Free from Falling

Justin "Matts" Matthews is good at a lot of things: Rubik's Cubes, playing guitar, herding cattle, and most importantly for his career in the NHL, hockey. He's not good at human interactions or social cues, especially when it comes to women. This deficiency is an annoyance rather than a problem, right up until he meets Sydney Warren. If it's not love at first sight, it's sure something close. Sydney Warren, frontwoman for up-and-coming rock band Red Right Hand , is fierce, driven, and she doesn't do relationships. Being an out trans woman in the music industry is more than enough pressure-a romantic entanglement would be added stress she doesn't need. A romantic entanglement with a professional hockey player who, to all accounts, is only just learning to be an ally is definitely not what she needs. And yet. After a chance encounter, Matts and Sydney become unlikely friends. However, in the stolen moments of their busy schedules--late-night phone calls between NHL games and concert tour dates-they start to question if maybe "friendship" isn't so apt a description for whatever this is between them. But can they overcome the outside pressures from family and media that would rather their relationship end before it has a chance to start?

Justin "Matts" Matthews is good at a lot of things: Rubik's Cubes, playing guitar, herding cattle, and most importantly for his career in the NHL, hockey. He's not good at human interactions or social cues, especially when it comes to women. This deficiency is an annoyance rather than a problem, right up until he meets Sydney Warren. If it's not love at first sight, it's sure something close. Sydney Warren, frontwoman for up-and-coming rock band Red Right Hand, is fierce, driven, and she doesn't do relationships. Being an out trans woman in the music industry is more than enough pressure-a romantic entanglement would be added stress she doesn't need. A romantic entanglement with a professional hockey player who, to all accounts, is only just learning to be an ally is definitely not what she needs. And yet. After a chance encounter, Matts and Sydney become unlikely friends. However, in the stolen moments of their busy schedules--late-night phone calls between NHL games and concert tour dates-they start to question if maybe "friendship" isn't so apt a description for whatever this is between them. But can they overcome the outside pressures from family and media that would rather their relationship end before it has a chance to start?