Page 59 of Interference

“Oh, hell yeah.” I whipped out my phone and started thumbing through my albums. “I’m always afraid to be that guy who’s shoving cat videos in everyone’s faces, but—”

“Dude, I’ll never say no to a funny cat video.”

“Well, I’ve got you covered there.” I found the one I was looking for, cued it up, and turned it so he could see it. Wyatt took the phone, and though I couldn’t see the screen anymore, I knew it by heart.

“Bear, you dumbass,” my voice came through the speaker. “If you shove your head under the water, it’s not going to go in your mouth.”

Then there was just the running water and me laughing in the background, followed by a flapping sound, which was Bear shaking off all the water.

“Great,” Simon drawled sarcastically. “Now we have to clean off the mirror before we go to bed.”

My humor vanished. Though I had the video memorized, I must’ve blanked out that part. Or just hadn’t thought about it. But the sound of Simon’s voice… fuck.

Wyatt handed back my phone, some concern on his face. “You good?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” I shook myself and started looking for another video. “Just, um… Just forgot Simon was in that one.” Even with my attention fixed on the screen, I could feel Wyatt’s gaze on me. After a moment, I chanced a look at him, and sure enough, he was watching me, his brow furrowed.

Shifting a little in his chair, he asked, “Does your boyfriend mind us being out like this?” He gestured around the restaurant. “He, um… I got the impression he doesn’t like me.”

With a sigh, I put my phone facedown on the table. I suddenly wasn’t in the mood for cat videos anymore. “He doesn’t know you. He just doesn’t like that I invited you to stay at the house without consulting him.”

Alarm widened Wyatt’s eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said quickly. “He’s… Honestly, his opinion on the subject is moot now anyway.”

“It is?”

“Yeah.” I drew circles in the condensation on my water glass. “We’re not making it public, but between you and me, we split up.”

Wyatt’s lips parted. “No shit? I’m sorry to hear it.”

The words I’m not came dangerously close to tumbling off my lips. What the hell? I’d been fighting tooth and nail to save this relationship for months now. Over a year, actually. Of course I was sad to see it go. Obviously it just hadn’t sunk in yet. Probably because I was still too busy being relieved that I didn’t have to fight anymore.

I exhaled. “It was amicable, at least. Which is good, considering we have to keep playing together and making the team believe we’re still a happy couple.” I rubbed my eyes. “We have to keep rooming together, driving in to practices and games together…”

“Shit. That sounds… stressful.”

“Just a bit.” I raked a hand through my hair. The weight of our breakup was starting to press down on my shoulders, but still not in the way I expected it to. “I think if we could just come out publicly as having split up, it would be a lot easier. The whole act was exhausting when we were on the rocks—I don’t think it’s going to be any more fun now that we’re done.”

“No, that doesn’t sound fun at all.” Wyatt was hard to read right then. Maybe he was a little relieved himself? I wouldn’t have blamed him if he was. The handful of interactions he’d had with Simon had been frosty at best.

I chewed my lip. “He’s going to be there tomorrow. At Thanksgiving. We’ll be riding in with him. If, um… If you’re not comfortable with that…”

Wyatt seemed to think about it. He took a sip of water and pulled a piece of ice into his mouth, which he rolled around for a moment. Finally, he shrugged. “I don’t want to cause problems between the two of you.”

“You won’t. Our problems are…” I made an irritated noise and waved a hand. “You’re still welcome to come with us. I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable. Once we’re there, it’ll be a lot of people, and it’s a big house. So we won’t all be right on top of each other. Just… in the car…”

Wyatt crunched on the ice. “A lot of people? Like… how crowded are we talking about?”

“Well, like I said, it’s a big house. I think Russell said he’s expecting like thirty or so including all the kids.” I paused. “We won’t all be jammed into one room or sitting at one big table, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

It must’ve been, because he visibly relaxed. “I can handle that. I have a hard time with a lot of people stuffed into one place. Crowds, they’re…” He shuddered.

Beneath the table, tags jingled, and Wyatt reached down, probably to pet Lily.

“They really bother you, don’t they?”

He nodded, some color blooming in his cheeks. “They do. Like I don’t know if I could handle going to one of your games. That many people with so few exits…” He shuddered again. “But I’ve been to holiday gatherings like that, and those were at smaller houses. So yeah, I’ll be fine.”

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