“The current relationship is real.”
“Could they disqualify us?”
“Probably.”
Amy looked concerned. I touched her hand.
“We’ll tell them after the challenge.”
She stopped. I heard the mistake immediately: delay, control the timing, protect the prize. Amy set her jaw.
“No,” she said.
“You’re right.”
The correction came fast.
“We tell Blake tomorrow,” I said. “Whatever happens.”
She studied me until I added, “Yes. Even if it costs us the prize.”
The prize and certification mattered, but not enough to make the same choice again. Amy agreed.
“Tomorrow.”
We kept walking. For the first time, the relationship had no secret between us. Only consequences waiting in daylight.
Chapter Nineteen
The Things Dani Keeps
Amy
At eight on Friday, August first, Blake responded to our real relationship by placing our fake one under sponsor review. Dani and I stood in their office holding hands because the conversation had begun that way and neither of us had released the other. Blake sat behind the desk. Their whistle lay beside a tablet. The absence of the whistle made the meeting feel serious.
“Let me confirm,” they said. “The relationship was fake when you applied.”
“Yes,” I said.
Dani said, “Strategic.”
“Fake,” she corrected.
“And now it is real.”
“Yes,” we said together.
Blake looked between us.
“How real?”
“That is not an eligibility category,” I said.
“It affects the public narrative.”
“The public narrative should not determine the relationship.”
“I understand that personally. Professionally, I require details.”
