“My field goal got blocked,” she explained, shrugging, as she took a Sharpie from one girl and signed her team picture.
“Yeah, so what? You got a ball blocked in an NFL game! That’s badass for anyone,” another girl said, her teeth caged in braces. “That’s especially badass for a woman.”
“We started a fan club for you,” a younger girl said, giggling when Reese’s mouth dropped open. “I’m serious. Is that…are you good with that?”
“Well…yeah, sure,” she said, the ache in her stomach shifting to something warm, something that didn’t burn at all. “I mean, I guess if you want…”
“Of course we do. Hey, can we get a pic with you? We follow you on Instagram.”
“Um, sure,” she said, smiling wide, leaning toward the girls, shifting her stance as they took several different poses. She shot up peace signs and rock ‘n’ roll fingers and smiled until Gia came for her, nodding her to the locker room. By the time Reese said goodbye to her fans, her cheeks ached from smiling, and she’d completely forgotten what a bad, rainy game day this had been.
16.
REESE
HER RIBS ACHED. Her back was stretched sore, and Reese found it impossible to do anything more than lift the remote at her TV, hoping that the next channel would offer her something that didn’t annoy her. She reached Bravo, got to the show with all the rich athletes’ wives, and turned the channel.
“Why aren’t smart houses a thing?” she asked herself, glancing at her laptop five feet away from her. “I’m literally unable to…” The energy for complaining left her when the bell rang, and Reese had to roll herself off the sofa to answer the door. The hallway seemed to go on forever, and she dragged her feet along the floor as she lumbered to the door, already cursing whoever it was bothering her on a Monday night.
“It’s my day off, asshole,” she called through the door, wincing when her calves rebuked her stretching onto the balls of her feet to see who was there. She sighed, spotting Cat through the peephole, and reached for the dead bolt but kept the chain lock engaged. Her friend smiled at Reese when she eyeballed her through the crack in the door. “If you don’t have wine, I’m not…”
“Duh,” Cat said, lifting a bottle from the Spade bag on her shoulder. “It’s like you think I’m new here or something. Open the door.”
Reese grunted, her body on fire, but she still closed the door to unlock it and usher her friend inside. Cat took two steps then stopped when Reese jerked the bottle from her hand.
“Hi, Cat. How are you? Oh, me? I’m a grumpy bitch, but thanks for asking,” Cat said, mimicking an exaggerated version of Reese’s voice.
“Not grumpy,” she said, grabbing two clean glasses out of the dishwasher. “Sore as hell.”
“It could not have been that bad.”
Reese rubbed the bridge of her nose, then passed Cat a full glass. “They had me running a five-mile trail after a boot camp drill that lasted over an hour. I mean, seriously, this cannot be what high school girls do for fun.” She took a sip of wine, falling into the stool across from Cat. “Don’t teenagers drink or smoke weed or sleep with people that are not right for them?”
“You got me,” Cat said, shrugging. “I haven’t been around teenagers since I was a teenager, and based on your question, I’m gonna guess we had very different high school experiences.”
“That’s a story you don’t wanna know.” She leaned on her arm and even the small pressure on her bicep felt sore. “I didn’t work this hard at the combine or tryouts. Hell, Mills hates me and makes me do laps, but he has nothing on this boot camp guy.”
“They were trying to impress you.” Cat took a long sip of wine, waving her hand as though her assumption was correct. “You’re the first girl swimming in an all-boys pool. They wanna know what you do because they idolize you. You’re the bar they have to meet.”
Reese laughed, drinking again because the tenderness in her entire body needed numbing. The teenagers who’d contacted her on Instagram had all tagged themselves in the pictures Reese took with them at the game the week before. Since the Steamers were on a bye week, and since her parents had gone back to Durham and Cat was busy helping Gia organize a fundraiser with the boosters, Reese