The parents not being on board made this more difficult. But I wasn’t giving up. I was here with the Blaze, and I was succeeding. I’d worked hard to make it in hockey, and I’d work hard to get Katie back too.
“So, what’s my play?” These guys had their women. Time for them to share the advice.
Barnes frowned. “This isn’t going to be easy. Not like you can send her flowers, ask her out for dinner.”
Not when I didn’t have her number.
Cooper narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. “What does she do?”
Had she said anything last night? “I don’t know. She was going to major in math when she went to university, and I heard she was going to school here. So something like that?”
“Then you’re not going to run into her through work.”
“No way.”
Cooper nodded slowly. “I think, first, you’re going to have to get her to be your friend.”
“My friend?”
“You did more than just fuck around back then, right?”
“She was my tutor, but we had a lot of fun together.” I held up my hand. “Not just like that. She’s cool. I liked being with her.”
“Then that’s your play. Get her to agree to be your friend. No way will she go out with you after a text breakup. Get to be friends. And if you’re lucky, maybe then you can try for more.”
I considered that. Hanging out with Katie, even as friends and nothing more, would still be great. But if she started dating someone, that would be hard.
Wait, was she dating someone? How could I be friends with her if she was with someone else?
I couldn’t ask my mom, or her parents, so I’d have to be her friend, find out what was going on, and prove to her that I was the right guy for her. The only guy, for the rest of our lives.
Yeah, that was going to take some work.
Chapter 6
Everyone Would Want to be his Friend
Katie
The air felt cooler as October grew close, and I was down for it. The city absorbed heat in a way I wasn’t used to—walls of high rises, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and no breeze. I was looking forward to winter when sweating wouldn’t be a problem anymore. I loved the life of the city, but the heat made going out less appealing.
I walked home from class rather than taking the subway. Living this close to the university was good for my pocketbook, and my fitness. I was careful with my money. Mom and Dad were covering my additional costs, and I would hate to ask them for more. I’d never had a job other than tutoring, so I didn’t have an easy way to increase my income. Plus, being a TA while working on my master’s was going to be demanding as it was.
Thanks to the afternoon sun, my shirt was sticking to my back as I approached my new building. I shifted my bag on one shoulder so I could grab my keys. How did the damned things always fall to the bottom? I’d just managed to hook the key ring on a finger when I heard my name.
“Katie!”
The keys fell as I jerked. What the…Josh?
I turned around and there he was, weaving through people in the crosswalk as he made his way across the street toward me. I blinked, but no, he was still there. What the hell?
“Were you meeting Madeline?”
After that awkward night and the conversation in the kitchen the next day, I’d assumed she wasn’t interested in Josh anymore, but maybe she’d changed her mind. She might not have his number, but she knew the bar where the players hung out. Josh was out of luck though. Madeline worked long hours, and I rarely saw her before eight on weeknights.
Josh pulled his brows down into a frown. “No. Why would I be meeting her?”
“Because…” Never mind. Wasn’t going to ask Josh about his hookups. I didn’t want to think about them. Or anything Josh-related. I waved a hand. “Okay, then why are you here?” Was there someone else in the building he was hooking up with? Had I accidentally found myself in hockey hookup central? Would I be running into Josh constantly as he visited the puck bunnies?
