Sometimes, people will leave. Those that were never meant to stay and some who surprise you with their absence. The thing about people leaving, not choosing you, is that it gets you ready for what’s coming. The people who stay. The ones who choose you, day after day, with blind confidence. People like Tyson.
Sometimes, people will show up when you least expect them. They’ll cheer you on when you think you don’t deserve it, pick you up when you can’t do it on your own. And these are the people who are truly meant for us.
Tyson continues to spin me, and for once, I stop bracing for the drop. Because maybe I was never too much. Maybe I was just waiting for someone, the right person, who could hold it all.
Thirty-Nine
Tyson
I’mstillwearingBlair’sjersey as she wraps up the work she actually needed to do at Embers & Ashes. I can’t help but smile at my reflection as I walk through the space, boasting so many mirrors to show me in my girl’s jersey.
I’m so damn proud of her.
In order to pull this whole thing off, the team showing up for Blair, I had to come clean about what some may have wondered. I’m in love with her. How it started before she joined the team. How neither of us would ever let our relationship jeopardize anything remotely close to the Cosmos’ success. I was rambling until one of my teammates stopped me, telling me they didn’t care about that, and just to get to what they needed from me. What Blair needed. Even the coaching staff—they were all in.
That’s all it took. I just had to ask. Everyone gave me a resoundingyesand I’d be lying if I wasn’t relishing in that feeling even after they left. The guys showing up for her and the way Blair reacted.
That smile. Like she was being seen. Even though I’ve been watching her for a decade.
And the stupid part—the part I can finally admit, with my whole fucking chest—is how much time I spent keeping that to myself. Like if I held everything inside, then no one could take anything from me.
I thought I was protecting us. But all I was doing was freezing myself out of my own life.
Because the second I stood toe to toe with the truth, with the woman of my dreams? It’s been everything.
Not harder. Not even all that complicated. Just hopeful.
I drift through Embers & Ashes, the space somehow even more hers now after the work has been done to eradicate the vandalism. The team’s energy still lingers in the air, laughter echoing faintly from where they helped surprise her earlier. Her jersey hangs warm on my shoulders, and every mirror reflects that fact back at me: I am hers. She is mine. We’re done pretending otherwise.
I don’t even realize where I’m going until I’m standing in front of the wall.
It takes up nearly the whole length of the back corner—strands of twinkling lights frame rows of Polaroid-style photos clipped up with tiny pink and black clothespins. Some are new from the last few months, others are older based on the dates written in permanent marker.
In every shot, someone stands smiling, flushed from a workout, holding a handwritten sign.Hit my first 200-lb deadlift.Ran a mile without stopping. 100 spin classes.
The wall has me smiling big enough that my cheeks fucking hurt. It’s accomplishment after accomplishment, all possible and strung together by a common thread: Blair.
I stand there taking it in. She didn’t just build a gym or a business—she built a place where people felt brave enough to try. Brave enough to not give up.
She showed up fully, honestly—every day. And look at what she created. Look at who she made people believe they could become.
My throat is tight as I look at all the photos, silently cheering them all on. I don’t know if she actually realizes the way she’s changing the world she lives in. It’s not only what she’s done for the members of Embers & Ashes,but showing up as the first woman in the NFL and not giving a fucking inch.
She’s one of a kind. Unfucking real. And I hope I get to spend the rest of my life helping her realize.
“Hey.” Her voice is soft and steady behind me. I turn and her eyes catch mine, like she’s been watching me longer than I knew.
She looks at the wall, then back at me. “How long have you been standing here?” she asks, grinning but curious.
“Long enough,” I say. My voice is rough, honest in a way it hasn’t always been. “Long enough to realize I don’t want to keep anything from the people who matter ever again.”
Her expression softens, something warm blooming behind her eyes. “You ready to go?” she asks.
I take a breath, letting the truth settle into my bones.
“Yeah,” I answer, stepping toward her, putting a soft kiss to her lips. “I’m ready.”
Forty
