“Come on.A man doesn’t have that kind of reaction unless there’s something to say.”
“Wait, is this the girl you once told me about?”Mitch asked.
Uh-oh.Last year he and Mitch had shared a few times about relationship troubles when Mitch and Britta had been working out how to make things work.Along the way Kyle might’ve accidentally spilled a little too much about his own challenges.
“Okay, now I need popcorn.”Ryan smirked.“What’s going on in Kyle’s world that he gives such a big reaction like that?”
“Nothing is going on.”And that was the problem.
“Judging from that face, the man sure wants something to be going on.”
“A doctor, huh?”Franklin smiled.“What’s her name?”
He shook his head.
“Okay, then.Luc, give me your source, tell us how you know about a pretty doctor,” Franklin said.
“Anyone else think Franklin’s been taking notes from Hannah?”Tom raised his brows.
Hannah James was a sports reporter who had been involved in some serious investigative work over the years, earning herself an award or two along the way.She’d been on maternity leave as she and Franklin had welcomed their little son, Jonah, at the end of last year.
Kyle’s heart clenched.He’d love to be a dad one day.
“Let’s not get distracted,” Ryan said.“I want to know about this doctor friend.What’s her name?”
He sighed.It looked like there’d be no getting out of this today.He could end the call but that would only make it more obvious how much he was bugged by all this.Besides, these guys were so persistent they’d only ask the next time.So he might as well tell them the truth.Some of it, anyway.“Her name is Gen.”
“Jen as in Jenny?”
“Gen as in Genevieve.I knew her at school.We went out then.”
“She’s the one who got away.”Mitch rubbed his hands together.“I was wondering about this when you mentioned her last year.”
“Last year?”Zac said.“You been holding out on us, Tinks?”
“Reilly, isn’t it time you had to leave?It must be past your bedtime, seeing you’re retired and all.”
Kyle’s jibe earned chuckles, but it was later than Mitch usually hung around.He’d retired from hockey last Christmas thanks to persistent concussion injuries, and now was training as a youth worker in Saint Paul, Minnesota, while he and Britta planned a June wedding.
“Anybody else notice how Kyle keeps deflecting?”Ryan asked.
“It’s almost like he doesn’t want us prying into his business.”Jai grinned.
“It’s cool, Kylos,” Dougie said.“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
But part of him did want to.If nothing else, he could really do with some prayers.Especially when his own didn’t seem to be working.
“Look, this is hard for me, okay?But I really would appreciate it if you could actually pray for me.I always thought the point of this group was to help us grow in God and I really need some wisdom about this.”
“Dude, we got you,” Tom said.
“You know that we’re always happy to pray for you,” Mike said.“What’s happened?”
So Kyle told them the story.Most of it, anyway.He shared about Gen, their different paths growing up, the sense of being soulmates that he’d always felt with her.“Not that I think that ‘you complete me’ stuff is real, but I’ve always felt like we just clicked and she was my perfect match.And then we broke up because I got drafted and went east and she had her medical studies to pursue, and we both knew it would be too hard.But anytime I tried to check in on her, I couldn’t, because I later found out she’d moved away.”
“Ooh, that bites,” Chris said, nose wrinkling.
Kyle shrugged.“So ever since then I’ve felt like part of me is missing.She was my best friend, and then suddenly wasn’t.It felt like she dropped off the planet for ten years.”
