Chapter 191: In This Together
Marcus POV
The facility had emptied by the time Marcus finished changing. A few lockers stood open. Towels lay scattered across the benches. The noise that usually filled the room had faded into the distant sounds of staff cleaning the court.
Marcus sat with his elbows resting on his knees, staring at the floor. The season was moving exactly the way he had hoped. His minutes had increased.
The coaches trusted him with bigger responsibilities. His teammates looked for him when the game got difficult.Yet none of that was keeping his attention tonight.
His phone lit up beside him. A message from Simone: Can you meet me after work? Somewhere quiet.
Marcus read it twice: Sure. Where?
She sent an address for a small park near the river. A smile touched his face. He didn't know why she wanted to meet him there, but he knew he wanted to see her.
Kevin walked past the locker room entrance and stopped.“You planning to sleep here?”
Marcus looked up.“Almost done.”
Kevin glanced at the phone in his hand.
“Basketball?”
“No.”
A grin spread across the veteran's face.
“Then I know exactly what's keeping you here.”
Marcus shook his head as he stood.“Go home.”
“That's what I was trying to tell you.”
Marcus grabbed his bag and walked out before Kevin could say anything else. The drive to the park took less than twenty minutes, but his thoughts kept circling back to Simone.
Their conversation at dinner had changed something between them. Marriage was no longer an idea they avoided. They had spoken about it openly. They had admitted what they wanted.
Still, Marcus hadn't expected a message asking him to meet her somewhere quiet.
Simone sat on a bench near the river when he arrived.
Her coat was pulled close around her body, and her eyes followed the water moving beneath the evening light. Marcus walked over and sat beside her.
“Hey.”
She turned toward him.“Hey.”
For a moment, neither spoke.Then Simone looked toward the hospital across the river.
“I got the position because I wanted something that belonged to me.”
Marcus listened.
“I love what you've built here. I love watching you play. But I didn't want my whole life to become your career.”
“You didn't.”
“I know.” She smiled.“That doesn't mean I wasn't afraid of it.”
Marcus reached for her hand.“You never followed me.”
“I know that now.” Her fingers closed around his.“When I came here, everything felt temporary. Your career was changing. My work was changing. We didn't know what Philadelphia would become for us.”
“And now?”
She looked around the park.“Now it feels like home.”
Marcus felt something settle inside him.
He had spent years measuring his life by what he could recover. His career. His reputation. His place in the league.
Simone had built something beside him without ever asking him to carry her. She had found her own work. Her own purpose. Her own place in the city.
That mattered to him more than he could explain.“I've been thinking about the future too,” Marcus admitted.
Simone turned toward him.“What do you see?”
He looked across the river before answering.“Basketball is part of it.”
She smiled.“Of course it is.”
“But it isn't everything anymore.”
Her expression softened. Marcus rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand.
“I used to think getting back into the league would fix everything. Then I got here and realized I was still looking for something.”
“What?”
He looked at her.“You.”
Simone's eyes held his.
“I don't mean I need you to make my life complete. That's not what I'm saying.”
“I know.”
“I mean I want you in it. Whatever happens with basketball. Whatever happens with your career. I want a home with you. I want mornings with you. I want the boring stuff too.”
A laugh escaped her.“The boring stuff?”
“Especially that.”
She leaned against his shoulder.“What about children?”
The question made him pause.“A family,” he answered. “If that's what we both want.”
“It is.”
The answer came without hesitation. Marcus looked down at their joined hands.
The future no longer felt like something waiting for him at the end of another achievement. He could picture it now. A home.
Simone coming through the door after work. His shoes by the entrance. Her books on the kitchen counter. Maybe children running through the house one day.
Nothing depended on a scoreboard.
Nothing depended on whether he could hold up. He turned toward her.“Can you see yourself building that life with me?”
Simone smiled.“I already am.”
The words stayed between them. Marcus leaned closer and kissed her.When they pulled apart, Simone rested her forehead against his.
“So what happens now?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't have a plan?”
“I have one.”
She raised an eyebrow.“Which is?”
Marcus smiled.“I need to find a ring.”
Her eyes widened.“You're serious?”
“I've never been more serious.”
She laughed and covered her face with one hand. Marcus pulled her hand down.
“Don't worry. I'm not asking you tonight.”
“Good.”
“Why good?”
“Because if you proposed beside this bench, I'd never let you forget it.”
He laughed.“Fair enough.”
They stood and started walking along the river. The conversation shifted to smaller things. Simone wanted a house with enough room for a proper kitchen. Marcus wanted a place with a backyard.
She wanted a study room where she can do all her work without disturbance. He argued that a study room would mean them not having time together.
“You'd let me have it.”
“I would not.”
“You absolutely would.”
Marcus looked at her.“Maybe.”
She laughed. The sound followed them down the path. Marcus looked at Simone as they crossed the street, her hand warm inside his.
A year ago, he had been fighting to prove he still belonged in basketball. Tonight, that wasn't the question anymore. The question was what kind of life he wanted after everything he had survived.
The answer walked beside him. He didn't need to know the exact date or what the ring would look like. He only needed to know that when the time came, he would ask.
And he already knew what she would say.
They kept walking through the Philadelphia evening, their hands joined as the city moved around them.