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"No," Rhiannon rolled her eyes, "please, take him."
Before walking out the door, Thad looked back seriously, "Think about what I said, Rhi.Okay?"
"Okay."
She spent the afternoon doing nothing but thinking. Thinking, looking at the papers, and trying to work on the upcoming script.Close to four she heard voices outside her door, then a knock. "Come in," she called.
Kline opened the door and walked inside, shutting it behind him. His eyes were dark and worried, though he was trying to smile. "Hey-- I came in straight from the airport. I wanted to see you. Are you okay?"
"Let's see, I had a mob of reporters greet me at my door this morning. My grandmother is considering disowning me. And we are apparently the lead subject of about a hundred websites a second. I'm peachy. How was New York?"
"Grimy," he said, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking uncomfortable. "Full of unwelcome surprises. Far away from you."
"You did have Jill with you, though. It couldn't have been all bad. That was really cute on the Today show. I thought Savannah was going to swallow her tongue."
Kline's eyes narrowed slightly. He looked tired and rough around the edges, but Rhiannon didn’t feel like coddling him. "I had Jill with me because she was fighting off her own bad press," he said, "and dealing with some very heavy things. And while the company was nice, yeah, Rhiannon, it was all bad. I don't know how you found out, but I was sitting in front of a live studio audience with a man who seemed ready to tear my guts out with his teeth. I couldn't get away from it and collect my thoughts. I had to think of something right there--in front of an audience full of strangers. I'm sorry if my answers came across as 'cute' for you. I'm downplaying this shit as much as possible.
“You want to know what repercussions have hit me so far?Since your rich grandmother might write you out of her will and all. My ex-wife’s attorney rang.She's filing for primary custody to get my son out of the horrible rotating door of women I have. Are we even now?Since I fucking ruined your life by having you at my place and having some stranger take pictures of me in my own home? Since it's apparently my fault?"
"I never said it was your fault. I just don't know what you expect me to say. You asked me if I'm okay and no, I'm not okay. But what can be done about it? Nothing. I'm sorry that this is causing problems for you with your ex-wife," she said, honestly, "but I'm only one of the women in this equation. If I'd known that there was anything between you and Jill, this wouldn't be happening."
"What do you mean 'anything between' me and Jill? What's that got to do with this?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to play games, Kline. If you and Jill are working on making history repeat itself, leave me out of it, okay? I know you haven't made me any promises, and I don't have any real right to be jealous, but dammit, I am. I really like you and I tried to force that itch of worry away because I wanted to believe you felt something for me."
He looked genuinely shocked and hurt. "I'm not playing games. And I'm not here because I'm trying to make history repeat itself. Believe me, if that's what I wanted, I'd still be in New York.Jill and I do have history, yes. Do I still find her attractive?Yes. Could there be something there?I don't know.Maybe. But I just spent some really amazing time with you and I'm not going to just brush you off. I made it clear that I have some feelings for you, and I want to see where those go. I think we could have something.
“I left her there in her shit to come back to you. Are you okay with that?"
She considered him for a long moment, searching his face for sincerity. The anger and jealousy seemed to fade a bit as he spoke, and she felt herself letting go of the tight grip she'd been trying to keep on herself all day. "Yes, I'm okay with that," she said, quietly. "I'm sorry if I've been harsh, but I've been beside myself and I didn't know what to think."
He shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Rhiannon sighed, shaking her head. "You didn't make the man take the pictures, or the papers print them.
He tried a smile, but it faltered. "So anyway, I came by to see if you were okay and if you needed a ride. Thad told me your place was surrounded by press. You want to come to mine with me? I've called home and had my housekeeper shut the blinds, so we can go in the back way, and no one will see us."
She nodded, then stood up and walked around her desk so that she was standing in front of him. "I did miss you. Even seeing you on TV isn't nearly good enough compared to the real thing," she said, offering him a smile.
He folded her up in his arms and let out a sigh, then kissed the top of her head. "Come on.Let's go home."
Rhiannon woke early to the aromas she was getting used to at Kline's place. He'd taken her home with him and sent his assistant to collect some things for her. Wednesday melted into Thursday, when he took her to work, then went off to do his interview circuit for the day, only to retrieve her, and take her back to his place again.
Now, Friday morning, Kline was on the phone when she wandered down into his kitchen. “I know,” he was saying. “And we talked about it before, but I just don’t– Roland, listen, I– No, I hear what you’re saying. I understand. Does she even want to do that? Oh. Okay. Yes, I understand that. Yeah, I get it. I got it. Yeah. Fine. See you then.”
He hung up and sighed, slumping against his countertop until he spotted Rhiannon, then he stood up and plastered on a smile. “There’s my girl!”
“Roland?”
“Yeah. The Grammys are this weekend. I have an invite and Jill is presenting. Roland wants us there together. She signed with him, and he wants to show us out together to take advantage of our respective Q levels or something.” He waved a hand.
“So, you’re going with her?”
“We’ll meet up on the carpet and we’ll sit together,” he said.
“Why didn’t you ask me?” Rhiannon crossed her arms before she thought about it.
“I didn’t think you’d want to go. I didn’t think you’d want to be on a red carpet so soon after the photos. If I show up with Jill, it takes the heat off you and you can get back to your normal life. It puts water on the fire.”
