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“I thought so. We tried to contact him once, but he wasn’t interested in connecting. I’ve basically tried to forget him ever since.” Which was, frankly, much easier said than done.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“So that’s the reason an amazing woman like you is single.” He laughed, but it was void of humor. “At least you haven’t been pining over me like a psycho. You should see some of the mail Adalyn has sorted through for me.”
An awkward laugh bubbled up from my chest. How many of those letters had been from me? “Yeah, well, a lot of us grew up with you on TV.”
“But television isn’t real. Those characters are fake. Most people are sane enough to understand that.”
Hmm.Definitelyglad I didn’t reveal how much I’d loved him. I was so glad he seemed to think I was kidding every time I mentioned my infatuation. “Maybe not, but I do think sitcoms have shaped me a little. I watched dads on TV and sort of formed an opinion of what a man should be from that.”
“That’s understandable.” He squeezed my hand. “You didn’t have anything else to base it on.”
“I had a little, but not much. Really, my only father figure is my best friend’s dad. And he is amazing. He is a quintessential sitcom dad. He plays golf, and he loves his girls, and he loves me.”
“But he’s not your dad.”
“Nope.”
“So, serial dater, eh?”
“I’m not proud. I have a hard time lasting after the second or third date. Six weeks is sort of my cutoff.”
“We’re on week two, yeah? Guess I get four more weeks of Bethany bliss.”
I laughed and shoved him in the arm, hoping he wasn’t okay with that cutoff time.
He strung his arm around my waist, pulling me around so he could hug me. “You do know that sitcoms are fake, right? Not all dads are great.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered into his shoulder, reading between the lines.Hisdad wasn’t great.
“Part of me would’ve preferred for my mom to leave my dad years ago, but I kind of owe my career to him too.”
I thought of the story of Rhett almost being onFriendsand how his dad would’ve made him go, but his mom had him stay home. It made me wonder how difficult it was for Rhett to break into show business and how much he did it to get his dad’s approval. “Because he pushed you to audition?”
“I had a knack for it. He saw that, and he capitalized on it. I guess he taught me how to take advantage of a situation.” His voice was bitter.
If Rhett’s dad stole as much money as Charlie believed he did, then he definitely learned how to capitalize on dishonesty. But Rhett wasn’t like that at all. I wished I could have said so to him, but I couldn’t break Charlie’s trust.
Rhett’s shoulders fell a little, his stress deflating. “You’re easy to talk to.”
“Funny, Mrs. Daugherty said that the other night.”
“At my cousin’s fundraiser? Was that the woman whose hair you were fixing?”
I leaned back. “You saw that?”
Rhett wasn’t smiling. He was looking down at me seriously, and it occurred to me that having such an honest conversation probably wasn’t normal for him. Given the way Jackson McTeeth had acted at that charity ball, most people probably weren’t very authentic around Rhett. It had to be difficult not knowing whom to trust.
“Yes, I saw it.” He wrapped his arms around me tighter, and I allowed myself to be enveloped in billboard cologne and salty sea air. “You still owe me a dance, by the way.”
“Say when, and it’s yours.”
“When,” he murmured.
“We don’t have music.”
