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“Keep Italy in mind though,” Ricci said. “This’ll be the last time you can travel without having the little one to worry about.”
One of the assistant coaches blew her whistle, motioning us to reconvene near the center of the field for a sort of group exercise, starting with marching steps. And for this set, I was flanked by Jimenez and Kean.
“Are y’all taking turns offering advice?”
“Essentially,” Kean said gruffly.
“Fuller gave us a run down,” Jimenez added, then grumbled, “Not sure why the others got to go before the two men in relationships, but whatever.”
“Ricci is—”
“Yeah, yeah. I guess I’d be more offended if Sosa and Alvarez went before me. I don’t think they’re old enough to be offering advice.”
I tilted my head side to side, not sure if I agreed with the sentiment. Those two, plus Fuller, were the youngest on the starting lineup, but they were definitely more mature than Jimenez was giving them credit for. After Carter, Alvarez’s baby shower gift was the most practical, a diaper trash can that twisted the bag after each deposit and had a slot for an air freshener.
“But whatever, Fuller said you want to make her feel more secure. What’s that about?”
“Ah. Well among some more … private concerns, she’s also worried about all the family things I might miss out on with my career and how that would weigh on our relationship.”
“Oh yeah, that part sucks. Rosa and I have a slight advantage with that since she knew me before I became a professional and we went into the schedule together. But it’ll be rough for Leah.”
“Encouraging,” I grumbled and Jimenez reached out to smack my arm.
“All transitions are rough. You said you want her to feel secure, right? Then show her all the different ways you can show up for her. You can’t do a Saturday date night ’cause we’re at an away game? Then you do it on Thursday. Or get her surprise delivery that night. Or go to her school to join her lunch break. Can’t go to a concert she wants to see? Get tickets for her and a friend, book ’em a hotel, make an itinerary for ‘em. You’re not gonna be able to do all the ‘normal’ things the ‘normal’ way, but you can get creative and show that you’re with her in other ways.”
“Wow, that’s—that’s a really helpful way to look at it. Thank you.”
“Of course. And honestly, the girls seem to get along well, so she’s got a support group at the ready. They just need to get together for like a brunch or something without us around to solidify the friendship.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she’d like that. Or … I think she would. She didn’t like having people close before … us.” Jimenez hummed in understanding and then we both turned to Kean, expectantly.
“Right,” he huffed. “My only suggestion is to ask if Kodi. If they do some girl dinner, she might get an idea of what’ll help Leah out the most.”
“Kinda just repeated what I said, but all right,” Jimenez said with a little huff that Kean shrugged off.
“Leah might have an idea of what she wants, but can’t tell Christenson because she doesn’t want to be a burden or something. With Kodi, she won’t have that kind of guilt and can talk freely.”
“Huh. I guess that’s true with some people. Rosa will straight up tell me when she wants shit.”
“Sure, but you two have known each other for literal decades.”
“Ouch,” Jimenez hissed. “You know, sometimes I miss the days when you ignored everyone at practice.”
I let them continue their bickering and abandoned the group exercise to seek out Kodi’s help.
The Girl Dinner
Leah
Kodi: You still at work?
Especially since the charity photo shoot, Kodi and I had been texting fairly regularly. She even sent me the photos from Niall’s shoot that were a little too suggestive for a charity calendar. If I had just a smidge less shame, one of those photos would be my phone wallpaper.
That said, her text was kind of weird and out of nowhere.
Me: Why?
Kodi: * eye roll emoji * just answer the question
