When Alec Met Evie (Appies, #6)

by Jenny Proctor

As soon as I’m dressed, I leave the locker room and head down the hall to the Summit’s medical suite. I pass a room on the right where players typically meet their families after games. It’s empty now, except for Dominic, one of the younger guys on the team, who is sitting with his girlfriend in the corner. He played a good game and seems to be celebrating by swallowing her face. A beat of restlessness pushes through me. I don’t fault the guy. Or any of the guys who have wives or serious girlfriends. But I’m getting tired of the reminders that everyone seems to have found someone but me. When Evie straightened my tie this morning, my brain jumped all the way to imagining her here, waiting in this room, wearing an Appies jersey with my name on it. The woman has been in North Carolina less than a week, and I’m already imagining her as my girlfriend. I can’t decide if that makes me really confident or just really pathetic. I think of the merch bag Summer left for me in my stall and wonder if I should take whatever she bought back upstairs to return it.