“I find that hard to believe.” Bernard shook his head. “You’ve had a problem with every house I’ve shown you. One house is too sunny, the other has too many trees. You want to be within city limits, but none of the lots are big enough for you. Three bedrooms feels too big, but two bedrooms feels too small. I don’t think you know what you want.”
Silas knew what he wanted. He wanted a future with Miriam and a house that they could one day enjoy together. With the possibility of a relationship with her slipping away, every house he looked at didn’t feel right.
“I think I might need some more time to look online.”
“You think?”
Silas reached out to shake Bernard’s hand. The agent took it reluctantly. “Thank you so much for meeting with me today. I’ll spend some more time figuring out what I want and then get back to you.”
Bernard mumbled something that sounded a lot like “or don’t,” under his breath. He then ushered Silas out of the house, locked up, and drove off without another word.
Silas sat down on the stoop out front. He hadn’t walked through the entire house, but this one had been one of his favorites when he looked online. It was in a quiet neighborhood, while still being close to everything. It was zoned for a great school and had room for a family.
A family.
He and Miriam had never really discussed it when they were dating, but now he realized he not only wanted to be with Miriam. He wanted everything with her. He wanted marriage, kids, and the white picket fence.
Though two giant oaks that kept the house cool in the summer might be just as good.
Miriam
Miriam was really surprised when Silas didn’t call her when he got back to Florida.
Or show up to that week’s player meet and greet.
Or even come by the office with some kind of excuse to see her.
She’d finally realized that she wanted Silas. It felt like a cruel joke that he was completely disinterested now that she was willing to give him a chance. Was she just a shiny toy that he’d grown bored of once again?
It would have been nice of Silas to let her know.
That way she could have avoided the awkward I-don’t-want-to-date-you conversation with Harris. She’d been under the impression that Silas wanted her, and that time was of the essence. So she’d laid everything out on the table all at once for Harris, crushing him in the process.
It had been awful. There were actual tears.
If she’d been able to take her time, Miriam would have slowly dropped hints about wanting to keep things friendly and platonic until Harris realized on his own that nothing was ever going to happen between the two of them.
It might have still hurt, but it wouldn’t have made him cry—at least not in public.
Now, things were more than slightly uncomfortable at work.
Harris had been giving her the cold shoulder all week. He was slamming papers on her desk when he needed to give them to her, making her look bad by not telling her about missed calls, and had a terrible attitude in general. Miriam was shocked that Greg hadn’t fired her on the spot.
It was possible he wasn’t aware of the drama with the winning streak the Storm was having. The Comeback was happening just like they’d hoped it would, and he was busy reaching out to various news outlets trying to get coverage of the team’s rise to the top of the Eastern Conference.
Miriam wished she could get caught up in the excitement of the team, but between Harris and Silas, it was getting harder and harder to go in to work at all. She dreaded going in, even for the sake of the team. Her beloved Storm didn’t feel like enough anymore.
Miriam didn’t know what to do, though she knew what Allie would say: Go get another job that brings you joy. Life’s too short to be unhappy forty hours a week.
Maybe her best friend was right.
Just the thought brought a wave of guilt, but it also brought curiosity.
Miriam looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was near her office. When she made sure the coast was clear, she pulled up a job posting site. Her heart pounded as she typed ‘Waterfront, Florida’ into the search bar. Hundreds of listings popped up—medical jobs, nannying, warehouse work.
None of it sounded appealing.
She cleared the search location and typed ‘soccer jobs’ into the search bar. Miriam expected the search results to turn up empty. She shot up in her seat when an entry level marketing position with MLS appeared on the screen. It was in South Carolina—far, far away from Silas and Harris. While the starting pay wasn’t listed, the duties were. She quickly skimmed the post. It was a lot of the same stuff she’d done for the Storm only with a different name.
Miriam leaned back in her seat as she continued to stare at the screen. She didn’t think she wanted to move to South Carolina. The winters would be much colder up there, and she wouldn’t know anyone. But she’d get to work for a new team without the added stress of stupid romantic entanglements.
The longer she looked at the listing, the more Miriam wanted to see what would happen if she applied. She haphazardly typed up a resumé and hit send before she could think twice about it. It was silly to think that anything would ever come of it. Miriam wasn’t sure she was even qualified.
But what if she was qualified?
Focusing on work was impossible after she hit send on her resumé. She looked at the time on her computer. It was almost eleven. She could take an early lunch and go exercise for a bit. She hoped that burning some calories and a change of scenery might help her to focus on her tasks for the day.
She turned the screen off, left
