Page 29 of Marriage & Mockery

I was still standing near the monitor when a producer crossed the room toward me.

“Bennett Parker. Glad you could make it in with her.” He held his hand out for a quick shake. “Listen, we’re thinking it would be good to bring you out for the last few minutes. Let the audience see you two on the same couch. A healing moment, you know? The ratings would be huge.”

I looked past him to where Laina was visible through the open doorway to the makeup room, her eyes closed while someone brushed something along her cheekbone.

“No.”

The producer blinked. “We can keep it light. Just a couple of questions, show people you’re facing this together⁠—”

“No,” I repeated. “She’s doing this on her own terms. The only way I go out there is if she asks me, and it better not be because you broached the idea to her.”

He dipped his chin. “Understood. We’ll keep the segment focused on her.”

“Appreciate it.”

When I glanced back toward the makeup room, Laina was watching me in the reflection of the mirror. Our eyes met, and something in her expression eased before she looked away again.

I stayed where I was, out of the way, and waited for them to call her name.

When a production assistant came to the green room to take Laina backstage, he turned to me before leaving. “Mr. Parker, we can seat you in the front row if you’d like.”

“No thank you.”

“There’s a monitor setup backstage if you prefer to watch from there,” he offered.

I shook my head. “I’ll stay here.”

He blinked. “Really? Most people want to be closer to the action.”

“I don’t want to be a distraction.”

“Are you sure?” Laina asked.

I reached for her hand and gave it a little squeeze. It was the first time she’d let me touch her since the awards night. “If you want me close, I’ll do the front row or backstage. Otherwise, I really am good here.”

“Okay then.” She turned toward the production assistant. “I’m ready to go.”

Collette gave me an approving nod. “I’ll take care of her.”

The publicist followed them backstage and would watch from the monitors the production assistant mentioned. I remained in the green room with the door open enough to hear the distant warm-up of the audience and the low bustle of the crew. I was close enough to be there for my wife when she needed me but far enough that the only person the cameras and the crowd would focus on was Laina.

I heard the applause swell as the host brought her out. I stared up at the monitor and watched my wife charm the host, the same way she did everyone who met her.

The first couple of minutes were fairly easy, and Laina answered his questions with the same quiet composure she’d walked into the studio with.

Then the host asked something everyone had been wondering about. “The Wrong Side of Right had four successful seasons before winning Best Comedy Series that night. Did you really not see any of yourself in Sally when you watched the show?”

I closed my eyes and waited for Laina’s answer, completely willing to pay the price for her honesty if it brought her any measure of relief. But her reply didn’t go as I expected.

“I’m sure this is going to sound impossible, but I’ve actually never watched the show.”

“Never?” the host echoed. “Not even after what your husband announced to the world in his acceptance speech?”

At the familiar sound of her soft laugh, I opened my eyes and looked up. She was angled toward the host, with a genuine smile making the dimples in her cheek pop. “Especially not then.”

“You weren’t curious to see how much of yourself you’d see in Sally?”

Laina shook her head. “From what Bennett has told me and the rest of the world in his statement last week, any similarities Sally has to me are very much exaggerated. So I doubt I’d recognize any of myself in her.”