3. Chapter Three

Afew days after that call with Matty, I came home from work and collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from a day spent leading a one-day kickball summer camp for middle schoolers unexpectedly. My original kickball instructor, a college-aged girl we had working at the parks and rec office over the summer, had called out sick the night before, and nobody else knew enough about the game to teach it all day. I'd been the one to draw the short straw, and now I could barely think, I was so tired. It wasn't the game that wore me down. It was the twenty-five eleven-to-thirteen-year-old kids I'd had to keep up with all day. I really needed to make my music career happen—and soon.

I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, hoping to find something mind-numbing to entertain me while I sipped a beer and worked on a song for my next album. I finally settled on a reality TV channel and let the background noise wash over me as I wrote, humming and tapping between scribbling down lyrics.

"Are you planning to get married within the next year?"

I glanced up at the TV and frowned, furrowing my brow. There was a graphic for a show called Destination Love emblazoned across the screen.

"Interested couples should submit a three-minute audition tape to…"

I rolled my eyes. Going on a wedding reality show sounded like torture. I ignored the show, tapping my pencil again a few times before something else caught my attention.

"…immigrate to America."

I blinked a few times as my brain tried to catch up to what I'd just heard. Immigrate? Maybe having Matty find an American woman to marry wasn't so far-fetched after all. I chuckled and shook my head before turning off the TV. The silence was too much, though, so I stood up and trudged my way to bed.

Lucky for me, the next day was significantly less busy. I spent my time at work processing permits and reservations, working on a community engagement plan to pump up our numbers for fall sports, and reviewing the budget. I spent my lunch break continuing to work on the song I'd been toying with the night before, but the real highlight of my day was kickball practice.

Out and Kickin'—the gay kickball team I was on—was comprised of my closest friends outside of Matty, guys I'd played kickball with for years. We'd met in our early twenties and had immediately hit it off. There were six of us who were the core players, with a cast of temps rotating in and out over the years, though we'd had two guys join us more recently and they'd fit right in.

When I got to the field, I found my friends slowly convening in the dugout of the baseball field we typically played on. Ethan and Archer, our newest players, were stretching on the field. Cam, Theo, and Bennett were huddled together, leaning in and looking at someone's phone. The bag of kickballs was open and sitting to the side of the dugout, looking forgotten, and the guys who were watching the phone all gasped simultaneously.

I cleared my throat and clapped loudly as I approached. "Come on, children, let's get going." Only Ethan and Archer looked at me. Cam, Theo, and Bennett were used to my insistence on focus. We practiced two or three nights a week year-round, not to mention the games during the actual structured spring and fall league seasons.

A moment later, Levi came around the corner. "Hey, guys."

I sighed with relief. Levi was one of the more serious players on our team. He'd get them to focus, I was sure of it.

To my chagrin, instead of getting the guys' attention, he rushed over. "Is that the new episode? You were supposed to wait so we could have a watch party!"

I narrowed my eyes and marched over, tempted to snatch the phone from their hands. "What is going on?"

"Destination Love is new tomorrow," Levi said without looking up. "And these assholes decided to watch the season recap without me."

"Destination Love? Is that that stupid wedding show?"

Bennett tapped the screen to pause the stream and looked up at me. "Destination Love is not a stupid wedding show."

"What is it then?" I suppressed an eye roll.

"It's a show about getting married—"

My eyebrows shot up.

"Shut up," Bennett said. "American citizens are engaged to non-Americans. Destination Love helps them get their visas and immigrate."

My stomach flipped. Matty. His name shot through my mind unbidden. "Okay, whatever. Can we play ball now?"

Theo held up one finger. "Parker's not even—"

"Did I hear my name?" Parker came around the corner and into the dugout, his hair mussed beyond belief.

"Did you go to work looking like that?" Cam smirked.

"As a matter of fact, I worked from home today."

"And let me guess, today was Travis's day off," Levi said dryly.

Parker shrugged. "So what if it was?"

"Can we stop talking about sex and get to practicing?"

