Page 88 of So Much More
“Hmm.”
“Hmm, what?” I stick the green beans into my mouth.
“I think if she considers the two of you to be dating now, she would have said so. That would have taken her all of five seconds. There was time.”
I swallow and glare at him. “Sometimes I don’t like you very much.”
He shrugs.
“You should be nice to me,” I say. “I gave you a home.”
“I can afford my own home. I moved in with you because you couldn’t afford that fancy two-bedroom apartment on your new salary.”
That shuts me up. Even though I assumed that was the case, he hasn’t said it before.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s true,” I finally admit. “And you didn’t have to do that for me.”
“I know, but there was also no reason for both of us to be uprooted from our homes because of Dad. Plus, it was partly selfish. I wasn’t all that interested in signing a year-long lease, since I was hoping there’d be another person involved in my housing decisions before the year is up.”
It takes me a second to figure out what he’s talking about, but when I do, I grin at him. “Whenareyou going to pop the question? I get that you didn’t want to talk about it with our sisters, but now it’s just me, and I need to know.”
“Why do you need to know?”
“Because I’m your best friend, that’s why.”
He sighs. “I guess that’s a good enough reason. And the answer is I don’t know. I don’t want to do it too soon. It’s not even been two months since she came back into my life.”
“But she’s the one. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain who’s around you for more than five seconds. And the two of you have already dealt with more drama together than most couples do in a decade. If you were going to break up, it would have happened by now. Frankly, since she’s willing to put up with our family’s mess, you need to stick a ring on her finger pronto.”
“I have to buy one first.”
“We’ll do it tomorrow,” I declare.
“We’re spending tomorrow with Mom,” he reminds me.
“I’m sure she’d love nothing more than to go ring shopping with us.”
“She can’t be seen with us in public yet.”
“Oh, yeah.” I tap my fingers on the tabletop. “We’ll do it soon, though.”
“Why do you need to be there?”
“Because I can’t let you accidentally buy her a cubic zirconia. That’s totally something you would do.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “That’s somethingyouwould do.”
thirty-eight
“So,” the older of Randall’s sisters says to me as we’re all lounging on the couches and eating popcorn at the lake house Friday night, “what’s going on between you and our brother?”
Before I consider how much to tell her, I take a second to remember this one is Tonya. Since the girls’ names are so similar, I had to come up with a way to remember which of them is which. Tonya-with-a-T is taller and older. Sonya-with-an-S is shorter and younger.
“We’re spending some time together.” I know it’s a vague answer, but Randall and I didn’t talk about whether we’re officially dating again yet, so I can’t tell the girls we are. Plus, I don’t know what he might have told them about us.
Sonya rolls her eyes. “That’s what he said. What I really want to know is if this ‘spending time together’ includes kissing.”
