Ihaveateaspoonfull of sprinkles I’m trying to shake just right for the whipped cream topping. Blair is sitting in her pajamas, which match mine, patiently waiting for her Christmas morning coffee.
It’s been a few weeks since everything happened at Embers and Ashes. You can’t tell anything was vandalized, well, except maybe the length of the waitlist to try and get gym time. Ever since the details have come out about Oscar and his treatment of Blair at the facility, support for her gym locations has vaulted into something more than a frenzy.
Some of our staff members have some loose lips—and I’m fucking proud of them. The Cosmos organization said that anonymous comments were acceptable, which they collected and gave to the reporting news outlets. I know that Zack and Benny both have comments that made it to print—and while a few of us know who it came from, every single person in that organization backs Blair.
Her memberships are sold out for a location that isn’t even open yet. She’s working on hiring staff to teach classes, because even if she can’t be the one leading them, she wants to make sure they’re done the Embers and Ashes way.
I’m in awe of her. Her determination. It seems like there are days where she has endless amounts of energy. Kicks her ass at a game or a training session and then is up late, doing anything she can fit in for Embers and Ashes’ current and upcoming locations.
I’m so fucking proud of her.
We’re a few weeks away from the post season and The Upstate Cosmos are at the top of our division. We’ve already earned the first week bye, which means a week of training while other teams fight for their championship dreams. Today, it’s just the two of us celebrating our first holiday together. It seems odd to say, because Blair has always been right there, but this time it’s different.
Tonight, my parents are flying in from Michigan, followed by Blair’s mom and brothers. Tomorrow we’ll do some brunch and city things while we celebrate the holiday together. We have a home game this week, so they’ll stay for that, and head home after.
When I think about them all together in the seats we splurged on for part of their Christmas gift, it hits me like a punch to the gut. Everyone together, to see me and Blair play on the same field? A dream I didn’t know I had.
“Ty, you’re playing a dangerous game. Keeping my caffeine from me,” her voice, cheerful and bright, says.
I smile while I get the rest of the sprinkles on the whipped cream. We’ve been making a new coffee syrup from scratch every week and this was my pick. I carry the mugs into the living room, careful not to spill, mostly because Blair views that as a cardinal sin… wasting caffeine like that.
Her lips tug up, breaking into the most contagious smile. She claps her hands in excitement and squeals, “What do we have here?” I swear, she has legit heart eyes as I set the mug down in front of her.
“Sugar cookie latte. Seemed perfect for today.”
Her hands wrap around the mug, and she breathes it in. “Oh, that smells like heaven. In a cup.”
“Heaven would be a coffee beverage for you. And cookies,” I laugh as I sit next to her.
She turns to me. “And you.”
I press a kiss to her lips. She smiles into it, and the space between us folds in on itself until there’s nothing left but her. Honestly? It’s making me fall even more in love with her. I didn’t know if it was possible to feel more than I did when I had this massive, scary, hidden love for my best friend.
I was wrong. This is better. Much better.
Loving her was always this piece of me, bigger than I ever wanted to admit. And it took risking it all to find out what I was missing. But her loving me back is like my life clicking into place. Us together? More than I ever could’ve dreamt for.
She takes a sip of the coffee, her eyes dramatically rolling back into her head. “Tyson. This is the new number one. It’s delicious.”
I taste the latte and she’s not wrong. It is a strong contender for our best one yet. “You say that every time we try a new one.”
Blair shrugs her shoulders, taking another long drink of the coffee before setting it on the table to the side of the sofa.
I follow suit and then roll out the blueprints sitting in front of us. I’ve been so excited to get these in front of Blair—especially after we figured out that the land was completely buildable.
Ever since our fight, I made a promise to myself, and to her, that I wouldn’t keep anything like this from her. Not again. I also made it a point to own up to Teague and let him know that his advice wasnotit. All jokes aside, I’m a grown man, and the accountability is mine to own. But it’s fun to poke at your big brother when he’s wrong.
This is the first time Blair and I will look at the blueprints after she told me about the house of her dreams. It wasn’t much different than I envisioned, and everything she brought up fit right in with what I thought this house would be.
For now, we’re calling it the Michigan house. We’ve not made any decisions on when or how it comes into play. Hell, maybe we’ll only stay there when we’re celebrating holidays or for vacations. There’s more thanenough time to figure that out. I plan to spend the rest of my life with Blair, wherever she takes me.
I walk her through the blueprints, showing her all the rooms. I pause, trying to let her take it in.
“This one is new?” She points to a square on the blueprint.
She’s right.
“That is your office. I want you to have a place that’s completely your own. It can be a surprise when I see it for the first time. All your own space.”
