Page 98 of Tapped By My Roommate
“Exactly!” Marilyn exclaimed.
“Don’t encourage her,” Audrey said. “She gave us all old Hollywood names. Cary for Cary Grant, and me for Audrey Hepburn.”
“And Rhett Butler, as in…Gone with the Wind?” I guessed. “But that’s a character name, and you two are named for real people.”
“Yeah, it’s not fair. Mom, change Rhett’s name to Clark,” Audrey said with a giggle.
This was clearly an old family argument. Audrey whined about her name a bit, then Cary started in on his again.
“I do like Rhett,” I said, without thinking it through.
“Of course you do,” Audrey said with a teasing smile. “We all know that.”
My face heated. “I meant the name.”
“But youdolike him, right?” Audrey pressed.
“Uh…”
From the doorway, Rhett cleared his throat. “Seems like I got back just in the nick of time. How badly are they grilling you?”
He was smiling, but his face was tense, and I wasn’t sure if it was the difficult conversation he’d had with Keith or the idea that his family obviously thought we were dating. “Uh, not too badly,” I said weakly. “Mostly we looked at your baby pictures.”
He grimaced and dropped onto the sofa beside me, leaning in to look at one of the photos in the album still open on my lap. “Oh, great. My pimply years too? Et tu, Mama.”
She laughed. “So dramatic. That reminds me…”
Marilyn launched into another story of Rhett’s drama phase, and he dropped his head onto my shoulder, hiding his face. “Kill me now,” he muttered.
When the conversation had meandered to other topics, and everyone’s attention was on Cary—who seemed like the dramatic one in the family—I nudged Rhett. “Everything okay?” I asked quietly.
Rhett nodded. “It will be.”
His eyes met mine and held, making my heart skip. Was it my imagination, or did he mean more than his car situation? As his family busted into more laughter, I forced myself to turn my attention to them. To enjoy this moment as one of them, even if it was temporary.
I didn’t know what Rhett wanted from me—but I knew that this was what I wanted. To be a real part of his life. To be there to support him during tough conversations, and to hear all his stories—the good, the bad, and the embarrassing—and most of all, tolovehim.
26
RHETT
The moment Ethan followed me into our apartment, I pulled him close and wrapped my arms around him.
We’d driven home separately—Ethan in his car and me in Audrey’s car-to-be—which was probably good because my mind had been full of so many things: my difficult conversation with Keith; the way Ethan had fit with my family so perfectly, like an extension of me; the way Ethan had taken care of me for the past few days.
I nuzzled his neck, breathing in his scent, and felt something settle inside me. This was where we were meant to be, me and Ethan.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said, squeezing him a little tighter. “It’s been a weird few days.”
He chuckled and pulled back. “What was weird? Me lizard-napping Zilla, forcing meals and car loans on you, or having dinner with your family?”
“All of the above?” I said with a little laugh.
“Good weird or bad weird?”
“Good,” I said, meaning it sincerely.
