I lay against his chest, breathing in the smell of his skin. The moment was so perfect, nothing could ruin it.
Then again, nothing perfect ever lasts.
The sound of the doorbell pulled us from our half-dozing. “Media?” Derek mumbled, not moving.
I pushed up on my knees and peeked out through my new sheer curtains. Two familiar people stood on the front porch.
My parents.
“Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” Derek pushed up on his elbow.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I found my bra where it had dropped and quickly secured it around my chest.
Derek was on his feet now. “Wifey, talk to me, what’s wrong?”
I blew a hair out of my face. “My parents are at the door.”
He ran his tongue over his teeth, pulled his jeans and shirt on, and left the room.
It took me longer to get my tight jeans back into place, throw on my shirt, and try to make my hair look like we hadn’t just been having sex. Once I was done, I skittered towards the living room on bare feet.
“Come in and we can talk, just know that if you upset Rosalind, this is my property, and I will ask you to leave it.” Derek’s voice floated to where I was coming into the room, and I fought a smile.
The man had my back.
I stepped around the corner to see my parents standing stiffly on the doormat, looking around the house with disinterest.
“Hi, Mom and Dad, what are you doing here?”
My mother’s grip on her purse tightened, and she ran her eyes over me. I knew my hair was still a mess, and my clothes were too casual for any event the Huxleys would ever attend.
“We told you we’d be in touch, but you haven’t answered your phone,” my father replied, as he side-eyed Derek, who stood with his thick arms folded over his chest.
I sighed.
Derek’s eyes cut to me, and I gave him a little nod. He stood back from the door and gestured towards the living room. “I’ll give you a moment.”
My parents walked into the room and perched on the edge of the couch. “As promised, we gave you a week,” my mother said. She looked perfectly pressed as always in a pair of slacks with a delicate blouse.
“And as I said, I have settled down quietly with my husband.”
My father frowned. “You can’t expect us to believe that.”
I fought the urge to fiddle as they both studied me. “I don’t know why you have an issue with this. Being married will wipe out my party girl image in the media, which is what you wanted. Living here, I am out of the spotlight completely.”
“We don’t want you out of the picture, Rosalind, we want you to behave the way we raised you. You know, we need to present a certain image to the public. How can we do that when one of our daughters isn’t there?”
“I’m sure Derek and I can make it to a few events a year, Mom.”
My parents exchanged a look.
My heart sank. There wasn’t going to be a quick resolution to the issues in my family. It wasn’t just that I had gotten married and left Vegas. It was who I’d married. If Derek had been a beloved actor with a wholesome image, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“Rosalind. We tolerated your rebellions in your twenties, but you’re thirty now. We expected you to grow up, but all you’ve done is come up with a new way to throw an even more public tantrum. And you’ve dragged some random man into it.”
“He has a name, Mom.”
