“I’m not sure I know what to say to that, so how about I ignore it and tell you what a good job you did.” I couldn’t decide if greed hunger was something I needed to have a conversation with him about or not, and I’d have to think about it before we came back to it.
Well, my question shifted the conversation somehow and had him dialing back on the drama a bit, looking somewhat like a pleased Disney villain.
“I remembered my manners and I asked questions and I looked like a big boy.” His happy dance as he rubbed his hands together said he no longer felt the need to pretend to be an adult. “I was better than Meredith.”
Laughing would be inappropriate, right?
“You were very well-behaved and looked like a big boy.” He was technically an adult pretending to be Little pretending to be big to make sure he looked more well-behaved than my family.
I was going to have to think about that one too because I couldn’t decide if that was unhealthy or masking or just Rhodes being Rhodes.
“I even tricked her.” Oh, he was pleased about that bit of con artistry too. “She had to color first.”
Somehow him ignoring the coloring page had made her just a bit insane and so she’d ended up stealing it from him. The whole thing was confusing and ridiculous, but Rhodes had loved it.
“You were amazing but I know how hard you worked, so how about we just relax for the rest of the night?” In my head I’d thought I’d be hanging out with grown-up Rhodes as he met my family for the first time, so I hadn’t really planned a Little date.
Or a Little pretending to be big now being Little again date.
“I… I get to color now.” Sounding a bit like a drunk who’d needed to be sober too long, he exhaled like he was exhaustedand at the end of his rope. “I could only do a tiny bit because I had to beat her.”
I was going to have to decide if they were forming a healthy relationship or not because just telling myself it was saner than he had with his family wasn’t believable.
“You did a good job.” Kind of? Well, depending on the scale. “But now you get to be my little firecracker and don’t have to pretend anymore.”
“No more pretending.” He sighed out a smile that time, stress easing back a bit as we got closer to home. “But I did it and I get to check it off the list. You did the argument. I get to check this one.”
“Oh, don’t start about that.” He’d cheated. “I’m not rehashing that with you.”
A fight shouldn’t count when he picked it just to be able to check it off something on the strangest to-do list I’d ever seen.
He made an understanding sound and reached over to pat my leg. “It’s all done and we did a good job.”
We’d done a good job because we’d fought and then moved past the drama and said sorry.
I’m sorry I disagreed with you about what boiling water looks like.
Fucking ridiculous.
“Still not talking about it.” Because I was only going to agree to losing an argument that dumb one time and one time only. “Which one do you want to work on next?”
We had about a half dozen more but he was more fixated on some than others.
“I know.” His evil snicker had me immediately mentally switching to fine print mode. “I already picked.”
Oh, that sounded dangerous.
“Which did you pick?” One of the cleaning ones? He had a firm belief that he needed to learn to fold his clothes before Icould give him a key. I was hoping to talk him out of that one because he was never going to be able to do it. “Are you going to make me dinner?”
He also was firmly convinced he needed to learn to make my favorite foods, but I was pretty sure we were working off awhat to do before we got marriedlist. Nothing on it had anything to do with keys or even sleepover limits.
“No.” I couldn’t decide how worried his maniacal grin and second leg pat should make me. “I know.”
This was just getting more and more stressful.
“Are you trying to make me nervous because I made you meet my family?” He’d do it. “You’re important to me, so I had to make sure they knew that.”
His groan was adorable but I loved the way he flopped in the passenger seat like a dying fish and covered his face. “I’m special.”
