“You have to admit, Heather’s idea makes sense in some ways. And bonus, if you do get married, you get to shove a big middle finger in Lincoln’s direction.”

She headed straight for the wine fridge. Bottles rattled as she searched for the one she wanted and yanked it out. The glass made a heavy thunk on the counter and she turned to grab a glass.

Fuck it.

If she was having wine, I needed a drink, too. Alcohol might’ve made some people make poor decisions, but at this rate, what else could I screw up? Seriously, what in the hell was I thinking?

I met her in the kitchen where she poured her glass of wine and grabbed a Stella Artois from my regular fridge. After I popped the top and took a healthy swig, I gave us both a moment to calm down and process.

“I know Heather’s idea sounds absurd, and I know you’ve been going through a lot. Hell, my sister is crazy enough, she probably didn’t think of the idea until we were already on the phone with her. But the reason I think it’s a good idea is because, like she said, it keeps you on the offense. If we get married, we can come up with a story. Maybe you and Heather visited last spring during playoffs. She was here for several of my games.”

“I know. She was probably more upset than your team when you guys lost.” Emmersyn gave me a soft smile that told me she wasn’t going too crazy with the idea.

Good. Progress.

“She definitely was. I had to listen to her rant about the way we played for days after that loss. I’m pretty sure if my team hired her, she’d help us make it all the way.”

“At minimum she’d keep you well fed.” Another soft smile tilted Emmersyn’s lips, and she took a sip of wine before setting it down. “Okay, let’s say I join you and your sister on this fun little trip on the Tilt-A-Whirl ride, and not only agree to this, but that you two are right—”

“We usually are.”

She rolled her forest green-colored eyes and smirked. “Of course you are.”

I shrugged. Not much to say.

“So, we come up with a story like you said. Heather and I visited last spring, and what… I couldn’t stop thinking about you? I cheated on Lincoln with you? I… maybe Lincoln and I were having problems and I went back to Boston and realized that I had fallen madly in love with you in three days?”

When she put it that way, it did sound unbelievable. Also, if she said that she cheated on Lincoln, that would make her look bad and gain him sympathy. Not what I wanted to have happen.

“Okay, so we change the story. Trust me, with some of the crazy things my teammates have gone through over the last few months and years, our publicity team knows how to spin a story that is beneficial to us.”