awkward?”
The first words she’d spoken directly to me in almost three years.Is this going to be awkward?It already was.
“Only if you make it awkward,” I answered.
“Me?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You’re the one who’s been oddly quiet.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know. Maybehey Riley, how have you been?”
I held her gaze, which was more challenging than it ought to be.
“Do you really want me to ask that?”
She was silent for a moment, mulling over my question. After contemplating, she sighed then shook her head. Then she picked up her tablet and began filling out the digital form.
Unlike Grace, Stella and Tripp, Riley didn’t ask for my details like my middle name, or my date of birth. She even remembered my blood type. How the fuck did she remember that?Ibarely remembered my blood type.
A loose piece of hair fell over her face as her head angled down. When she reached forward to tuck it behind her ear, I glimpsed a tattoo on her wrist. That was new, or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she’d gotten it the day after we broke up. Maybe she’d gotten it on a holiday in Thailand or Mexico or Bali. Maybe she’d gotten it from a random bikie at a dive bar. The truth was, I had no clue what she’d been up to since we broke up.
In the early days I’d tried to keep tabs, but it’d been a wasted effort. Her social media was practically impenetrable, and she quickly severed all relationships with our mutual friends.
“Any injuries that I should know about?” she finally asked.
I shook my head. “None.”
When her eyes rose to meet mine once more, they levelled me with a glare that calledbullshit. Damn. The girl could still read me.
I sighed, defeated. “I had a shoulder injury a few games back. Got slammed into the boards pretty bad.”
“Concussion?”
“No. No head contact. Just a sore shoulder.”
She set down the tablet and stood. “Mind if I take a look?”
“Is that not why I’m here?” I returned.
My voice came out jaded and harsh. She was right. I was making this more awkward. I couldn’t help it though. Being around her had caused all my defences to fly up. Maybe if I’d had time to prepare, to think about what it would be like to see her again, I’d be handling this better. Instead I’d been blindsided walking through that door. Seeing Riley Dover was literally like seeing a ghost. The last time we’d been together, I’d known her better than I knew myself. Now we were so distant we may as well be strangers.
Though there were still so many similarities that being around her was fucking trippy. Like her voice still had a hint of huskiness as though she was fighting off a cold. Her eyes were the same steel blue, a colour that solely seemed to be reserved for her. And she smelt the same. I guess she still wore the same perfume.
