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“You haven’t called him yet, have you?”

“Goodto you, too”

She passes me a folder “You need to look at this”

“What is it?” I flip it open; there are endless pictures of Alex with the sa

“She’s his sister”

“Say what, now?” I have a vague recollection of Alex er sister while ere on our date

“Her na to this article”—she holds up a gossip rag—“he flew her out to a game in LA last week because it’s colder than a snowman’s balls up there in Canada”

“I had no idea”

“He called me to explain Apparently they’re close” She produces her phone and shows me Alex’s cell number

“How did he get your number?”

“Good question Maybe you should return one of his calls and find out”

I ignore the jab “What did he explain, exactly?”

“About the photos He orried He couldn’t get in touch with you and figured it ht be the reason You could have avoided all this if you’d called him or done some research”

I’es like a junkie looking for smack, but I didn’t perforht I’ve norant assumption based on personal expectations

He really is a good guy He took the tih her, which tells ifts

I check my phone to find my voice mailbox full, and I have twenty texts I fear their content The first two voice mails from Alex simply askand the reason my voice mail is full I feel awful He’s tried so hard to explain the situation and I’ve ignored him

I text hiaht, so he’s likely at practice or he doesn’t have his phone with him

Kar for the past twenty-four hours After work, I change into co of pretzels froe, and make the trek across the driveway torooame

The teams are evenly matched for skill I watch with rapt attention as Alex scores a goal andthe other team unable to recover Afterward, the sportscasters interview Alex He’s riding the high of the win; I worryprophesy