Page 30 of Courtside

“I’m outside right now,” David replied, squinting up at the sun, noticing that it was already late afternoon.

“Walking Daisy doesn’t count.”

David sighed. “Fine. I’ve been pretty holed up between the office and home.”

“When’s the first game?”

“Five days.” David may have completely lost his sense of the passage of hours during the day, but he couldn’t escape the looming, invisible clock counting down the hours until his first game as a head coach.

“Come over for dinner later, okay?” Chuck’s tone made it very clear that it wasn’t actually a question.

David considered saying no. There were hours of practice footage left to watch, but he couldn’t say no to a friend. Especially not to Chuck. “Need me to bring anything?” He finally asked.

“Nah,” Chuck replied. “I’ve got stuff for burgers ready to go.”

Now David definitely couldn’t say no. “Alright. Gotta run to the store, but I’ll be over there after.”

They hung up, and David scooped up Daisy and carried her back to his apartment. Once he made sure that her bowl was full of water, he grabbed his keys and a water bottle from the fridge. He paused at the mirror that hung by his front door, trying for a second to fix his hair where it stuck out around his ears and down his neck. He needed a haircut, but every time he went they made him either look like a child with a bowl cut or a teenager trying too hard with some sort of fashionable fade.

How hard could it be to cut a man’s hair?

The grocery store was right across the street from his apartment, and because he was only grabbing a few things, he decided to walk. Once he was in the store, he immediately went for the basics that were sustaining him: bananas, protein bars, and frozen dinners.

He turned down the condiments aisle to grab some peanut butter when he noticed a pair of very bare, very golden,verybeautiful long legs at the other end. The woman’s back was to him, but the short jean shorts she wore left her tan and muscular thighs exposed andgoddamnitwas his mouth actually watering?

She was blonde, with a braid that ran down the middle of her back, and as he approached her he realized that she happened to be standing in front of the peanut butter.

He’d been considering dating recently. After the hiccup at the bar with another blonde, he’d been too busy and preoccupied to think about it. Maybe this was the universe telling him to live a little.

Hell, he knew how to flirt.

The wheels of his cart squeaked as he slowed down, and the woman turned to look at him.

Goddamn it.

Why did every beautiful woman in Charleston have to turn into Sage Fogerty? Obviously, the universe was fucking with him.

“Coach?”

He plastered a smile on his face and took another step toward Sage, who looked surprised to see him.

“Fancy seeing you here, neighbor,” was what came out of his mouth. He immediately winced.

Sage, to her credit, laughed, her mouth tilting up in that crooked smile as she leaned on her own shopping cart. David glanced down, noticing how many green and leafy things she had selected.

“I take it you don’t cook much?” Sage asked, and David followed her gaze to the contents of his cart, which were almost exclusively packaged in cardboard.At least there were bananas, he thought to himself.

“Yeah,” David admitted. “I can cook, but I’ve been busy.” He didn’t say that his cooking was primarily grilling chicken breasts, making instant rice, and steaming frozen broccoli. And he did make a mean fried egg, which he had almost every morning on toast. He pointed at Sage’s cart. “I honestly wouldn’t even know what to do with all of that.”

Sage looked down at her cart and shrugged. “I just like to eat good food,” she said, and once again that crooked smile tugged at her lips. “My mom’s always had a garden, so we ate a lot of veggies and made things from scratch.” She reached down, shuffling through the produce until she produced a package of bacon. “And bacon. All veggies are better with bacon.”

David couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll have to take your word for it,” he said.

“Are you okay?”

He started, confused, only then noticing that her smile had faded and she looked at him like she was concerned. “Am I okay?” he repeated, not entirely knowing how to respond.

“Yeah,” she said. There was warmth in her voice as she continued to watch him. “I asked if you were okay.”

---