course, didn’t seem to understand that I hoped to have a really long career. And with her already being in her seventies, if she wanted to get to know any great-grand babies I might provide for her, she would have to be the one to move closer.
Though, of course, that meant I’d need to settle down with a woman first to even have said grand babies.
“Do you want me to introduce you?” Hannah asked, breaking me from my train of thought.
“Um,” I said, contemplating whether I was really ready for Arianna to watch me make my first attempt at our plan.
“Come on.” Arianna tugged on my arm. “Let’s do this thing.”
And before I could think up a reason to put it off until later, I was being pulled closer to the corner where the women were chatting.
11
Arianna
“How is it possible for a guy who looks like that, and does what he does on the football field, to need a dating coach in order to get a girlfriend?” Hannah asked as we watched Cole introduce himself to her friend Mallory.
“I have no idea,” I said after taking a bite of my chocolate-dipped strawberry. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for years. But aside from him claiming to be too busy to date, I kind of think he just hasn’t ever really cared about it.”
“He does like women though, right?” Hannah arched a blonde eyebrow. “Because I maybe not be as close to the NFL players as you are, but I’ve seen enough of them at the clubs to know that they can make time for dating if they want.”
“You think he’s gay?” My jaw dropped. “No way.”
Hannah pursed her lips. “Either that, or he just doesn’t try to date because he likes someone who’s already spoken for.”
“Well, he’s not gay,” I said. “Believe me, I would know.”
At least, I was pretty sure I would know something like that about my best friend.
“I don’t know…” Hannah seemed to study Cole for a moment, as if a person’s sexuality was something you could just see. “He does have amazing fashion sense.”
“Thanks to me.” I sipped on my wine. “You should have seen what he used to wear before I convinced him to let me be his personal stylist.”
“Okaaay.” Hannah drew out the word like she still wasn’t convinced. “But then there’s his amazing house. No heterosexual guy would know how to decorate a house like that on his own.”
“You know that’s just a stereotype, right?” I said. “Just because a guy has a nicely decorated home doesn’t mean he’s gay.”
“But it doesn’t mean he’s not.”
“Well, in his case it doesn’t mean anything, since I helped him with that, too.”
Cole had bought his six-thousand-square-foot home last year, and since he knew how much I’d always dreamed of having a house like his to decorate someday, he’d let me take over the interior design.
Sure, he’d had some say in his preferences—a sleek and modern design—but I’d done most everything else since he’d moved in during the middle of the football season and didn’t have the extra time to pick out the furniture and decor himself.
Those few months I spent decorating the home of my dreams had been some of the best months of my life. And every time I walked into his house, it always felt like it was partly mine, too.
Yet another reason why he couldn’t trade teams. I loved that his house was my safe haven from the world when I needed it.
“Well, if he’s not gay,” Hannah said, shrugging her slender shoulders over her gay theory being debunked. “Then I guess that just leaves us with the theory that he hasn’t ever wanted to date because he’s had a crush on someone he can’t have.”
“Or he’s simply been focused on being the best on the field for the past several years and is only making time for a relationship now.” Because if he had crushed on someone, I would know. We didn’t keep secrets from each other.
Well, for the most part, that is.
Not even Cole got to hear about all the things that had happened in my past. Some things were better left buried in my memories.
I nibbled on a carrot stick as I watched Cole chat with Mallory. His posture had relaxed since they’d first started their conversation and he was even smiling, too.
Maybe this dating-coach thing would be easier than I thought. Maybe all it took was a fresh haircut and a little nudge in the right direction for