Chapter 29
Nia
Another month later.
Christmas had come and gone in a blur of family dinners, forced smiles, matching pajamas, and pretending I was fine when I was anything but.
I had spent the holiday with my family, letting my cousins tease me, letting my aunties pile food onto my plate, and letting my mama’s side of the family keep me busy enough that I didn’t have to sit too long with my own thoughts.
But every quiet moment found me anyway.
David’s face.
Cal’s voice.
The way that hotel door closed.
The way my heart had felt like it was being pulled in two different directions by people who had both mattered to me in completely different ways.
I hadn’t heard from David.
Not one call.
Not one text.
Not even a dry, polite holiday message.
And honestly, I didn’t blame him.
I had hurt him.
Maybe not intentionally, but I had.
That was the part that kept sitting heavy on my chest.
Because David had never been cruel to me.
He had never tried to embarrass me or make me feel small.
He had been patient, thoughtful, and safe in a way I thought I needed.
And then he showed up at my hotel door and saw me standing there with the man I had spent half my life trying not to love.
I pushed my fork around the salad in front of me, barely tasting anything.
Across from me, Mars watched me over the rim of her glass.
We were sitting at a small lunch spot near the bridal boutique, the kind of place she loved because the lighting was good, the food was overpriced, and everything looked pretty enough to take a picture of before eating.
Her wedding was in a few days.
Everything around her should have felt exciting.
The final dress fitting was done.
The seating chart was almost finished.
Jalen had been banned from asking any more questions because apparently every inquiry he made caused Mars to want to change something.
She looked incredible—radiant, happy, and fully at peace.
It was the exact kind of glow I wanted so badly for her, because I remembered how hard she had fought to get here.
And still, while she talked about flowers, candles, and a last-minute issue with one of the bridesmaid dresses, I could tell she was watching me.
Really watching me.
“Nia,” she said finally.
I looked up.
“What?”
She tilted her head, her brows pulling together.
“Have you talked to Cal?”
My fork froze against the plate.
I looked down again, trying to force my features into something normal.
“No.”
Mars went quiet.
Too quiet.
I glanced back up at her.
“What?”
She pressed her lips together, then looked away.
“Mars.”
“Um...”
She cleared her throat and shifted in her seat.
“I don’t know if I should say anything.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then you definitely need to say it.”
She let out a slow breath.
“Cal got a deal.”
I blinked.
“What kind of deal?”
“A big one.”
Something in my chest moved before I could stop it.
Cal had been working so hard for this.
Years of building his podcast from nothing.
Years of people acting like he was just funny commentary and hot takes until they realized he actually knew the game better than half the analysts sitting behind those glossy desks.
“That’s great,” I said, and I meant it.
I hated how much I meant it.
Mars nodded, but her face didn’t soften.
“He got an offer to join Grant Mitchell’s panel.”
My eyes widened.
“Grant Mitchell?”
“Yeah.”
“The Grant Mitchell?”
Mars nodded again.
“The number one sports broadcast panel in the country.”
I sat back slowly.
That was bigger than big.
Grant Mitchell didn’t just put people on television; he made them household names.
His show was where former players, retired coaches, and the most respected voices in sports went when they wanted their opinions to matter.
And Cal had been invited into that room.
Cal.
My Cal.
My throat tightened.
“That’s amazing,” I said softly.
“It is.”
Mars kept staring at me.
I frowned.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
She looked down at her water glass, dragging her nail along the side of it.
“It’s in Los Angeles.”
Everything inside me dropped.
For a second, I didn’t hear the restaurant anymore—not the clinking plates, not the soft music, not the woman laughing somewhere behind me.
Nothing.
Just those three words.
In Los Angeles.
I swallowed, but my throat felt dry.
“Los Angeles,” I repeated.
Mars nodded carefully.
“Yeah.”
I looked out the window, needing somewhere else to put my eyes.
Cal was leaving Houston.
The thought hit me so hard I almost laughed, because why did it feel like that?
Why did it feel like someone had reached into my chest and ripped something out?
I was still mad at him.
I had every right to be mad at him.
What he did at that hotel was wrong.
He had no right to throw my business in David’s face like that.
No right to use something private, something painful, as a weapon just because his pride got bruised.
But the thought of him not being here?
The thought of Houston existing without him somewhere in it?
It hurt.
And I hated that it hurt.
I hated that my first thought was of all the places I might not randomly see him anymore.
No more running into him at Mars and Jalen’s house.
