I avoided Rose the next two days. I knew I was being chickenshit, but I had a lot of thinking to do and it was hard to worry about such a major decision in my life when I was part of a team that would potentially make the playoffs this year. We would be going to Vegas in a few weeks to play the newest NHL franchise, the Blackjacks, the newest team in the Pacific Division. This meant we really needed the win to get the two points.

I understood Rose’s perspective, honestly I did, but just because I understood it didn’t mean I wanted it. The only reason I was even considering this was because I cared about her. She deserved to get something for being with me for so long. 

After morning skate, instead of taking a nap like I usually did, I grabbed Simba and decided to head out to the dog park. After the success of Huntington’s Dog Park on the Beach, Newport decided to open one on the Balboa Peninsula. I had been a couple of times before. Simba liked socializing with other dogs, but I preferred the solitude of a run. I tried to compromise but in the end, I was running more and he was socializing less.

I had no idea that going to the dog park would put me face-to-face with none other than Kira.

I saw her before she saw me, so I took advantage of that and let myself stare for longer than was strictly necessary.

Her dirty blonde hair was pulled into a high messy ponytail, with frizzy locks escaping from their confines to frame her face. Freckles, green eyes, dimples in her cheeks. She was pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way. I couldn’t compare Rose to Kira just because they were two completely different women, beautiful in their own right.

There was something about Kira though. Something alluring. Something that drew me to her even if I didn’t want to be.

She was playing with a basset hound. I would guess that the dog belonged to her, judging from the way her eyes sparkled when she played. It almost seemed as though she was as crazy about her dog as I was about Simba.

Before I knew what I was doing, my feet proceeded to lead me towards her. A voice in my head told me what a bad idea this was, and I couldn’t help but agree. Still, that didn’t stop me from continuing over to her, my footsteps heavy in the sand. The waves crashed to the shore. My heart beat in double time. My hands started to sweat. I was thirty years old and somehow was reacting like I was a teenager.

This was not good.

I watched as Kira noticed Simba first. She beamed when she saw him and knelt down to let him smell her before rubbing his head with both of her hands. He knocked her over, excited for the attention she was giving him. Instead of screeching or getting annoyed, she started laughing. Even when Simba wouldn’t let her up because he wanted her to rub him even more, kissing her face with his long, sticky tongue, she continued to laugh.

I grinned at the sight. It was nice to see someone who truly understood what it was like to love dogs.

When I finally reached her, I gently chided Simba about calming down and giving her some space. I offered her my hand, and without looking at me, she took it and pulled herself up. When she saw that it was me, she nearly lost her footing again. I chuckled. I wasn’t the sort of good looking that caused women to fall off their feet. I wasn’t incredibly tall and I didn’t have muscle. Everything else about me, I liked to think, was proportionate, fit, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately, there was no accounting for taste. She could think I was some guy who wasn’t worth looking twice at... not that I cared at all what some woman who was not Rose thought about me.

“Hi,” she got out, releasing my hand, so she could dust off her jeans.

Simba still wagged his tail with excitement.

“Hi,” I said, cocking my head to the side. “Funny running into you here.”

“I’m not stalking you, I swear,” she said and immediately turned an adorable shade of red.

Adorable. Huh.

I never thought I would use a word like adorable to describe an adult woman. Beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, Sure, but adorable? No.

Until now, it would seem.

“That actually hadn’t crossed my mind,” I told her. “Although now, maybe it should.”

Kira laughed, looking away, pushing back the stray strands of hair from her face. “Is this beautiful dog yours?” she asked.

I nodded. My cheeks pinched with how much I was smiling. Not exactly a wide, beaming smile, but a grin nonetheless. Not something I typically did. Not for a while.

“That’s Simba,” I said. “Rescued him. It was the first thing I did when I got here. He was just a little puppy, one of those that were given at Christmas and then turned into a shelter when the family realized there’s more to raising a puppy than oohing and awing over how cute it is.”

“That is so sad,” she said. “Why adopt if you can’t even take care of the puppy? Oh, stuff like that just breaks my heart.”

I nodded my head. My eyes went out to the ocean and I watched the sun shine its rays on the surface of the water. This was beautiful. Stunning. Just like Kira’s smile.

“Did you want to go for a walk?” I had no idea why I suggested such a thing. Guilt immediately filled my chest. I should take what I said back. “Simba loves walking on the shoreline and getting his paws wet.”

For a moment, Kira said nothing. Instead, she just looked at me. The gentle sea breeze picked up her hair from her face and tossed it into the wind, scattering it across her face, some of it shot behind her like gold bands of light.

In that silence, my guilt started to take hold of me even more, sinking deeper and deeper into my stomach like an anchor at sea. If our positions were reversed and this happened with Rose, some guy - a fan - asked her to take a walk at the dog park, would I want her accepting it? 

Right then was when I realized that I was fine either way. If she wanted to go, she could go. I wouldn’t be jealous.

Except I was a jealous person. I didn’t show it, but I tended to be protective of those few people I cared about.

Before i could tease out that realization, Kira nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “I would love to go for a walk.”