In Hayes Valley, I snag a parking spot on a side street, still chatting as we walk to the shop. “The 5K practically markets itself,” Reese adds. “The runners and the dogs are supposed to run in costume.”
“Seems like if you can’t market a dog dressed as a taco, you ought to get out of the profession,” I quip as we enter Sage, a trendy boutique. The selection is, honestly, a little overwhelming. I like to dress well when I go out with Declan, but that doesn’t mean I know brands, or names, or fashion.
I let Reese do the work, and she’s a model of decisive efficiency, taking me straight to a display of short-sleeved button-down shirts.
“Let’s check these out,” she says as a man in skinny jeans, biker boots, and a paisley shirt ambles over. He looks like he sings in a K-pop band.
The guy flashes a cheery grin, his eyes twinkling behind hipster glasses. “I’m Lane. I run the shop. Can I help you find something?”
Reese points at me. “My bestie’s looking for something sexy for his boyfriend.”
“Aren’t we all? And what do you like to see him in?”
I rub my chin, picturing Declan. “I’m shameless. My boyfriend has big guns.” I tap my own biceps. “Kind of like Hemsworth, so I like to look at his arms.” Then I knock my knuckles against my sternum. “But he also has the perfect amount of chest hair. Not too much, not too little, so I like it when he wears a shirt with a couple buttons open. And I like it tight. I want to just stare at him and be driven mad with the desire to rip it off. That’s what I like him in.”
Lane pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “And your boyfriend is officially the luckiest guy in the world.”
Chuckling softly, I say, “I think I am.”
Lane taps his chin, sorting through shirts and picking a forest-green, short-sleeve one that he holds against his chest. “Tell me about your guy. What’s his coloring like?”
“He has brown hair and dark brown eyes. His skin is just a little bit darker than mine,” I say. “More tan.”
“He’s going to look really good in this shirt, then,” he says.
“Sold,” I declare.
“My turn,” Reese says, and we help her pick a red dress that shows off her curves.
Lane picks a shirt for me, and then I buy all three items, insisting on paying the freight for Reese’s dress and grateful she lets me since I love to give gifts. I take the bag, and Reese and I head to the nearby tapas bar to grab a bite to eat. It’s the same place Declan and I met up the night we got back together. I even order the same drink—a virgin spicy margarita. Maybe it’ll help reset my mood, being someplace with so many good memories.
“Catch me up on everything you have going on,” I ask after the waitress brings us appetizers and drinks. “We’ve got taco dogs—what else is cooking at work?”
As we nibble on olives, Reese tells me about an upcoming event for young female athletes. “I feel like I’m doing exactly what I was meant to do. You know the feeling, right?”
Do I ever. “Funny, that’s what’s been weighing on me since this afternoon.” Reese has often been the easiest person for me to talk to about the hard stuff.
She stares at me curiously over the olive she just picked up. “What do you mean?”
I scratch my chin, trying to put my worries into words now that I have some distance from the game and the news. “I’ve had a good run. But my playing today was kind of so-so. Honestly, my last few games have been kind of so-so. And the news about Rosa makes me realize this could all change in the blink of an eye.”
“It all could,” she says. “But that’s the nature of sports. That’s the joy and the agony of being an athlete and a fan, isn’t it?”
I heave a sigh. “But I don’t know what I’d do if that happened. I guess, too, that it hit me how everything in my life is so good. I don’t want to do anything to mess it up. I have great friends like you, a terrific career, and I love using my platform to further causes I believe in. And I have Declan, of course.” Last listed, but unquestionably the best part of my life.
“Ah, so you’re worried that life and love are too good to be true?” Reese hits the nail on the head.
“You know me so well,” I say with a small smile, then it disappears as I flashback to earlier, when Declan and I skirted talk about the PDA thing. “Everything’s been amazing with Declan, but every now and then, I wonder.”