Page 93 of Slew Foot
After Rafe had showered and dressed in his suit, he walked into the hallway and was surprised to see Zach waiting there for him.
“Uh, hey,” Rafe said, frowning. “What areyoudoing here?”
“We had plans to grab a bite to eat?” Zach said, looking confused. “You invited me?”
Rafe sighed. “Right. Uhh …”
“You forgot.”
Rafe grimaced. “Yeah. Sorry, man …”
“No, it’s fine. I get you’re probably worried about your …” He trailed off awkwardly. “Boyfriend? I thought you weren’t going to date a teammate again, but?—”
“He’snotmy boyfriend,” Rafe said automatically.
“Uhh, sure. You keep telling yourself that.” Zach scoffed, then patted Rafe’s arm. “Well, go check on your teammate or whatever then. I hope he’s okay. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Logan did it on purpose.”
“Yeah, right,” Rafe scoffed because that was some bullshit right there. “I saw him hook his ankle on Mickey’s.”
“No, man, I think they got tangled up. You’ll have to see the replay but when they showed it on the Jumbotron you can see he lost his balance, and his foot shot out to compensate.”
“Sure,” Rafe said doubtfully. “And we’re just ignoring the shove?”
“Again, I think he was trying to regain his balance.”
Rafe made a face.
But Zach kept pressing. “No, Imeanit. I know you were pissed at him after the breakup and everything?—”
“He started dating someone without actually telling me our relationship was over,” Rafe said flatly. “Yeah, I was fucking pissed.”
“I think maybe you should talk to him. Give him a chance to apologize or whatever.”
“Since when areyouLogan Walker’s biggest fan?” Rafe spat. A thought hit him, and he stared at his friend. “Wait, are you two …”
But Zach laughed. “Uhh,no, dude. If you’d gone out with me to dinner, I was going to tell you I proposed to Karina last week and she said yes. I’m not fucking dating your ex.”
“Oh.” Rafe blinked. “Shit. Sorry. I’m happy for you about the engagement.”
He leaned in to hug his friend, feeling a little guilty he’d leaped to conclusions.
“Thanks,” Zach said, smiling now. “We’re excited. You’ll get an invite, of course. It’ll be this summer. August, probably.”
“Wow, that’s pretty soon,” Rafe said, surprised.
“Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “I love her like crazy, so I don’t wanna wait. She’s great about working around my schedule, so we figured we’d better do it before the season starts. Plus, she’s pregnant.”
He said the last part more quietly, but Rafe beamed. “Oh,dude, I’m so happy for you guys. That’s awesome. Tell her I said congrats.”
“I will.”
They hugged again, although Rafe was already mentally running through ideas of what to knit for the little one. Hat and booties? Blanket? Ohh, maybe he could try doing a little stuffed animal. He’d seen some great patterns for little bears.
When Rafe pulled back, he frowned at Zach. “Iamsorry I’m ditching you tonight, man.”
“It’s okay,” Zach said with a lopsided smile and shrug. “I get it. If it was Karina who was hurt, I’d do the same.”
Rafe nodded, the protest he wasn’t dating Mickey dying on his tongue. Honestly, at this point it felt like he’d be saying words for the sake of saying them.
