I left the bedroom, going to the living room to see who was at the door.
“Thanks so much for being willing to have a ‘Sinclair for Mayor’ sign in your yard,” Sinclair said. She was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee while Holly was sitting in the chair across from her.
“Of course. I’m happy to support your campaign. Whatever I can do to help, I will. In fact, I’ll talk with the local teacher’s union and PTA about having you come to share your platform. We’d have to invite Wallace too, but I know you’ll appeal to teachers and parents more.”
Sinclair shook her head. “Goodness, I should take you on as my campaign manager. How do you have all the time and energy for everything you do?”
“I don’t have a husband and child,” Holly said. She smiled but I heard sadness in her tone. Her ex really messed up her hopes and dreams, I realized. I nearly stepped into the room with my hand raised saying I’d sign up for the job, but she was skittish just to date me. Besides, I had some time to use this fake marriage to show her how good a real one might be.
I stopped for a moment as I realized what I was thinking. I’d never lived with a woman before, and now I was thinking of marrying one who didn’t want me. Cupid sure had a mean sense of humor.
“Oh hey,” Sinclair said when she saw me. “Tucker, right? You’re Brooke’s friend.”
I nodded.
“Tucker works with me,” Holly said.
Sinclair nodded to the screwdriver in my hand. “Supplementing your income by doing handyman work?”
“I’m the man of the house now. It’s my job to fix up all the little problems.”
Holly winced. Sinclair arched a brow as she looked over at Holly. Then she smiled. “I like him better than Rick already.”
“It’s not like that,” Holly said, surprising me. The idea of a fake marriage was that it may not be real, but to the outside world it needed to appear real.
“We’ve taken a page from your and Wyatt’s handbook of fake marriages.”
Sinclair’s eyes narrowed. “God, is Stark after you too? Is he going after the school or teachers?” She was really incensed.
Holly waved her hands. “No. It’s really silly…and I wouldn’t be doing this but I dug a hole I can’t get out of.”
“Can I help?” Sinclair asked.
I couldn’t explain why I was getting agitated by Holly’s explanation of our situation. I suppose it was the idea that she felt she had no choice. I was here because I cared for her and wanted to help her. Holly, on the other hand, didn’t want me here. That stung a bit.
“It’s about the library. I pitched Meredith Reynolds for a donation. She didn’t realize that Rick left me at the altar. She thought I was married.”
“Ah, hence the fake husband,” Sinclair said with a glance at me. “You must think Salvation is the oddest place. I mean, your friend Brooke—” she stopped.
“I know about her and the mayor's marriage to save her father’s land,” I said. “Whose shoulder do you think she was crying on when he kept pushing her away?” I glanced at Holly. “Or when her coworkers were less than friendly.” This time I looked at Sinclair.
Sinclair’s gaze held mine for a moment. “I can see you’re a good friend, Tucker. Better than Rick, and you’re fake.”
I’m not, I wanted to say.
“In my defense, I was being a good friend to Mo when I was less than friendly to Brooke. And Trina, well, she’s less than friendly as a matter of course. But we love her anyway, don’t we Holly.”
“She seems happy with your brother,” Holly said.
“He’s definitely smoothed out some of her rough edges. They were fake too. They seemed to think that having a fake marriage was easy. Wyatt and I told them not so much. Apparently, they proved us wrong. And look how it turned out. We’re all
happily married.” Sinclair looked from me to Holly and I wondered if she was thinking perhaps, we could have a similar outcome. I wanted to urge Holly to consider that.
“I just hope Meredith ends up supporting the new library,” Holly said, shifting like she didn’t like the idea of a true happily ever after for us. That irked.
“I don’t get the connection. Why not just tell her you aren’t married,” Sinclair asked.
Holly looked down. “I should have, but she’s so traditional. She basically called me a spinster and went on and on about how important marriage and children were to societal stability.”