Page 13 of Replay

I shrugged and moved my head sort of up and down and sideways. “It’s someone I knew back in high school, but I just found out she’s in Toronto now.”

“Did you call her?”

“I don’t have her number, but I know where she lives.” I was still blocked, according to my searching last night.

“Stalking her?”

I felt heat moving up my neck into my cheeks. “I ran into her.”

“At a bar?”

“Not exactly.”

Then Fitch slid into a chair beside me. “Oh, let me tell.”

I sighed and took a bite of chicken. Might as well let him.

“He hooked up with a redhead, went home with her, and found out his ex is the hookup’s roommate.”

Everyone stopped to look at me. “So, threesome?” Barnes asked.

Fitch shook his head. “No. Apparently there’s a roommate code when it comes to exes. Instead of a threesome, the two of them ganged up on Ducky.”

Yeah, it didn’t sound good, and I was going to get chirped so bad. But if they could help me with Katie, I’d take it.

“Wait.” Cooper held up a hand. “This is the ex you’re interested in? Because that makes a big difference.”

Good to know. “Why?”

“Because she already knows you. And for some reason, it didn’t work. Not sure if you can change things. Why did you break up?”

Fitch answered for me. “The key isn’t why, but how. He ended a two-year relationship by text.”

The whole table groaned. Yeah, I got it. I wouldn’t do it again, assuming I could get Katie back. If I got back with Katie, I wasn’t going to let her get away.

“Why did you break up with her?”

I waved at Fitch to continue, since he was enjoying it so much. Might as well finish my meal.

“It was the end of high school and he was heading to the draft. She was getting scholarship offers for universities.”

“You wanted to sample all the puck bunnies.”

“No!” I blurted out. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“It’s kind of obvious.”

“Well, it wasn’t to me. My mom and her parents thought she’d give up on school to follow me. I didn’t know how long I would play or if I’d make it, so that would have been a bad thing to do. She’s really smart. She should go to the best school for her.”

“Her parents didn’t like you, huh?” Cooper smirked.

“Wait, why wouldn’t they?”

Barnes pointed a finger at me. “I don’t know, but they wanted you to break up.”

“Your mom too, eh?” Mitch added.

I shrugged. Mom had made it clear this morning that she really didn’t like Katie. I guess her parents didn’t like me either. There was a lot I’d missed back then.

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