"Amen," said Archer as he approached. "I'm way too single to hear this conversation."

Ethan glanced at Archer and his cheeks turned slightly pink before he looked down at his feet. "Yeah," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Let's play ball."

After practice, I headed home, skipping our usual debrief and bullshitting session at the bar in favor of working on my song instead. I got the final two verses sketched out and started picking the melody on my guitar when my phone buzzed. I glanced down at it. It was Matty, who sent me a photo. He was a notoriously bad sleeper. I peeked at the image he'd sent—a view from his bedroom window in Drammen. It was around four in the morning there, and the sky was dusky, grays and pinks streaking across it as the sun rose behind the mountains. It was beautiful.

Matty: Good morning, friend.

Jared: Nice try, but it's night here.

Matty: Any luck finding me an American woman to marry?

Jared: Not yet, but I'll keep looking. Goodnight.

Matty: Goodnight.

As I crawled into bed, an idea started to tickle at the back of my brain, a way to get Matty the visa he desperately wanted. I couldn't quite put my finger on what the idea was, though, not before I drifted off to sleep.

The following day was Friday, and I'd promised the guys I'd join them at Parker and Travis's house for a hang session after work. When I showed up, Parker had put Destination Love on the TV and was actually watching the show while Travis worked in the kitchen.

"Park! Not you too." I shook my head as I settled on his couch.

He shrugged. "It's the season finale."

"And you're watching it without the rest of the guys?" I turned my gaze to the screen where a guy was doing a solo interview, talking about how much harder things had been than he'd expected.

"No, this is last week's episode. Tonight, they show all of the weddings. That's in…" He checked his watch. "About forty-five minutes."

I grunted in disapproval and stood, going into the kitchen to offer Travis my help. Travis had things well in hand, though, so instead I grabbed a beer from the fridge and re-joined Parker on the couch. By the time the top of the hour had rolled around, Travis had finished making a tray of appetizers for us and the group was all there. Except for Archer and Ethan, and of course me, the rest of my team were married men. That didn't stop them from swooning over suits and dresses and first married kisses, though. It really wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be, if I was being honest with myself.

As the episode closed with a call for auditions, it hit me all at once. Immediately I felt stupid for not having seen it before. "Matty," I said out loud.

"Is he okay?" Cam asked, frowning.

"Yeah. Yes. He's fine. But he was just saying how hard it is to get a visa. And I told him to find an American woman to marry. What if we get him on the show?"

Levi smirked. "You know an American woman he can marry?"

I shook my head. "No, but we could probably find one for him, right?"

"Priority will be given to couples on the LGBTQ spectrum," the TV said just then.

A slow smile spread over Parker's face. "What about you?"

"What about me?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Yes! What if you marry Matty?" Cam said.

I shook my head. "That won't work. He's straight."

Travis snorted from where he stood in the kitchen, doing dishes. "That argument won't work in this group."

"He'd never say yes. You guys know that, right?"

Bennett shrugged. "Didn't you say he's looking to immigrate? What better way?"

"We… we're… we're just friends," I stammered.

Travis laughed again. "Keep trying."

I looked at Travis. "I haven't even seen him in person since high school."

Travis smirked at me and glanced at Parker. "Tell him, Park."

Parker nodded enthusiastically. "You should totally do it. Besides, wouldn't getting on TV be great for your music career?"

"Yeah," Theo chimed in. "You said you needed to do something big."

Levi shrugged. "Looks like we found a solution to both of your problems."

I sighed deeply, running a hand through my hair. "I'll think about it," I said, finally conceding. A moment later, I rubbed my hand over my face. "I'm going to head out. Looks like I've got a lot of thinking to do."

A chorus of "goodnight" and "good luck" arose as I slipped through the front door. It was a stupid idea, right? Stupid, stupid, stupid. If it was so stupid, though, why couldn't I stop thinking about it? Why couldn't I stop imagining what Matty would look like in a suit, standing next to me and saying "I do"?"