Page 30 of Her Football Star Ex

But some of the guys weren’t so great about sticking to Coach Anderson’s rules.

“No, it has nothing to do with Tony,” Cole said.

“Did Bryce get drunk again?” I asked.

“No.” Cole gestured for me to sit on the chair in the corner while he pulled the chair out from under my desk, turned it around, and sat down facing me. “It has to do with this.”

He held his phone out for me to take.

I furrowed my brow, confused at what could be causing him this much stress.

Had someone written an article about one of us? The press always seemed to have something up their sleeve.

But when I looked at the screen, I saw something entirely different. The logo for the dating app he’d been showing me yesterday was at the top of the screen next to Emerson’s profile photo. And below it was a message bubble with the words,Hey Tyler. Weekend priorities: fishing, Netflix, or trying something new?

My jaw dropped, and I looked back at Cole as I realized what this meant. “Emerson messaged you?”

He nodded, an uncomfortable expression on his face. “Yeah, apparently she messaged me last night, but I didn’t see it until a few minutes ago.”

The timestamp did indeed say that it had been sent last night at around ten.

“What should I do? Just ignore it?” Cole asked. “I can’t exactly tell her it’s me, that would just be weird. How would I explain swiping right on my best friend’s ex-wife?”

“I don’t know.” I ran a hand through my hair, my palms sweating as I glanced at the words Emerson had written to my friend. “What do people usually do in this kind of situation?”

“I have no idea,” Cole said. “I usually type a quick response to see if a conversation starts, but I’m pretty sure I should just leave her hanging.”

He probably should.

But was it crazy that I almost wanted to respond for him?

I probably would have started with a boring “What’s up?” or some other lame conversation starter. But this quick message, though not intrusive, gave the other person an opportunity to share something about themselves in a non-invasive way.

Emerson had told me last night was her first date since the divorce, but was it possible she had lots of conversations going on like this with multiple guys?

I was about to hand Cole his phone back when I saw the conversation dots appear under her initial message.

“It looks like she’s typing something,” I said.

“What?” Cole swiveled his chair closer to me and looked over at the screen.

And within a few seconds, a second message came through.

Emerson:Uh oh—Radio Silence. Should I get my cape and tights and come rescue you?

And right after that message, a gif of a female superhero appeared.

Cole and I turned to each other with wide eyes.

I swallowed. “Seems like she’s pretty interested in talking to you.”

He seemed to swallow hard as well and held his hand out for his phone. “I’d better tell her it’s me. This is just weird.”

He was just typing in a message explaining that it was him and that he’d accidentally swiped right the night before when something popped into my head.

“Hold on.” I snatched the phone from him.

“What are you doing?” He reached out to take it back, but I stood and walked to the other side of the room.

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