“Wow.”Mike nodded.“I can’t imagine missing Bree for that long.It was hard enough when we had a couple of months apart.”
“Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth,” Jai teased.Mike and Bree had been together forever, it seemed.
“And I won’t go telling Karlsson he’s not your bestie anymore,” Doug said virtuously.He and Detroit’s Brent Karlsson had been teammates back in the day, and everyone knew the bond between Mike and Brent was tight.
“Appreciate it.”Mike rolled his eyes.“And now, back to Kyle.”
Kyle shrugged.“I’m really happy if you want to talk about Mike.Like, are those retirement rumors true?”
“No, so that’s not news.”
“Are you sure—?”
“Don’t try to change the subject.We want to know more about what’s happening with Gen.”
Looked like there was still no getting out of it.“Nothing’s happening.”
“What?”Ryan looked confused.
“I saw her, and she told me there’s somebody else.”
“Whoa.”
“That sucks,” Drew said.
“That sucks big-time,” someone else muttered.
Sure did.His heart still felt raw.It had been hard enough to accept that Gen had someone else, but now to admit he’d lost the only girl he’d loved to these guys, nearly all of whom were either married or in a steady relationship, felt like he was parading around naked.
“To be honest, I’m kinda struggling with how to process this.So if you can pray that I know how to let this go that’d be really good.”
There were various murmurs of affirmation, then Jai spoke up.“You know one of the best bits of advice I got was to pray a blessing over her.When Allie and I were going out—”
“Also back in the Stone Age,” Ryan muttered.
“—we had some challenges that made it hard to know what was really real.But when you pray for that person’s good, I think it’s like God sees that it’s an act of faith and He responds to faith.”
“Is she a Christian?”Tom asked.
He blinked.“Um, wow.I don’t know.”
A sea of winces met him.Okay.
Ryan shook his head.“Speaking from experience, it’s better to make sure that gets sorted out first rather than plunge into a relationship that’s only gonna leave you both frustrated, if you know what I mean.”
Oh, he knew.And saying to these guys that he’d already been there, done that, didn’t seem to be the right thing.He knew they weren’t all saints, but they all seemed a lot holier than he was.Maybe Dougie not so much, he was still a little rough around the edges, but the others sure wouldn’t understand.
“Ryan’s advice is solid,” Franklin said.“You don’t want to fall for someone who’s not on the same page.”
Zac nodded.“Maybe God does want you and Gen to be together, just not yet.”
“That’s right,” Ryan said.“It might be that He needs to work in her heart to get her ready for you.”
“I don’t know if it’s as simple as that, but maybe.”
“Well, sounds like we’ll be praying for your Doctor Gen to find Jesus, huh, then find you again?”Jai said.
Kyle’s chuckle held no humor.“You’ll have to pray about more than that, but that’s a good start.”
