Chapter 16 - I’ll Deal With It Later
Marcus came home the next morning because Nia asked him to.
She had printed the email.
Nothing else.
He entered cautiously.
The children were at school and daycare.
Nia sat at the kitchen island.
The ring advertisement lay beneath the calendar.
Exactly where the first argument began.
Marcus saw the paper.
His face changed.
Nia pushed it toward him.
He read.
His eyes closed.
There was no defense left.
“You told your mother I thought I was being added after closing.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you forgot.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you lie three days ago?”
Marcus sat heavily.
“Because I was ashamed.”
Nia laughed softly.
“You keep using shame like it’s an accident.”
“I know.”
“You lied because the truth made you look bad.”
“Yes.”
“That is what lying is for.”
He nodded.
No argument.
Nia hated how much easier his accountability made it to see the man she loved beneath the harm.
She wanted him monstrous.
He was not.
He was weak in precisely the places where strength had been required.
“What conversation were you going to deal with later?”
“The deed.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“There it is again.”
“I kept waiting for a time when everything felt safe.”
Nia looked around.
Three children.
A house.
A business.
A ring.
A draft prenup.
“If ten years wasn’t enough information, what were you waiting to learn about me?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“Then say the real thing.”
He swallowed.
“I was waiting to stop imagining you leaving me and taking something with you.”
Nia’s eyes filled.
“What did you imagine I had already given?”
He stared at the counter.
“I didn’t think about it enough.”
“No.”
She nodded.
“That part I believe.”
Marcus wiped his eyes.
“My dad used to say women become different once there’s paperwork.”
Nia laughed bitterly.
“And somehow you never considered men become different when there isn’t.”
Marcus looked up.
The sentence landed hard.
Nia continued.
“You got the benefits of believing I was permanent without giving me the rights that come with permanence.”
“I know.”
“No. You’re starting to know.”
He nodded.
A long silence passed.
Then Marcus placed his phone on the counter.
“Everything.”
Nia frowned.
“Every bank account. Every business account. Every debt. Every loan.”
He slid over a page of passwords and account names.
“I’m not hiding anything else.”
Nia did not touch it.
“This isn’t about me policing you.”
“I know.”
“Transparency because you got caught is not trust.”
“I know.”
She looked at the page.
“But it may be evidence you’re willing to stop hiding.”
Marcus nodded.
That afternoon they reviewed finances.
The picture was worse than Nia expected but not catastrophic.
Mortgage balance: $369,200.
Estimated home value: $612,000.
Business loan: $94,000.
Equipment leases: $38,000.
Balance owed Gloria: $21,700.
Savings: $27,400.
Retirement accounts existed, separately.
Nia had only $19,000 left in retirement after years of reduced contributions.
Marcus had nearly $71,000.
That number hurt.
While Nia’s earning years had slowed, his financial future had kept compounding.
Marcus saw her expression.
“I didn’t realize.”
“I did.”
He looked at her.
“I just tried not to.”
They discussed the second gym.
If sold or closed carefully, it would hurt but not destroy the first location.
For the first time Marcus said:
“My business cannot keep being subsidized by you being financially exposed.”
Nia wrote the sentence down.
Marcus looked surprised.
“What?”
“I’m keeping track of promises.”
He nodded sadly.
“Fair.”
That evening Erin called.
“Nia.”
Her voice sounded bright.
“We want you.”
Nia stood in the bedroom.
“What?”
“The strategy director role.”
Nia gripped the phone.
Salary: $128,000.
Health insurance.
Retirement match.
Hybrid schedule.
Start date in five weeks.
Nia’s eyes flooded.
“Can I have twenty-four hours?”
“Of course.”
She ended the call.
Marcus stood in the doorway.
He had heard enough.
“You got it.”
Nia nodded.
For one suspended second, they smiled at each other the way they used to.
Pure pride.
Then reality returned.
Marcus stepped into the room.
“You should take it.”
Nia studied him.
“What about pickup?”
“I’ll change my schedule.”
“The gym?”
“I’ll change my schedule.”
“You said you couldn’t.”
Marcus looked ashamed.
“I said I couldn’t because your changing yours was easier.”
Nia’s eyes filled again.
There it was.
Not romantic.
Not dramatic.
Just true.
She accepted the job.
That night she wrote another sentence beneath the ring advertisement in her notebook:
Some promises only become real when they cost the person making them something.
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The next morning, Marcus canceled three evening client blocks.
For the first time, his sacrifice appeared on the calendar too.
