His expression shifts—just a flicker—but I catch it. He takes a slow breath. “Fuck. I didn’t know Teague pulled these out,” he says mostly to himself. “I was going to talk to you about it—”
“Talk to me about what?” My voice isn’t sharp, but it’s tired. “You buying land? Building a house? You relocating? Seems like we have a lot to talk about.”
“It’s not what you think.” He moves closer, his voice soft. “I don’t even know if the land is buildable yet. The contractor sent me those before he did his checks. Nothing’s set in stone.” Tyson’s voice wavers, and he takes another step like distance itself might ruin his chance. His hands lift, then fall uselessly, caught between reaching for me and not daring to.
“So… it’s just an idea?” I ask, but my throat feels tight. “Because from here it looks like you’ve got blueprints.”
“I took one meeting. And if you asked the contractor, he’ll tell you, I mentioned doing this with someone else. You,” he says quickly. “I was going to tell you, I swear. I just didn’t want to bring it up until I knew if it was even possible.”
I want to believe him. I really do. But I’m so tired—of press calls, of questions, of always holding things together. The thought of one more surprise, one more thing I didn’t see coming, makes my chest ache.
“I just wish you’d told me,” I whisper. “Even if it was nothing yet.”
“I get that,” he agrees, reaching for me. “I didn’t mean to keep you in the dark. I was trying to figure it out first, before making it a whole thing. It’s just land, Blair. No walls. No roof. Not a decision. Just… a maybe.”
Something inside me breaks a little when I think about Embers and Ashes. The new location. My current gym. How the hell would I do this if I didn’t live here? “Do you believe in me?” I ask quietly.
He looks confused. “What? Of course I do.”
“Then how could I run my gym, the one I’ve spent years building, if we’re suddenly in Michigan?”
He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. And that silence… it’s worse than an actual answer.
I look down, tracing the edge of the paper. The plans blur as my eyes fill. “Everything feels like it’s falling apart right now,” I admit quietly. “And I came here hoping this—us—would be the one thing that still made sense. Felt steady beneath my feet. But I feel like I’ve been blindsided.”
He steps forward, voice soft but firm. “Hey. Wedomake sense.”
For a moment, I want to let that be enough. But my heart is raw, and logic doesn’t feel like comfort. His words sound like he’s talking underwater. I’m overwhelmed and my brain can barely put this together after everything with the gym.
A strangled laugh sarcastically falls from my lips. “Really? Because none of this makes sense to me.”
He doesn’t move, but I feel it all the same—the ghost of being left. The absence takes a shape long before it arrives. My body remembers what my mind keeps denying. It doesn’t feel like he’s choosing me, and it’s the thought that could bring me to my knees.
The tears stream consistently down my cheeks, like the throbbing ache that’s threatening to crack open my chest.
“What do you need?” His words land soft, but they scrape raw. Like skin that never got the chance to heal right.
The air feels too thin, like I’m breathing through gauze. His words echo somewhere beneath my ribs, deceptively sharp, and I can’t tell if it’s grief or just fatigue making me tremble. “I just need a minute,” I tell him, backing away. “To breathe.”
“Blair, please—”
“Not forever,” I say, shaking my head. “Just right now.”
My feet move before my brain catches up. I focus on the sound of them—heel, toe, heel, toe—because thinking means feeling, and I can’t afford either.
“I love you. Don’t go.”
The words hit the back of my neck like heat. I close my eyes for half a second, swallowing the instinct to believe him. I’ve believed too many people who didn’t know how to keep me.
I stop, hand on the knob, but I can’t turn around. “Then just… don’t keep things like this from me,” I say, voice barely above a whisper. “No matter what.”
The door shuts between us, and the silence on the other side feels heavier than his words ever did.
Blair Miller’s Gym Vandalized Following Historic NFL Performance
ASHBURY, N.Y.—Cosmos kicker, Blair Miller, arrived at her gym, Embers and Ashes, early Tuesday morning to find the exterior vandalized.
Spray paint across the windows, smashed windows, and a damaged sign marked a targeted act that sources close to Miller describe as “personal and deliberate.”
