Kurt stopped me on what felt like my hundredth lap around the room. “How are you doing?”
“Wondering if I should get the blow-up doll from the trunk. Then we know I wouldn’t say something I wasn’t supposed to. Kurt, this is a big deal. Like, really big deal.”
“You’ll be fine. Be natural.”
Is he serious? Does he have no memory of the things I did around him? And now I had our baby affecting me, too.
I raised my eyebrow. “Obviously, you have short-term memory loss.”
Leaning down, Kurt touched his lips to mine. “You’ll be fine.”
Being in his arms soothed me. One positive thought crossed my mind—only a few more days of baggy shirts and pullovers. The early popping of my stomach had put a serious damper on my wardrobe. But I loved this baby and wouldn’t change a thing.
The door opened. A woman walked in wearing jeans and a T-shirt. “Hey, I’m Anna. You must be Sawyer.”
“I am. Nice to meet you.” Her easy manner put me at ease. I shook her hand, which was firm yet gentle at the same time. I liked it. Some people shook your hand with a vice grip. I mean, hello? No one wanted to feel their bones crunching. Not comfortable.
Anna turned to Kurt. “It’s good to see you again, Kurt. I’m excited to know what exclusive you’re giving us. All the NDAs have been signed, and we have our most trusted people on this.”
“I know you’ll do this right; that’s why I picked you.”
Anna waited for Kurt to continue. When he didn’t, she asked, “Okay, so what is it?”
Kurt looked at me and our eyes met. Why was he raising his eyebrow at me? Oh shit. That was my cue. I unbuttoned my coat and handed it to Kurt. Anna’s eyes went from mine to Kurt’s to my stomach, but she said nothing.
Say something, Kurt. The pressure is too much. I’m going to say something. I was about to break when Kurt said, “We’re pregnant. Only a few people know, and we want your magazine to announce it.”
Anna’s eyes lit up. Yes, this was a huge story. She shifted her weight, and her face turned serious. “Off the record—why me? Why this magazine? What’s the catch?”
“Off the record?”
“Yes. Absolutely. I’ve never printed or repeated anything you’ve said off the record.”
Kurt watched Anna for a second. Though his demeanor remained calm, I knew he was assessing her. “I need someone who’s going to do a fair job of reporting this and not sensationalize it. We’ve only been officially together for about a month, and Sawyer’s three months pregnant.”
The lightbulb went on over Anna’s head. This wasn’t her first rodeo. “I can do that. Let’s have a seat and get started. I want to get to know you both as a couple. That way I can get a spin for how I want to write the article.”
We took a seat on the soft leather couch. Kurt put his arm around me and we waited while Anna set up her recorder. With pencil and paper in hand, she said, “So tell me how you guys met.”
The last thing I wanted to do was come off as meek, so I started off. “Kurt’s friend was my roommate.” I shared a secret smile with Kurt. “So we were around each other a lot, and things escalated from there.”
“Escalated?” Anna tilted her head.
I chuckled, thinking about the things we’d done to each other. “Kurt and I became roommates when my roommate moved in with her boyfriend. And after that, it was literally roommate wars.”
Anna put down her pencil and became engrossed in the story. “‘Roommate wars’? What did these wars consist of?”
Kurt jumped in. “Sawyer needed some inspiration on marketing ideas for the band, so I redecorated her room in Reverence memorabilia.”
“Complete with glow-in-the-dark stickers of your face,” I added. “Oh, and let’s not forget labeling my clothes as Kurt’s Roomie, and putting the dishes away randomly.”
Kurt coughed. “You were not so innocent. You turned our apartment into a Christmas nightmare. We had thirty-six singing Christmas animatronics on a timer, including a Rudolph with red eyes instead of a red nose.”
Whispering, I said to Anna, “I got him for only five bucks. Steal of a deal, if you ask me.”
The reporter grinned from ear to ear. “Wow, you guys are quite the match. So why the two-month gap? The recent confirmation of your relationship was the only record I could find of you together.”
“I had my head stuck in my ass and nearly lost her.”