No more hearing his laugh from another room before I even saw his face.
No more him popping up at games, at family cookouts, at the same restaurants, at the same corners of the city that had somehow always belonged to both of us.
I traveled all the time for work, so maybe it wouldn’t even make a difference.
Maybe I was being dramatic.
But Houston was home.
And Cal had always been woven into home.
Mars studied me quietly.
“Nia.”
I blinked fast.
“What?”
“You look like I just told you somebody died.”
I forced a laugh, but it came out wrong.
“I’m happy for him.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t.”
“I am.”
“I know.”
I picked up my fork again, then put it right back down.
Mars leaned closer.
“But?”
I shook my head.
“There’s no but.”
“Nia.”
I looked at her.
She gave me that look—the one that had always made it impossible to lie to her.
The one that said she already knew half the truth and was waiting for me to love her enough to give her the rest.
I exhaled slowly.
“I’m just surprised.”
“No, you’re not.”
My lips parted, but nothing came out.
Mars sat back in her chair, her face softening.
“Do you remember when that tabloid came out with Jalen and that woman who set him up?”
I looked away.
“Mars.”
“No, seriously.
Do you remember?”
“Of course I remember.”
“You were the one who told me to hear him out,” Mars said gently.
“You were the one who told me not to let pride make a decision my heart would have to live with.”
“That was different,” I sighed.
“How?”
“Because Jalen didn’t embarrass you in front of someone else.”
“No,” Mars countered softly.
“But he still hurt me.
And I still had to decide if the hurt was bigger than the love.”
Her words landed somewhere deep.
I looked down at my hands.
Mars lowered her voice even further.
“So what’s stopping you from reaching out to Cal?”
The question sat between us—heavy, sharp, and entirely too honest.
I had told Mars almost everything my entire life.
The stupid stuff, the messy stuff, the embarrassing stuff.
But this?
I had kept this from her.
Not because I didn’t trust her, but because saying it out loud made it real.
And maybe because part of me knew once I told her everything, she would see straight through all the excuses I had been hiding behind.
I let out a shaky breath and looked at her.
“There’s a lot I haven’t told you.”
Mars’s face changed instantly.
She didn’t interrupt; she just reached across the table and put her hand over mine.
So I told her.
Everything.
I told her about the night Cal came to my house and saw David kiss me.
I told her about how jealous he got, how angry he looked, how he acted like he had a right to me when he had never fully claimed me.
I told her about J5’s return game.
About the adrenaline.
About the tension.
About the way Cal looked at me afterward like he couldn’t stand one more second of pretending.
I told her about him coming to my room, about the kiss, and about the way years of almosts and what-ifs exploded between us until there was no space left for denial.
I did not give her every detail, because she was still his sister, and I still had some sense.
But I told her enough.
Enough for her eyes to widen.
Enough for her mouth to drop open in complete shock.
How he told me he was in desperate need of me in his life.
How he said he would spend his life figuring out how to be what I needed.
Mars’s eyes started to gloss over at that part, but she stayed quiet.
Then I told her about David showing up at my hotel door.
About the hurt on his face.
About how he blamed himself for not asking me to be his woman before Thanksgiving.
About how he said he didn’t know I needed a fling.
And then I told her what Cal said.
Mars’s whole face fell.
“Oh, Cal,” she whispered.
I nodded, tears burning my eyes.
“Yeah.”
Mars sat there for a few seconds, completely silent.
Processing.
Trying to put all the pieces together.
Then she looked at me, and her voice was softer than I expected.
“Oh, Nia.”
That was all it took.
My chest cracked.
I looked away quickly, blinking hard because I refused to cry in the middle of this restaurant three days before my best friend’s wedding.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Nia.”
“I really don’t know.” My voice shook despite my best effort to keep it steady.
“I think I was embarrassed. I think I felt guilty. I think I was mad at Cal and hurt for David and confused about myself all at the same time. And I didn’t know how to say any of that without sounding like a horrible person. ”
“You are not a horrible person.”
“I hurt him, Mars.”
“I know.”
“David didn’t deserve that.”
“No, he didn’t.”
A tear slipped before I could stop it.
“And Cal had no right to do that. He had no right to throw something private in his face like that. He didn’t even think about how that would make me feel. He just reacted. He got jealous and territorial and mean.”
Mars nodded slowly. “You’re right.”
I looked at her, surprised.
She squeezed my hand. “He was wrong. I love my brother, but he was wrong.”