Page 29 of Making the Save

Tricia laughed as if he’d made a joke, Wyatt was taking his job as protector very seriously. Which was really sweet of him.

Tricia was one of those interviewers who sprinkled in personal commentary between questions. So it sounded positive, when really her questions were a backhanded insult.

“You’re so lucky to have been with so many handsome men. Would you say you have a type?”

“You weren’t nominated for a single Grammy this year, is the problem now that you’ve reached such heights thatanything that’s not nominated Album of the Year feels like a letdown?”

“You’re so brave to go with short hair. Are you making a statement about gender neutrality now that you look more like a boy?”

“So I’m just going to jump right in. First question, how did you two meet?” Tricia asked.

Tyler had showed up at eight this morning and run us through our fake relationship timeline. How we’d gone from just friends to dating and then ultimately to our decision to get married. He’d quizzed us, while I made coffee.

Wyatt was an excellent student. He picked up the dates better than I did. Even Tyler seemed pleased.

“It was at a charity auction last year,” I answered Tricia, looking at Wyatt with a smile.

This part of the story was true. Wyatt and I had been at the same charity event last year, promoting Autism Awareness.

I hadn’t seen him at the event, at least not that I could remember, but he said he’d seen me.

In this version of the story, he approached me, we talked and he got my number.

In the real life version, he’d seen me across the room, but it never occurred to him to introduce himself. Which for some reason made me sad. We could have known each other all this time.

“Weren’t you dating John Bernard last year?”

“I was,” I said, trying not to take offense at her assumption that meeting someone immediately resulted in me hooking up with them.

“Syd’s a big hockey fan,” Wyatt jumped in. “That’s all we talked about. I didn’t reach out to her again until after she and John announced that things had ended.”

“Quick to move in, were you?” Tricia asked.

“Not really,” Wyatt said, but I could feel the tension in his arm around my shoulders. “I considered Syd a friend. Wanted to see how she was doing after her breakup.”

“So you were friends first?”

“Definitely,” I answered. “Friends. I think it’s important to get to know a person before romance complicates everything.”

Tricia smiled, so quick, so sharp, it was like a knife slashing through the room.

“I see,” she mused. “So where will you two be living?”

“Here,” I said.

“Denver,” Wyatt said at the same time.

We looked at each other quickly.

“Here, in the off season,” I said. “Denver once he starts playing. Obviously.”

“Sydney, Wyatt just described you as a big hockey fan, yet, you didn’t go to any of his games? Including the finals? Was that hard for you?”

“Very,” I nodded. “But we were trying to keep things low key.”

“Off the radar,” Wyatt added.

“For the team?” Tricia nudged.