Page 51 of No Rings Attached
Tonight with Ellie was far from awkward.
The whole, ‘creating our fake dating history’, was the most fun I’d had in a very long time. I think Ellie felt the same. I already knew she had a great sense of humor from our previous communications, but tonight felt like we were on fire. We just clicked on a whole other level.
There was no way her family would see us together and not believe we were dating.
“You need a couple name.” Goldie’s face screwed up in thought as she helped clear the dishes from the table. “Something like … Drellie … Oh no, that’s awful. Or maybe Ellew. Okay, nobody put me in charge of this kind of thing again. Help!”
We all erupted into laughter.
“I don’t think there is a good one.” Ellie giggled the loudest. Her unfettered joy drew me in and made me want to stay and bask in her happiness. When she glanced at me and rolled her eyes, it was like I could see her thoughts.
Being around Glamma and her friends was something else. Watching Ellie embrace their uniqueness and their well-meaning intentions made me feel something I wasn’t prepared to articulate.
I still couldn’t figure out how that dumbass Kyle left her for her sister.
He was a damn idiot.
Ignoring her own demand, Glamma kept trying. “What if we use Andrew and Eleanor? Then they’d be Andeanor, or Eleanrew, or wait, I got another one.” Glamma laughed so hard she was wheezing in between words and almost dropped the glasses she picked up. “Andranor!”
Gladys pointed her bright blue fingernail at us. “Elearew. Eledrew. Forget it. This is impossible. I give up.”
“You all are too much,” Martha declared with a smile. “I’ve got the perfect one, Drewie.”
“Aww, that is kind of cute.” I looked at Ellie, and she shrugged. Maybe not?
Martha waved us away when we started cleaning up our dishes. “You can all leave it here. I’ll wash everything later.”
“Nonsense.” Goldie shot her a stern glare. “Friendsdo notlet friends do all the cleaning by themselves.”
“Why don’t you two practiceotherthings while we finish up here,” Glamma shooed us out of the kitchen with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“Other things?” Ellie asked. “What? Oh,otherthings. Is your grandmother trying to tell us to make out while they’re in the kitchen?”
I took her hand and led her to the sofa. “I think so.”
“Then we should probably do what she says. Wouldn’t want to make her angry after all the trouble she just went through.”
“Yeah. We don’t want to seem ... ungrateful,” I agreed.
We sat on the sofa and I pulled Ellie into my arms. This time, she leaned into me without hesitation. It was becoming so easy to be with her in this way that I didn’t even think about how we were pretending. Everything about being with her felt real to me.
But I sensed something was going on in her head. She was too quiet. Too still.
“I don’t want to take advantage of you, Drew,” Ellie admitted, keeping her gaze focused on her lap.
Instead of straight out telling her she was wrong, I tried another tactic. “What’s going on?”
“You’ve been amazing. And if nothing else, tonight has shown me you have a good heart.” She reached up and patted my chest.
I cupped my hand over hers, enjoying this closeness without the need to perform for witnesses. “But?”
“If this goes sideways, I don’t want things to blow up in your face. I don’t want there to be any negative press for the business or for you. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened, and let’s be real, your entire family is helping me because they’regoodpeople. My family doesn’t act like that. They get what they want, first and foremost. Everything and everyone else comes second.”
I rubbed my thumb over the back of her hand. “You deserve so much more than that from your family.”
“I know. I’m seeing that the longer I’m here, but they’re all I have.”
I wanted to protest and tell her she had me, but that wouldn’t be fair. Once her sister’s wedding was over, so were we, and I wouldn’t ever make her false promises.
