Joel walked out wearing shorts that showed his scraped up legs, a red t-shirt molded to his chest, and his bag slung over his shoulder. I wanted to thread my fingers through his wet hair. He gave me a relieved smile when he saw me waiting outside the locker room.He planted his arms against the wall behind me, caging me in. “Thanks for waiting.” His head dipped and he kissed me with an intensity that had my pulse soaring.“Get a room,” was shouted from one of his teammates and the others laughed.I blushed, but Joel didn’t look their way or acknowledge them at all. “We’ll be drinking heavily tonight. Are you ready?”“Ready?”“You didn’t stick around last week. I want you with me tonight. I just need to warn you that it gets rowdy.”“I can handle rowdy.” His teammates forgotten, I went up on my toes and kissed him.We walked to the bus hand in hand with a few other players joining us. Before the bus took off, cold beer cans from a cooler in the back were tossed to all the players. Joel

My heart thudded against my chest until I thought it would burst. Then I reminded myself a broken heart couldn’t suffer additional damage. Ted was unlucky enough to be the first person I saw when I walked onto the second floor.“Cami.” He sounded surprised. His eyes slowly scrutinized my body from head to toe and returned to my chest. “We weren’t expecting you back for another week or so.” From his expression, he wanted to bury his face between my boobs.“Are you speaking to me or my breasts?” You would think his head would snap up, but he just continued looking at my chest for at least another minute.His voice went hoarse. “Cami, I missed you.”“Since you had the balls to tell everyone we were sleeping together, I’m sure you did. Since I know that’s a lie, I can truthfully admit I didn’t miss you at all.” His face went red, which only gave me additional courage. “Please refrain from retrieving my personal phone number from HR as you threatened in your email. I would hate to have som

Miller called me into his office on Wednesday.“Charles Woodrow from The Colt Sentinel has requested to run your series in his local paper. We have a set price for requests like this and you’ll receive compensation too. I wanted to let you know before you left for the championship.”My plane flew out on Friday morning. I took a cab to the hotel, ordered room service, and took a nap after I ate. An hour later, I gave up the nap idea. I had a particularly boring file playing on my recorder when someone knocked at my hotel room door. I looked out the peephole and Van stood there. What the hell? I wasn’t sure I could handle Van, but I knew I needed to face him. New Cami didn’t run from her problems.He was lifting his hand to knock again when I opened the door. His bad-boy grin flashed. “I didn’t think you would answer.”He looked so good because he looked so much like Joel. Added to the effect was his tight t-shirt and mussed hair. But no scar for me to tenderly run my fingers over. I cr

By Monday, I was pissed off. Joel hadn’t wanted to listen to me. He wasn’t worth the shit feelings I was carrying around. Lunch with my girlfriends was out of the question. I couldn’t speak about what happened over the weekend. Van was sending me text messages left and right. I didn’t read them past the first line that showed up on my phone. Delete was my friend. Stub’s message was quick and to the point.Stub: Just tell me which brother to killI didn’t reply. I couldn’t. She didn’t contact me again. I walked to a corner café on Monday and buried my face in a book. Tuesday, I wore an old uncomfortable sports bra and my loose clothes that made me look dumpy. Trett and JJ tried to get me to open up, but I politely told them I was fine.Fine, that was me. Modest, non-sexy, fine Cami. I could live with it.I was at my desk on Friday, finishing a piece on the need for donors at the local blood bank when I heard a noise behind me. I turned and Charlie stood at the door to my office.Charli

The next two weeks were a whirlwind. The Journal agreed I could finish my work and take my last week as vacation. Joel flew in to help me pack. I met his father, who I ended up liking more than I thought I would. The next day, we drove Carmen, my old faithful car, on a long grueling drive across the state to my parents’ house so they could meet Joel. I introduced him as my boyfriend because he hadn’t proposed yet. My mom whispered to me the following morning that Joel asked my father for my hand in marriage. So old-fashioned and so perfect for my father. They loved him. Joel slept in the guest room and never snuck into my bedroom, which drove me crazy, though I admired his respect for my parents. I left Carmen, behind at their house because Joel insisted I would be driving something reliable into town each day when I went to work. My father drove us to the airport. My mother wouldn’t come because she said she would do nothing but cry the entire way there and back. Saying goodbye was h