27
Looks like you’re useful for more than eye candy
Malachi—Saturday, August 15—7:04 p.m.
“Yessir, that sounds great,” I said into the speakerphone, my calm voice and demeanor completely at odds with how I was feeling inside. “I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for calling.”
I pressed the OFF button and looked at Pierre and Carissa, the other two people in the conference room with me. Before I could fully digest it, Carissa flung herself into my arms with a shriek. “You did it, Mal! You did it!”
And that’s when it sunk in. After going through a team physical and private tryout earlier today for the Houston Stars, I was back in the NFL. “It’s just a one-year deal. I’ll be making the league minimum for veterans. But there are a bunch of performance bonuses built in and who knows . . .”
“Who cares!?” Carissa hugged me tighter. “It’s your shot. That’s all you need. You’re gonna be great.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Her enthusiasm fed mine. This was it. We’d come full circle. Once again, I was on top of the world and she was right here with me.
“Yeah, you are!” She laughed as I spun her around in a circle twice. She hopped off of me and started dancing.
“Come on!” She snapped her fingers and grinned infectiously. “You know you want to shake your ass!”
I did, I really did. I started doing a super soulful version of the Snoopy victory dance. She joined in and Pierre came around the table too.
“Let me get in here.” He pulled out his iPhone and pressed a few buttons. An old school rap song started reverberating around the room. He raised his arms up and started swaying them from side to side. “Hip hop hooray, ho, hey, ho!”
The three of us were in full jam-session mode when the doors swung open. In walked Meshach, Niecy, my mom and dad, the other contestants, and the production staff.
“I guess all this booty shaking means you got your day job back,” Henry teased. I picked him up and twirled him around too, before grabbing my mom up and swinging her into a dip. Meshach put his fist out for a bump. We tapped fists.
“Yep, looks like I’m a Houston Star again,” I announced. I reached out and tucked Carissa by my side as I accepted congratulations. I didn’t want her to slip away. She deserved to be a part of this.
Bliss came over with one of the network executives. “When are you headed to Houston?”
I glanced down at Carissa. She was looking determinedly unconcerned. “They want me to play in the home preseason opener a week from Saturday. I’ve got to get to the front office to sign papers and start working out with the team next week. I’ll probably head out tomorrow.”
“We’d like to take the show on the road for the next two weeks to close it out,” Bliss announced. “We’re going to follow you. You won’t be competing every day, but you and Carissa are so far ahead in the point totals that the outcome isn’t really a mystery at this point.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“I have to start getting ready for the school year. School starts right after Labor Day. That’s about three weeks from now,” Carissa said quietly.
“We’ve talked to the administrators and they need us off campus anyway, so they are okay if you start a little late this year.”
I could tell without even looking that Carissa was not feeling that at all. But to her credit, she just nodded and crossed her arms.
“We’re all going to Houston?” Suzette asked with a scowl on her face.
“Yes, but we’re putting you up in a rented mansion near River Oaks. No more dormitory living.”
“Seriously?” XJ asked, looking excited for the first time in weeks.
“Seriously,” Ren confirmed. “It wouldn’t be fair for Mal to be in his house while the rest of you are in dorm rooms.”
Niecy slapped me on the back. “Good going, Blue Streak. Looks like you’re useful for more than eye candy.”
“Wow. Ringing endorsement. Thanks, Niecy.” I smirked at her.
“We’re almost at the home stretch: a few more weeks and we’ll be in postproduction. As a matter of fact, we’re going to go ahead and break down the sets here, so if you all want to clear out of the dorm, you can sleep in your own beds tonight. We’ll fly down to Houston tomorrow night,” Marcy added.
“Yes!” Jordan said, pumping his fist. Everyone was sick to death of these accommodations. Finding out we were on the home stretch of this competition was celebration worthy.
“Sounds like you guys deserve a party,” Pierre said.
Again, I glanced at Carissa. She was remarkably subdued. I tapped her shoulder. “What do you think? You wanna pack up and get outta here? Just the two of us. Chat a little?”
She blinked as if surprised I suggested it. I realized that she still expected me to turn back into that self-obsessed guy who put her last and everything else first. She didn’t completely trust me yet. But I was determined to change all that. Now that everything I wanted was within reach, I wouldn’t settle for less. And that meant doing whatever it took to get my ring back on her finger and her last name changed to Knight.
Carissa looked around and then back at me. “We can talk later. Let’s hang out tonight.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
Pierre looked back and forth between the two of us and then shook his head as if he had something to say. “So it’s a party?”
“It’s a party,” I agreed. “Everyone’s invited to my place in an hour.”
“Everyone?” Bliss asked. “Cast, crew, all of us?”
We didn’t hang out with the Losing to Win folks after hours too much. They just couldn’t help being a little too interested and intrusive. But tonight was basically our last night in Belle Haven as a group; might as well do it up. “Sure, everybody’s invited.”
“But no cameras!” Carissa announced. “One night without sound bites, please.”
“Agreed,” Bliss said with a smile.
I looked around the group and realized that they all had a part in getting me back to where I wanted to be. This party would be my way of saying thank you. It was our last night together as the full cast of this season of Losing to Win. We would raise a glass and enjoy the night. Tomorrow was a brave new world for all of us. I met Carissa’s worried look as I glanced down. “It’s all going to be okay, babe. Trust me.”
“I don’t know, Mal. It’s a lot. I’m happy for you, you know that. In fact, I’m thrilled for you, but a part of me is wondering what comes next for me. Now that we’re going to Houston, I have to postpone starting my school year. It’s starting to feel like my stuff is slipping away and yours is taking center stage.”
“I promise you, it’s not going to be like that. Not this time. I’m listening to you, I hear you, and I want you to tell me if you’re getting lost in the shuffle.”
She looked into my eyes for a long charged moment. “I’m going to try.”
“That’s all I can ask.” I took a deep breath and announced, “Your dad left town this morning.”
She went still. “How do you know?”
“He came to see me while I was practicing with Coach.”
“Please tell me you didn’t give him any more money.”
“I didn’t. I wouldn’t.”
“What did he want?” She put her hands on her hips.
I rolled my eyes. “He gave a half-assed apology.”
“For what?”
“Being Blue, I guess.”
She snorted. “How’d that work out?”
“About how you’d expect. I think this was his way of giving us a heads-up that he’s probably going to sell some made-up story to the tabloids.”
“I expected that. He’s just not a good guy.” She shrugged.
No he’s not, but I am.”
She nodded slowly. “I think you might be. I guess we’ll see.”
I exhaled. It was all starting to come together. Now I needed to make it all come true.