Free Wait for the Rain by Maria Murnane

shouldn’t. Didn’t you hear what Harry and Eleanor said to us? To them, we’re the youngsters. Just because I can’t run as fast as I did when I was in college doesn’t mean I’m old . It doesn’t mean I can’t still play soccer and have fun.”
    “Harry and Eleanor seem to have made quite an impression on you,” Skylar said.
    KC nodded. “They seem like good people.”
    Daphne nodded too. “Supersweet. A little, um, feistier than I expected for people their age, but they have a warm aura about them.”
    “Oh, now I want to meet them,” Skylar said. “I like me some feisty.”
    KC pulled one foot behind her and moved into the hurdler’s stretch. “Trust me,you guys, as a woman who is married to an older man, I know from personal experience that age is just a number. It means nothing unless you let it mean something. It’s all in how you think.”
    “You should say that in a Yoda voice,” Daphne said. She remembered how Clay said he wasn’t even thirty yet. What would he think of this conversation? Was KC just kidding herself into believing forty wasn’t over the hill? Then again, KC had never looked healthier, or happier , than she did right now. Maybe she was onto something. Daphne leaned over again and gently nudged KC with her foot. “Speaking of age, are your stepsons in their twenties now?”
    KC lifted her head and smiled. “One is! Isn’t that nuts? Josh is nineteen and a sophomore at UCLA, and Jared is twenty-two and living with his girlfriend in a cute little bungalow in Santa Monica. Can you believe I have a stepson old enough to be living with his girlfriend in a cute little bungalow in Santa Monica?”
    Skylar held up a hand. “Please change the subject immediately. This conversation is too horrifying to continue without more alcohol in my system.”
    KC grinned, then stretched both legs in front of her and leaned forward to grab her toes. “Okay, fine, we’ll go back to soccer. It’s a fantastic workout, but it’s also supersocial, especially the coed leagues. Going out for beers after the game is practically mandatory. Max and I love it.”
    “I love going out for beers,” Skylar said. “Maybe I should find a league that just does that. No actual exercise, just socializing and drinking.”
    Finally done with her stretching, KC jumped up and put a hand on Skylar’s shoulder. “I think they call that going to a bar .”
    “Semantics,” Skylar said. “But a league like that would be a better investment than my gym membership, which I barely use.”
    “You and Max met through a soccer league, right?” Daphne asked KC.
    KC nodded. “Another perk of the coed system. I found myself a husband, and I wasn’t even looking for one.”
    “I wish I were athletic,” Skylar said.
    Daphne looked at Skylar. “You mean so you could meet your husband that way too? I thought you didn’t want to get married.”
    “I don’t. But what’s not to like about coed recreation? Sweaty, athletic men in shorts? Count me in.”
    “I can’t imagine playing soccer with men,” Daphne said. “Do people get hurt a lot?”
    KC opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of water. “The men in our league are pretty chill. Once in a while some Rambo type will go in crazy hard for a tackle, but those types don’t usually stick around too long because they get the evil eye from everyone. Most of the people I play with go out of their way not to hurt anyone. Everyone knows we all have to go to work the next day.”
    “Well, it sure keeps you looking great, that’s for sure.” Skylar looked at her own upper arm, then gave it a squeeze. “I keep telling myself I need to work out more, but the truth is I hate exercising too much to do anything about it. After a long day at the office, if I’m actually home and not on an airplane or at a work dinner or a client event or on a date, I’m like, why go to the gym when I can stay right here on my supercomfy couch and drink wine?”
    KC laughed.