Page 98 of Making the Save

“You haven’t really tried-“

“Can you imagine me on red carpets, Dad? Did you see that interview I gave to that woman? I was a fucking disaster. And you tell me, is she like any other WAG you’ve ever met? Ready to drop everything for my career? No way. Wouldn’t work.”

Dad opened the back seat of his truck and I walked around him to pull out his overnight bag. It actually was pretty heavy and I grunted as I slung it over my shoulder.

“Son, have you taken one too many pucks to the head? How can you not make it work with a sweet, talented, incredibly beautiful woman?”

“Famous. You forgot famous.”

“Fame is fleeting. You marry the woman, not the job.”

“She’s not a small town waitress Dad. She’s a global pop star. We don’t work together. We don’t fit. She is the opposite of what I want, and I am not what she needs. Trust me, Syd is the last woman on the planet I would ever marry.So stop playing matchmaker.”

I turned back to the cabin and stopped when I saw Syd on the front porch.

My stomach curled into a ball and died. My heart went with it.

“I thought you were getting ready for bed?” I said, a little roughly, a dark feeling spreading inside me.

How long had she been there? Did she hear me saying she was the opposite of what I wanted?

Wasn’t she, though? We had to face the truth sometime, tonight seemed as good a time as any.

“There’s a spider in the sink,” she said quietly, her hands clasped together. “A big one. For real this time.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

She nodded and went back inside.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.

My father clapped me on the back. “That sinking feeling you’re having now, son, is shame. Because you hurt her. She overheard you being a plumb-”

“Idiot, I know.” I snapped.

Dad walked in ahead of me and I stood on the porch looking up at the stars. If you asked me two weeks ago what I would do if I could turn back time, I’d say let me redo the second period of game seven of the last Stanley Cup Finals.

If you asked me right now… I’d redo the last ten minutes.

I never wanted to hurt Sydney. And that’s just what I did.

19

Sydney

Ipretended to be asleep when he came in. I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. It felt like he’d pulled my heart right out of my chest. And then stomped on it. And then kicked it. and then lit it on fire.

“Sydney?” he whispered, crawling into bed behind me. I kept my breathing regular. And my eyes squeezed shut so the tears couldn’t escape.

She is the opposite of what I want.

This was supposed to be pretend. It wasn’t real. I knew that. I told myself that every morning. Every time I opened my eyes and my heart leapt to find him beside me. The stupidest most Sydney Malloy thing I could do would be to fall in love with him.

So, of course, that’s exactly what I did.

I was in love with Wyatt Locke.

Only he didn’t want me. I wasn’t the one for him.