AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I almost got a part in this,” he said, gesturing to the TV.
My jaw might have hit the ground floor when it fell open. “Friends? Are you serious?”
“Yeah, when I was about six. It was all set up, but I got the flu and they gave the part to someone else. My dad was furious. I tried so hard to pretend I was well enough to go on, but my mom figured it out, and that was the end of it.”
“I didn’t realize you started so young.”
“When I was that little, it was just the odd thing here or there. My dad was always finding auditions, but my mom put her foot down half the time. I didn’t get my first real breakout role untilJust Us.”
Of which I’d seen every episode at least a half-dozen times. “That’s where I met you.”
“Met me, huh?”
“My first introduction. I was pretty smitten.”
“In...uh...elementary school?”
I scoffed. “Middle school, thank you very much.” I swatted his arm, and there was literally no give. Pure muscle, this man. “How old do you think I am?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “My sister taught me not to answer that question. I’m no fool.”
“Well, I’m old enough to follow your character because we were the same age when the episodes aired.”
He looked thoughtful. “Then you’re only three years younger than me.”
Because he was older than the part he’d played. Yep. This, I already knew.
“Cake?” I asked.
Rhett opened the Bostom cream pies, and we laughed at the absurdity of the mess in the containers. They’d taken a beating on their journey to the floor. We took turns sampling each one and rating them, our answers—unsurprisingly—differing on which one was the best.
I didn’t really know what to think of how different our food tastes were. If he was my soulmate, shouldn’t we agree about these things? I guess we could embrace the concept of opposites attract.
“You missed the last half of the date tonight.” He spoke to me, but his attention was on Chandler and Joey admiring their duck on screen.
“I had to go lobster-roll hunting. I cleared it with Adalyn first.”
He nodded. “What would I have done if there was an eyebrow emergency?”
I looked at him, and his attention was still on the TV. “Aneyebrowemergency?”
“Yeah. Like if one of the flames on the dinner candle reached up and caught one of my brows on fire and singed it off. What would I have done? I would’ve needed you.”
“Needed me for what? The most I could have done was pray it grows back quickly. My skills don’t extend to hair regrowth.” I could have colored it in eventually, of course, but not on freshly singed skin.
“But what if I’d needed you?” He faced me then, and I was unprepared for the magnitude of his full attention.
All I could think about was the fact that I’d been missing at the end of the evening, and Rhett had noticed. “Thenyou’dhave prayed that I had a good, steady hand with an eyebrow pencil. Adalyn would have called me if I’d been needed.”
He nodded. “Probably true. So she has your number, then?”
“Both she and Bridget do, yeah. Never fear on your eyebrows’ behalf, Rhett. I was never unreachable.”
Though I found it odd that a man who didn’t usually wear or require much makeup would be this worried about having his makeup artist nearby.
“Good.” His deep voice slid over my skin.
Good? Good. Okay, I wasn’t going to overthink that. The pie was finished, the lobster rolls put away, and we were comfortably watchingFriends. This evening had literally turned into my dreams come true. Charlie popped into my head.Don’t go full-Beth. Rhett has gone through a lot this year. He would not be interested in anyone who came on to him too strongly.
