Page 49 of Here We Go Again

“I don’t know what any of that means,” Holly says dryly.

“Are you talking about the woman you were walking with earlier?” Maggie asks. “Long brown hair? Gorgeous eyes? Great butt?”

I swallow a laugh at Maggie’s blunt—albeit accurate—description. “Um, yeah. That’s her.”

“You should ask her out now,” Maggie says.

“I should?”

She nods. “She’s into you. I could totally tell from watching you. She’ll say yes.” She turns to leave, and I grin at Carter.

“Did you hear that? Becca will say yes.”

“Maybe she will,” Carter says. “But Maggie doesn’t know your history with Becca. That matters. I’m just telling you to be intentional when it comes to your timing.”

I turn and look across the field to where Becca is sitting with Mia in the shade. She’s wearing a neon pink sports bra and black shorts with a matching pink stripe down the side, so she’s easy to spot. She also looks incredible, another reason my eyes seem to keep finding her.

When we walked this morning, for the first time, it felt like our interaction wasn’t overshadowed by our breakup. It was more like we were just old friends catching up. We went down our list of mutuals, filling each other in on who’s doing what and what the other might have missed.

She told me about the quarterback of our varsity football team who already has four kids even though he’s the same age as we are. And our senior class president who’s running for mayor in Frisco. If she gets elected, she’ll be the youngest mayor in Frisco history. We talked about Becca’s sisters, what they’re studying, who they’re dating. And I told her all about Carter’s marriage, swearing her to secrecy about the whole green card thing. Only a handful of people know Carter originally married his wife to keep her in the country. They’re so in love it hardly matters now, but it’s still not information we share publicly. Becca loved the story, since it’s genuinely the most un-Carter-like thing the man has ever done.

The point is, I like being around her. And I don’t like not knowing when I’ll see her again.

Maybe I should throw a party? Something I could invite her to? She could bring Mia, I could invite a few of my teammates…

I turn, about to ask Carter if we could do something at his place since he has a pool, but then Jordo comes into the tent, phone lifted in his hand. “Guys. The Jaguars just traded a first-round draft pick for Blake Sanders.”

Blake Sanders. I know that name. Why do I know that name?

Carter thwacks me in the chest. “Sanders. Is that Nathan’s little brother?” he asks, triggering my memory.

“It’s gotta be,” I say as I reach for my phone. Carter and I played with Nathan when we were still with the Appies, though we never met his younger brother, Blake. If I remember correctly, Blake was drafted the year after we were. “He was with the Warriors?” I ask as I search for his name.

“For the past three seasons. And with their AHL affiliate before that,” Jordo says.

“Forty-three points last season,” I say. “Not bad.”

Jordo nods. “He seems like a solid player, but do we need him?”

I look up at Carter, who has an expression on his face that makes me think he knows something the rest of us don’t.

“What do you know?” I say, immediately thinking of Miles. Our team captain has been making noise about retiring, but he’s still got one more year on his contract, so I’m not sure why I think of him. But Carter’s lack of response makes me think I’m on the right track.

As his brother-in-law, if anyone would have insider information, it’s Carter.

“It’s not really my place to say anything,” he says.

“You just did say something,” Holly says.

“And now you have to say more,” Jordo says. “You can’t leave us hanging like that.”

“Is it his shoulder?” I ask. “Is it acting up again?”

Carter finally sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “He doesn’t want to freak anyone out, but … yeah. It’s been pretty bad. He’s likely having surgery before the season starts.”

“Which means he probably won’t play until after Christmas,” Jordo says.

“That’s what they’re thinking.” Carter pushes his hands into his pockets. “But don’t repeat that. Coach knows. And everyone else in the front office. But you know how Miles is. He’ll want to tell the team on his own terms.”