Page 20 of Romanced By the Rat
“I mean, of course, there are other things I want in life, like bodybuilding championships.”
“I know that, but I mean in our relationship. Will you be happy with just the two of us?”
I don’t have to contemplate. Charlotte is enough. “Of course.”
She nods, leaning back in her chair, something almost like disappointment streaking across her face.
It’s time to be brave. “But…”
“But?” She leans forward again.
“But I wouldn’t mind it.”
“Mind what?”
“If Ramsay was part of this. Like he was before.” I tense. This is it. She either agrees with me (unlikely) or is disturbed and out of my life forever. Seconds tick on like centuries, and thoughts move behind her eyes. “I don’t mind either.”
I can’t believe it, but I must know more. Does she feel the same way I do? “Would you prefer it?”
She struggles more to answer this one. Ramsay could be out of our lives together. If we admit this to each other and can’t get him back, where does that leave us?
“I think so.”
I jerk forward, hands on the table. “You do?”
“The other night, it was nice.” There’s that damned word again. I’d prefer her to use shitty—it’s what she really means. “But it wasn’t the same as before.”
I nod. “Something was missing.”
“Yeah.”
We stare at each other for a moment before I pop to my feet. “Let’s find that damned rat.”
Chapter fourteen
Ramsay
Of course, I was listening. I nearly fell out of the rafters, hanging on their every word. This was a bad idea. After I wrote that note to Jeremy, I should have left. Sure, Ratcliff’s has been a decent enough home, but there are other options in town. Grim’s Bakery seemed like a nice place to live. It’s close enough and sweet enough to put myself in a daily sugar coma. But I couldn’t stop watching him. I can’t deny it stung a little to see him do so well on his shifts the past two days. Tonight dug the knife even deeper. He set up a romantic dinner for her. He didn’t need me anymore.
But then, but then… that damned confession.
If I were close enough, I could have been able to tell. I could have felt the awkward tension and the unsaid words, but from up high, the revelation came to me as a surprise. They missed me, and now they are both on their hands and knees, calling my name and searching for me in the corners of the restaurant.
A part of me—the selfish part—wants to scurry down the wall and join them in whatever they have in mind, but the quieter part, the one I’ve learned to listen to in the military, tells meto stay put. They can’t rely on me to fill the gaps in their compatibility. I’ll always be a rat, and as a rat, I can’t be an equal part in their relationship. I should let them tire themselves out, and then I’ll leave this restaurant for good.
I just have to get a better look before I go, witness their faces, commit it to memory. I crawl to the floor. Jermey searches through an artificial plant, and Charlotte paces around the dining room, hands on her hips. “I know you’re here, Ramsay,” she says.
I tense, pushing myself more into the shadow behind the leg of a chair. Can she see me?
“I know you think you’re doing the right thing by leaving us, but this could work.”
How? I want to scream, but I remain quiet, feeling like she has more to share.
“There are no rules for this. I’m pretty sure you’re the first man to be turned into a rat.”
Jeremy stands next to her, grabbing her hand. “This is Ghostlight Falls. The weird is accepted here. Maybe we can’t have a conventional relationship, but we could make this work, all three of us, together, each of us having an equal part.”
“So, tell me how this would work?” They twirl around, facing me on their abandoned dining table as I lounge against Charlotte’s empty wine glass.
