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“All right, fine.” I sigh. “I just . . . I don’t know what to say to her or how to act around her.”

“Are you seventeen again with a crush?” he asks. “I haven’t seen you this nervous in literal years, not even when you were with the British dude.”

“Ben,” I stress, rolling my eyes. “His name is Ben, and you know that.”

“Of course I do.” Bryce smirks at me over his shoulder. “Josie and I got an invite to his wedding.”

I roll my eyes, because even though Bryce pretends to dislike him, he and my ex are friends. “Me too. Are you going?”

“It’s during the Olympics, so no. Are you planning on going?”

“Shut up.” I shove him with a laugh. “Ben realized the mistake after he sent the invite and apologized to me. Which is so crazy to me; it’s his wedding, but he wanted me to be a groomsman.”

“The crazy part is you being able to be friends with your exes, like all of them,” Bryce argues. “Who does that?”

“Step one is not being an asshole all the time,” I tease back.

Bryce and I spend the walk over to the restaurant continuing to mess around. He teases me a little more about Katrina and I take the opportunity to turn the tables and focus on his own relationship. I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to give Mr. I-Don’t-Want-Anything-Serious shit for buying a house with a woman he once kept at arm’s length. By the time we reach the restaurant, I’d forgotten Katrina was even there as I relaxed into the easy familiarity of being around my friends.

I’ve done this countless times—dinner after a meet with Bryce, Josie, and Mia. This wasn’t anything new. Until I saw the flash of blonde hair waiting outside as we approached.

My focus is soon pulled from her, as I see Josie Martin scowling at me, arms crossed in front of her chest. Bryce hadn’t been lying when he told me she was pouting.

“Josie.” I grin, ignoring Katrina and Mia in favor of wrapping one of my favorite people in a hug. Josie relaxed slightly as I came toward her with outstretched arms, and then she was crowding closer to me, returning the hug. “I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

She tilts her head to look at me. “You’ve never not said hi to us.”

“I was distracted,” I admit, hugging her tighter.

Sighing, she hugs me back just as tight before another set of arms wrap around us. Josie and I both laugh as Mia tackles us in a group hug.

“I’m here, too!” My arm moves to pull her in closer and the three of us stand there hugging for a second.

For the two years these women were out of my life made things feel a little less full. It felt like something was missing, but I didn’t understand what it was until they came back last spring. The fact we only saw each other a few times a year didn’t matter; we’d woven ourselves into each other’s lives and when things ended between Josie and Bryce, those threads were cut. I’d hated it. I’d hated not looking up in the stands and seeing them. Then Bryce retired, and the sport felt lonelier again.

Tonight was the first time in a long time I felt like things were back to normal.

Someone clears their throat behind us, and we all poke our heads out of the hug to see Katrina standing there, waving her phone in the air. “The table’s ready.”

The three of us separate from the hug while Bryce pulls open the door. Josie leads our group inside but, just as I’m about to walk through the door with Katrina trailing behind us, Bryce lets it go, sneaking in after Mia. Fighting the urge to yell at him, because I know exactly what he’s doing, I snag the door, and step back to hold it open for Katrina.

She offers me a small smile as we step inside. “Thank you.”

The other three are talking to each other as the host leads us on a winding path through the restaurant to our table. Neither of us has held eye contact with the other for longer than two seconds, but the awkward silence is starting to kill me.

Before I can break it, though, she does. “Bryce didn’t tell you I was coming this weekend, did he?”

I bite the inside of my cheek, glaring at my best friend. I shake my head. “He did not.”

“I figured based on how surprised you looked.”

“You could have told me. We just talked yesterday.”

“He told me he’d tell you!” she defends. “I had no reason not to believe him.”

When we arrive at the table, we all take our seats after some shuffling. I’m not at all surprised to see the seat Bryce bullied me into is right across from Katrina. I kick his shin under the table, hard.

“Shit,” he curses, reaching down to grab it as he glares at me. “What the hell, Carter?”