Hold the Forevers

“Eesh,” Josie said.

“Yeah, I mean, if he was looking for a hook-up, why spend a month talking to me about a relationship?” I shook my head. “I’ve had a few hook-ups, and those were better than the relationship bit. At least we were all honest about what we were looking for.”

“Oh, tell her about the guy in Macon.”

I sighed. “I met him in Atlanta, but he worked in Macon full-time. We went on a few dates when he was there on business.”

“Oh no,” Josie whispered. “I see where this is going.”

“I drove an hour out of town to see him in Macon, only to find out he had a wife and two kids.”

“Fuck.”

“So, that was super fun.”

“You had that one nice guy,” Marley said.

“Ah, yes, blow-job guy.”

“What?” Josie asked.

“Real-nice guy. Took me out for a fancy steak dinner. Second date, he tried to force me to give him head in a hot tub. I politely declined and never talked to him again.”

“How does this happen to you? All of these guys in such a short period of time?”

“The tip of the iceberg,” I told her, defeated. “I mean, it doesn’t include the numerous unsolicited dick pics or the random strangers who, after two texts back and forth, insist they’re going to suck my ass all night.”

Josie burst into laughter. “Stop. It’s too much! They did not.”

“Oh, let me pull up Tinder. I bet there’s some juicy ones in here.”

“They cannot all be duds.”

“They might not be,” I told her as I passed her the messenger feature of Tinder to scroll through. “But I haven’t found a good one.”

Josie scrolled through my phone. “Oh my God, is that his real dick?”

“Probably not.”

“Fuck. This guy wants to eat pussy. Oh, and then two texts later, he calls you a bitch … and a cunt.”

“I’m called a bitch or a cunt every week.”

“Jesus Christ.” Josie passed the phone back. “Plan B: move to LA. I can hook you up with all my hot film friends.”

“Oh God, no. One, I’m not leaving my job at the Falcons. I love my job. And two, I can’t handle the Hollywood personas.”

“Just give it time,” Marley said. “It doesn’t have to be either terrible Tinder dates or nothing. Someone is going to come around and knock your socks off.”

“I hope so,” I told them. “Right now, it feels hopeless.”

“Okay, you know how I feel about those boys who hurt you,” Josie said diplomatically. “But you’re in a low place. What happens if you see one of them again?”

I swallowed. “I really don’t know.”

“You need to be alone longer.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I know I do. I don’t know how it would ever work with either of them again anyway. Not after what happened.”

Josie and Marley shared a look.

“The right guy will come along,” Marley said.

“You just have to be ready when he does.”

I nodded. “I’m ready and waiting. I hope it doesn’t get much worse than this.”

Part III

35

Houston

February 5, 2017

Kristen bounced from foot to foot on the sidelines. “I can’t believe we’re at the Super Bowl. I can’t believe we’re at the Super Bowl. I can’t believe we’re at the Super Bowl!”

“You keep saying that.”

But I had the same jittery energy. The Falcons hadn’t been in the Super Bowl since 1998. This was only the second time in franchise history. And we were going to be on the field for it.

“How are you holding up?” Kristen’s boyfriend, Hong Min, asked. He was an assistant offensive line coach. He’d played ball at Oregon in college and then a year for the Seahawks before moving into coaching.

“All nerves,” she admitted.

“We’ve got this.”

A small crowd formed around them on the sidelines. It wasn’t unusual, but then I saw that there were people who weren’t even normally on the sidelines here. Our friends in PR and scouting and marketing. My throat bobbed as I saw Cole among them. Our eyes met, and he winked. I quickly looked away.

What were they all doing here? What was Cole doing here?

One thing was certain: Kristen didn’t seem to notice. Hong Min kept her occupied, so she didn’t pay attention to anything else.

Then, he dropped to his knee in front of her.

She shrieked.

My hands flew to my mouth. “Oh my God!”

Hong Min produced a black box and opened it to reveal a giant diamond ring. “Kristen Ng, will you do the honor of marrying me?”

“Yes!” she gasped, tears forming in her eyes. “Of course, yes!”

Hong Min slid the ring on her finger and then picked her up, twirling her in place. Cameras were on them, filming the proposal for their networks. And everyone cheered and swooned over the Super Bowl engagement.

I stepped forward to congratulate them at the same time as Cole. I flinched backward. I’d seen him around work in the six weeks since we’d broken up, but luckily, we didn’t have to run into each other if we didn’t want to. I mostly stayed in the training room, and with the Super Bowl fast approaching, I’d been too busy to do anything but work.