“Oh my God I was just thinking about you the other day! I miss you!What’sup?”
“I miss you too,” she said sincerely before getting to the real reason for the phone call - “Hey soI’mworking for the New York Times now and -”
“Yes,Iheard! That is so cool! Is it everything you always hoped it would be?”
“Yeah,it’s pretty great,” Tessa said with a laugh, “They’re offering me this reallyprestigiousassignment that I’m kind ofnervous about and um...well, they want me tocover a story on the Titans...”
“No way!” Brinley screamed enthusiastically. “Tessa my husband is the quarterback -”
“I know,” she said with a laugh, “That’s why I’m calling you girl.”
“Waitso are you going to come to a game and interview Phillip? You rememberPhillip,right?”
“Of course I do,” she said with another laugh. They had only met once or twice during their senioryear,but she remembered him well. “Sothat’sthe kicker. They want the team to be like, followed throughout the whole season.So,I wouldbe following them and interviewing themand writing a whole series on them forhowever many months the season is, hoping it ends with a Super Bowl game.”
“Wait that’s like, 5 or 6 months. Are you going to move here?”
“That’s the part I’m struggling with,” Tessa said, knowing it was a big fat lie. Her biggest struggle was a completely different issue, or more specifically - person, that Brinley knew nothing about, and that Tessa had no intention of telling her.
“Oh, girl come on! I promise it’s way more fun here than you’d think! And you have me! I’ll show you around and make sure you feel comfortable. And hey who knows, maybe you’ll end up liking one of the players,” she said with a laugh.
Tessa felt her heart sink.
And therein was the big issue with this whole thing.
Tristan Kelly.
Tessa and Tristan had known each other briefly in college during theirsophomoreyears atVanderbilt University in Nashville. What happened between them in thequicktime their lives had crashed into each other was nothing short of intense and life changing. There wasn’t a day that had gone by that shedidn’tthink about him at least once. But theway thingsendedbetween them was volatile and unresolved. Theyhadn’tspokenin10years,and it made Tessa sick to her stomach to think about standing in front of him and having to interview him as if their extremely tumultuous and complicated lover affair never happened.
Would it be awkward? Would he refuse to speak to her? Would she even beableto speak in front of him?
Her head was suddenly swirling with question afterquestion,and she felt like the ground beneath her was disappearing.
“Tessa, it will be great,” Brinley said, bringing her attention back to reality.
“Yeah, okay,” Tessa breathed heavily into the phone, “Thanks Brin. I knew it would make me feel better to call you.”
After catching up for a few more minutes Tessa hung up the phone and tumbled back against her bed. Her body felt heavy, her eyes stung with tears. What were the chances any of this could be happening? Out ofall the invisible strings that could have led her back to someone or something, why did it have to be him?
CHAPTER 1
10 Years Ago
It was a brutally hot Tennessee day, which Tristan was never a fan of. He ran hot naturally and always preferred to play football in the winter months, but for the time being he would have to suffer through practice in humid90-degreetemperatures.
He was already feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable from a longpractice butsitting in his coach’s office getting berated about his grades waswayworse,and he suddenly wished hewasback on the football field running drills until he passed out.
“Kelly, you’re failing English.”
Tristan hung his head in shame. Itwasn’tthat hewasn’ttrying...wellnot really. He was like, 75% trying, but also was just never great at English as a subject. Anything involving too much reading or writing gave him a headache. He was always so full of energythat sitting still and reading some fiction novels from the early 1900s was like torture.
“I’ll bring my grades up coach, I promise.”
“That’s what you said lastyear,and you barely passed,” Coach Adams said shaking his head. “And if you continue to fail you know you can’t play.”
“Coach please, I will fix the grade, pleasedon’tkick me off the team.”
“I have no intention of doing that.You’reone of my best players and we all know Ican’tafford to lose you.So,there’sa few things that will need to change.”
