Page 51 of Forever Player

I text Willow again.

Me:You coming home for dinner?

I don’t get a reply so I fry myself up a steak and steam some vegetables. I need to maybe head out for a jog and do some training so I’m not hurting when I get back on the ice. While I am cooking dinner I call Kaleb, my best friend, who is now with my sister, Maddie. He is the last person I thought I would ever go to for relationship advice, but a lot has changed since he got together with my sister.

He picks up after a couple rings.

“Bro, holy shit. How are you?” he answers the phone.

I get it. There was a shitstorm at the arena when I found out about Maylee. Then I went MIA. I’m very aware of the viral footage of Willow telling me about my baby girl, but I tried not to focus on it since I have been here. Willow and Maylee are my top priority, and I could care less what social media has to say about my private life.

“I’m okay, I guess,” I reply.

“Doesn’t sound promising.” He laughs. “How’s your baby girl?”

“Amazing, sweet, perfect,” I claim.

“Wow, I can’t wait to meet her,” he says.

“When did you come to care about kids?” I shoot back.

“When your nephew made me his best friend,” he reminds. “Now I want more kids but, um, we have to wait for Maddie to finish school.”

Even though I’m grossed out about hearing him wanting to make kids with my sister, I still appreciate that he wants to build a family with her.

“Nice,” I say.

“What’s going on, Brett?” he asks.

“Where are you right now? Is Maddie around? Where is Asher?” I ask quickly. If my sister gets wind of me having trouble, she won’t let up. I love her with all my heart, but I don’t want her worrying about me when she has enough with school and a family.

“Maddie took him for hockey practice,” he replies. “I’m home on my own.”

“Okay,” I breathe out. “I’ve been doing everything to get in Willow’s good graces,” I admit.

“So, you’re into her?” Kaleb asks, sounding surprised.

I squeeze my eyes shut, deciding if I should confess the truth to my friend. At this point, it kind of seems like I have to. “I kind of haven’t slept with anyone since her.”

“Get out of town. I saw you with chicks in your room,” he states, and he isn’t wrong.

“I kinda tried picking up girls because I thought it would help me get over her when she wasn’t returning my calls and she disappeared, but nothing happened. The waitress and I became friends. We played video games in my room then I told her to mess up her hair, so she looked thoroughly fucked.” I hold my breath as my friend processes this fucked-up news.

“Why the hell would you go to that trouble to make me believe you were getting laid on the reg?” he asks.

“Because my head was all messed up after I was with Willow. She’s the first woman I really liked and she wasn’t returning my calls. I didn’t know how to handle it. I wasn’t going to come moping to you assholes like some lovesick puppy.”

“Why the hell not?” he shoots back.

“Because I’m me. I have a reputation to uphold. Only now that reputation has come back to bite me in the ass. I wish I could take all of it back, but I can’t,” I confess as I begin to sear the steak in the pan.

“You can’t take back your past but you can show Willow how you feel,” he advises.

“I’m pretty sure she was online reading about my playboy ways this morning and now she’s taken off with Maylee. I don’t know where they are and I feel sick about it.”

“You need to understand where she’s coming from,” Kaleb says.

“Fuck, Kaleb, did you see my crazy reaction at the arena when I thought she was at my game with Jacob Heaton?” I ask.

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