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Oh, thank God. She’s not leaving.
“I’ll be right back,” I promise, before I leave the room.
She shoots me a weak smile.
Whoever the guy is, he’s officially on my shit list.
I march upstairs, and Rueben instantly appears in his bedroom doorway.
His curious gaze moves to my wrapped hand, and he straightens, raising his eyebrows.
“Did you punch a wall, or something?”
I let out a sigh, and nod at him to follow me into the bathroom.
He trails after me. “I got dressed.”
“I can see that,” I tell him, though I’m not sure sweatpants and a tank top really constitutes getting dressed. It looks more like he’s trying to show off his body while Scarlett’s in the house. If it wasn’t a regular look for him, I might think that’s what he’s doing.
“So, can I hang around downstairs, then?” he asks.
I move to the sink and drop the mess of melted chocolate and shell pieces into the basin.
“Ooh,” Rueben murmurs, looking over my shoulder. “M&M’s.”
“They melted while she was telling me about her ex-boyfriend,” I confess, growling out that last word. I don’t like the way it feels in my mouth.
I turn on the faucet and start rinsing my fingers.
“Her ex-boyfriend,” Rueben repeats. “Did she call him that? Because I really can’t see her using that word. I think the last time she was talking about a guy he was … what did she call it … hmm.”
He stands next to me, lost in thought.
I know better than to interrupt him.
He’ll either remember, or he won’t.
Saying something now will only intrude on his process.
I concentrate on washing my hand, which takes a little longer than I expect.
It takes scrubbing under my nails to get the last of the chocolate off.
I doubt I’ll be reaching for another pack of those again soon.
“A bedwarmer!” Rueben exclaims, smiling triumphantly that he was able to remember the word.
I kind of wish he hadn’t remembered. It’s way more casual than boyfriend and it absolutely sounds like a word Scarlett would use, but I don’t want to think about her with another guy like that.
Waiting for her to want something more than the party lifestyle she’s been living has been a strange kind of torture. The moment I knew she was meant for us, that we had a true mate, no other woman could hold an ounce of appeal for me. I quit dating overnight. Scout did the same. Rueben was still hitting night clubs for a little bit with his younger friends, but he quickly admitted that it didn’t feel the same anymore.
And Gus, well, he hasn’t cared about dating since college.
Something happened back then that he won’t talk about.
He hasn’t dated for as long as I’ve known him. He says it’s a waste of time.
This is different, and I know he knows that. I just don’t think he can admit it.
