She’s still quiet, contemplative.
“I want a future with you. And I don’t know how to make that happen given our current circumstances, but it’s something we have to figure out together,” I say.
“Your mom threatened my career,” she finally speaks. “She told me if I didn’t leave you, she’d have me blacklisted. She even threatened to call Kira Kepner.”
“Seriously?” Of all the things my mom is capable of, playing hardball like that, being ruthless, has never been her forte. “That has Mark written all over it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you hadn’t signed the contract yet?”
“I don’t know … because I hadn’t made a decision yet.”
“Were you planning to sign it at all?” she asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know, Irie. I don’t know.”
“They said the deadline is today. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“You need to sign it.” She lifts her chin, looking me square in the eyes. “Regardless of what your mother said, I love you too much to let you to throw your future away just to be with me.”
“Come to Richmond. Start a life with me there.”
“My job is in Malibu.”
“I’ll take care of you,” I say.
She puffs a breath between her full lips. “I don’t want to be taken care of. And this is my dream, my passion. I didn’t go to college for four years just so I could do nothing.”
“Then get a job in Richmond. Hell, I’ll front you the money to start your own design firm.”
“It’s not the same.”
Reaching for her, I untangle her folded arms and pull her nearer. “I don’t understand. I’m offering you the world, I’m giving us options, and you’re refusing to so much as consider any of it.”
She bites at her trembling lip, glancing away.
“I have to sign that contract, Irie,” I say, exhaling. “At the end of the day, I know it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I know I’ve worked for this my entire life. And you’re right, somewhere, deep down, I fucking love the game. I was born to play, even if I’ve been feeling burnt out the last several years. But I also know that you’re a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There’s never going to be another you in my life, another us. So I’m asking you, one last time, to come with me. Let’s build the best life together, you and me against the world. I’ll give you that home you’ve always wanted, that stability and meaning you were talking about the other night.”
She swipes at a tear that falls down her rosy soft cheek.
“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything in the world,” I say.
“And yet you barely know me.”
“I know enough,” I say. “And imagine how much more I’m going to love you when I get to know the rest of you.” I manage to get the tiniest smile from her lips. “Please, Irie. I don’t want to take Malibu away from you, but I can’t walk away from this contract. And it’s not because I want to be some rich, famous athlete. I keep thinking about what you said that night in Iron Cross … about me being someone’s hero someday. And I keep thinking about all the good I could do with that. Things that would make you proud. But I want to do those things with you by my side. You make me a better person. You bring out the best in me. I can’t be that guy if I don’t have you.”
“Sure you can.”
“My entire life, I was told to be a good ball player. You’re the only person who’s ever pushed me to be a good human being.”
Irie pulls in a long, slow breath, staring deep into my eyes. “And what if it doesn’t work out? What if I give up Malibu, move to Richmond, and by the end of the year we’re sick of each other and you’re sitting on the top of the world and I’m jobless and homeless and—”
“—Irie, Irie,” I take her hands in mine. “Stop thinking about everything that could go wrong and start thinking about all the ways it’s going to go right for us.”
“You paint the most beautiful pictures with your words, Talon,” she says. “And while I want all that, while it all sounds amazing … you have to understand what a risk that would be for me. If this doesn’t work, I have nothing. I have no one. You have a family, you come from money, you have a safety net that I don’t have.”
“Everything is a risk. You moving to Malibu is a risk. There’s no guarantee that’s going to work out either.”
“You can’t compare a job offer to a relationship …”
“I didn’t wait almost four years to finally have you, just to let you go. If I didn’t care about you, I would’ve screwed you and walked away. I wouldn’t be asking you to move to Virginia with me, to start a life together.”