Page 55 of Making the Save
“Since they asked.” Liam shrugged, like he just couldn’t help being the best at everything.
“I suppose it would be nice to have some peace and quiet to write.” Sydney said.
“You’ll have plenty of that,” I said.
“We could walk the red carpet together at the ACA’s,” Liam said to Sydney. And I could just see that, the two of them sparkling and beautiful, waving and posing their way down the red carpet. A perfectly matched pair. I hated it.
“No, you can’t. I’m her husband!”
“You’re going to walk a red carpet?” Liam howled.
“If I have to, yes. It’s not hard. You just walk, right?”
Liam leaned toward Syd and whispered in a conspiratorial way. “I’d look better on your arm. Just putting that out there.”
Syd laughed and I tried not to get jealous over it, because Liam was right.
He was the handsome brother. The stylish brother. The brother with more charm in his pinkie than I would ever possess.
When we were growing up, it was my brother’s job to make mom laugh. To calm her down. Try and bring her back to us when the bad times came. He was the jokester. The good time.
I was the responsible one. Logical.
I was the one who got us rides to practice when our parents couldn’t do it. Who made sure Liam got his homework done. I did laundry and filled out our permission slips and got Dad to sign them. I spent years anticipating disaster and throwing myself in front of it.
It’s what made me a good defenseman.
Only I hadn’t seen Syd coming. Not even close.
“The cabin sounds pretty fantastic,” Sydney said. “I’ll go pack. When do you want to leave?”
“Tomorrow is soon enough,” I said. “We can take Liam out to some place fancy tonight. Let everyone see you’re getting close with my family.”
“Real close,” Liam added, putting his arm around Syd’s shoulders.
“Move your arm or I’ll remove it from your body,” I told him.
Slowly Liam pulled his arm back. “I’m only doing this because I am still afraid of you.”
“You have a car?” I asked Syd. If we were going to try and get away from the paps, we didn’t need people tracking what city we were flying to.
She nodded. “You want to drive to Colorado?”
“Road trip!” Liam shouted. “I want to come. We can play games to see who gets to control the music.”
“You’re not invited,” I told him.
“Aw,” he moaned looking genuinely hurt. “But I’m fun.”
“This is our honeymoon. No one brings a brother on a honeymoon.”
“Fair enough. Then let’s eat!” Liam clapped his hands together, having quickly forgotten his disappointment. “I’m starving.”
“Ten minutes ago you said thatyou could eat.” Sydney pointed out.
“That’s how quickly it happens,” Liam explained, patting his belly. “I go from, I could eat, to I’m hungry, to I’m starving, to feed me now.”
“Are you ever just not hungry?” she asked.