Page 63 of Buzzer Beater

He nodded.

“Not everyone gets to live out their dreams.” I made sure to smile, but inside it stung. He got everything he wanted. His job was his passion. He didn’t have to settle for something to pay the bills like everyone else.

“I’m sorry, Lucy.”

I waved him off. “There’s nothing to apologize for. It’s just a job.”

“What else do you do?”

Great question. “I work about sixty hours a week, so in my abysmal free time, I read or take walks around the city.”

“And your dad? How’s he?”

“He’s fine. Retired now and moved into a smaller place in one of the fifty-five and over communities. I think he really likes it.”

“That’s good.”

“How’s your family?” I paused.

“They’re all good.”

“I miss your mom.”

His jaw twitched. He looked up and met my eyes. “She misses you too. She has never forgiven me.”

Instantly, guilt gripped my belly. “Oh no. Colin, really?”

He shrugged. “Things have been strained since I got drafted. It’s a combination of things. Us breaking up, me getting signed to a team on the west coast, my brother breaking his leg and ending his career.”

“What happened to Chance?”

I hadn’t known his little brother well since he still lived at home in Massachusetts. But he was supposed to be a better player than Colin.

“His junior year of high school, he broke his femur. Even after he healed, it wasn’t the same. It was too much stress on the leg to keep playing.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Me too.”

He reached across the table and took my hand. “Thank you for today. I’ll never forget it.”

I squeezed back. “Me too.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye.”

His words were barely above a whisper. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t agree. I couldn’t make this harder on either of us.

“It’s inevitable.”

He looked down. “I guess.”

I wanted to yell that I felt the same way. I couldn’t tell him how badly I wanted this to work. How much I’d missed him for five years. That my heart never got over him. I still loved him.

I couldn’t say that.

I couldn’t give him what he wanted, and I wasn’t going to be the one to take that from him.

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