Page 75 of Save the Date

A few grueling hours later, Emma and Jackie were sitting in the green room forThe Amanda Sharpe Show. Emma had only wanted to bring one guest backstage so she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed, and Jackie had insisted that as Emma’s manager she should be the one to go. Emma had no idea Jackiewasher manager, but after sitting through two hours of hair and makeup she didn’t have the energy to question it.

“I thought they’d have better food,” Jackie complained as she looked over the show’s offerings. The room was rather small, and Emma suspected there must be a larger one for bigger guests. Not that that bothered her; she still couldn’t believe she was important enough to be sitting in Amanda Sharpe’s less-important green room. When Emma called her book editor to tell her the good news, Michelle had shouted a flurry of positive expletives followed by at least five reminders to mention her upcoming book.

Matt, on the other hand, hadn’t seemed to understand the significance of the news, not being in Amanda’s target fan base. Still, he was happy Emma was so happy. He’d even offered to blow off work to come watch the taping in the studio with her parents, but Emma told him it would make her too nervous. In reality, she wasn’t quite yet ready to face him after her reckless and devastating night with Will. She’d had to stop herself multiple times from sending Will a photo of her next to a cardboardcutout of Amanda she’d found in the hall. They had a whole elaborate bit about the power of cardboard cutouts. You had to beprettyimportant to get one of those. Maybe one quick text wouldn’t be the end of the world—especially considering she was on the show to plug their shared podcast…

“Knock, knock,” a familiar voice rang out from the doorway. Emma looked up to a thirty-something woman wearing a headset and one of the coolest outfits Emma had ever seen: a dark green velvet pantsuit with a Rilo Kiley band T-shirt underneath, paired with bright white platform sneakers. Emma sent out a silent prayer to the universe that she would one day be the kind of person who could pull that off.

“So glad to see you’re settled in. I’m Lanie—we spoke on the phone. Amanda just wanted to check if there was anything off-limits when it comes to the interview. She never wants her guests to feel attacked or violated.” Lanie spoke flatly, as if she was repeating this speech for the thousandth time and no longer attached any actual meaning to the words coming out of her mouth.

“Oh,” Emma replied as she looked at her new manager for guidance. “I don’t think so?”

“Emma’s happy to discuss whatever Amanda wants to talk about,” Jackie said confidently. “We’re just excited to be here to spread the word about nontraditional ways to find fulfilling partnerships in the age of apps and ghosting.”

“Great, I’ll let her know,” Lanie said as she left to deal with something else.

Emma turned to Jackie, impressed. “Did you just come up with that?”

“I’ve been working on how to pitch you as a guest. Once this episode comes out, I’m sure more places will want to talk to you.”

“How are you so good at this?”

Jackie shrugged. “I know how to google. And I like to watchEntouragewhen I’m working out.”

“Emma, we’re ready for you,” Lanie’s assistant called from the hallway.

Emma stood up and smoothed out her mother’s dress. She nervously spun her enormous engagement ring with her thumb as she made her way to the stage. There was no going back now.

***

“Let me just say, I amsoexcited to have you here,” Amanda Sharpe gushed to Emma, who was doing her best to sit upright despite the deepness of the couch. “One of my friends sent me your podcast and I was immediately like, okay, I need to talk to this girl. Maybe she can help me find a husband. Or, I guess,anotherhusband.”

The crowd laughed with glee. Amanda was delightfully candid about her three divorces. Emma chuckled along too, trying to stay grounded in what felt like an out-of-body experience. Amanda was somehow even more charismatic and charming in person.

“I’d be honored to help. Something tells me it wouldn’t be that hard.”

“I guess I don’t have a problem getting married. I just can’t seem tostaymarried,” Amanda admitted with refreshing self-awareness. “Which brings me back to your story. After being left by your fiancé, you decided to keep your wedding date and find a new groom. And you’ve been sharing the entire journey through your YouTube channel and your new podcast. There’s been a lot of pushback online suggesting that this is some sort of publicity stunt or a misguided attempt to avoid being single. But as a licensed couples therapist and relationship expert, you say there is a method to your madness?”

“I sure hope so,” Emma joked before immediately regretting attempting to be funny on live-to-tape TV. A wave of relief washed over her when she heard at least some of the audiencelaugh, including her father, who was seated in the front row. “I know that at face value, Operation: Save My Date seems like an extreme experiment destined to fail. But committing to marriage early on in a relationship isn’t a unique idea. We see plenty of cultures who practice arranged marriages and know of many people in the military who tie the knot quickly before a deployment. There really is no evidence to suggest that the amount of time you date someone directly correlates with the well-being or longevity of your marriage. What matters more, in my opinion, is that both people have a willingness to work on things and a similar conceptualization of what it even means to be married in today’s society.”

“And it seems like you have found both those things with your new fiancé.” Amanda turned in her chair and gestured toward the large screen behind them. A photo of Emma and Matt with their arms around each other at his second cousin’s baby shower appeared. “Look at that man! He is gorgeous. Let’s give Emma a round of applause for bagging him—I would marry a stranger too if he looked like that.”

The audience clapped and cheered louder than Emma expected. She felt her face flush with embarrassment, slightly worried that everyone thought Matt was too good-looking for her. “I definitely got lucky.”

“Can you tell me the moment you knew Matt was The One?”

“I actually don’t believe in ‘The One.’ Part of why I wanted to do this was to prove that we are all compatible with a bunch of different people. We don’t need to get hung up on our exes or unrequited loves when it’s more productive and fulfilling to focus on finding a connection with someone else—someone new.”

“I love that,” Amanda said as she curled her legs up on the couch and leaned closer, giving the impression that they were just two ladies gabbing in an apartment instead of on a freezing-­cold soundstage. Even though Emma knew Amanda was purposefullycreating an illusion of intimacy to make her open up and produce better TV, Emma could feel the tactic working. She let herself lean back into the couch cushions.

“I find it so interesting to hear you use the wordprove,” Amanda added. “Do you feel like you’re just doing this for yourself? Or is there a part of you that is motivated by giving your audience a happy ending? I know you and your podcast cohost, Will Stoll, seem to disagree on this front.”

Emma tried not to visibly bristle at the mention of Will. “That’s a good question. If I’m being totally honest, it’s probably a mix of both. I want people to know that you don’t have to give up on love just because one person in the world no longer loves you. And I also want to move forward in my own life and start a family.”

“Hmm,” Amanda said. It was startling how ominous a simple sound could be. “I guess I just view marriage as a deeply personal choice. So my antennas go up when I hear you talking about your future marriage as anything more than a private decision between two people who love each other.”

“I hear you. But people get married for all sorts of reasons: familial pressure, financial stability. If other people happen to get something out of my marriage too, even if it is just a bit of hope, that seems like a good thing.”

“Sure,” Amanda agreed as she shifted even closer. “And maybe I’m just feeling protective or projecting, which you all know I love to do. I just don’t want you to lose sight of what’s right foryou, simply because you don’t want to let other people down. Like I did when I agreed to make a sequel forThe Fisherman’s Daughter,even though I knew it was a terrible script.It currently has score of seven on Rotten Tomatoes, by the way.”

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