Page 24 of The Arrangement
“Curio cabinets. You know, wooden hutches with shelves and doors where you put?—”
“I know what a curio cabinet is,” I snapped at him. “Your dad is making them?”
Rome groaned and slumped in his seat. “Yes. He wanted a new hobby after he retired. Mom said it was the only way to keep him out of the office and out of Sydney’s hair. He got into woodworking and making furniture. He started small with jewelry boxes and birdhouses, but it got bigger. The man is obsessed with fancy curio cabinets.”
Seconds ticked by, and I stared at him. I remembered Rome’s dad, Atlas Ashbridge, well. He was a tall, stocky man with abroad grin and always dressed in an expensive suit. But I had zero memory of the man making anything by hand, let alone woodworking. He had to be worth a few billion dollars, and he was making curio cabinets now instead of lounging on the French Riviera. Weird.
“If it helps, he’s offered to make my coffin more than once in recent years because of my mouth.”
“I believe it.” With a shake of my head, I shoved aside the warring images of Rome’s dad and focused on what we’d been talking about prior to this strange detour. “But the library? You’re a librarian?”
“Yep, even got my master’s in library sciences and information from the University of Kentucky. But that was a few years ago. I got my bachelor’s in psychology from Harvard.”
“You? At Harvard? For psychology?”
Rome looked less than amused as he scowled at me. “I’m not a dumbass.”
“No, I guess not. You just…hated studying, and I don’t remember you liking books.”
The annoyed expression fell away with Rome’s shrug. “I hated studying. Books are fine. When I went to college the first time, I was there to socialize and have fun. I chose psychology because nothing else was interesting, and I had to get a degree to make my parents happy. After I graduated, I knew I was getting my trust fund. My plan was to hand that over to a good financial advisor, let them make it grow, and I’d live off the interest.”
Not surprising. Incredibly annoying. And yeah, maybe I was a little jealous of the very easy life Rome had paved out in front of him.
Stupidly jealous.
“But Sebastian convinced me and Pierce to move here after we finished college. I started volunteering at the Cincinnati Public Library out of boredom and discovered that I enjoyed it.Not because I love reading, but I loved helping people find the information they were searching for. I got addicted to having all the answers.”
“And there’s no place in the world with more answers than the library,” I added with a chuckle.
“Exactly,” Rome said, snapping his fingers at me. “There’s no book in existence that I can’t find. And I love getting the kids interested in books.” His joyful expression sobered in a flash, and he pointed at me. “Before you ask, yes, the library has to pay me a salary because I’m an employee, but everything they pay me gets donated right back to the library.”
Oh.That was really nice.
We polished off the rest of the pizza, talking about the books he’d read to the kids lately, and headed into the gaming area. I kicked his ass some more at pinball, only to have him utterly decimate me at Skee-ball. The asshole found the sweet spot and kept hitting the five-hundred-point hole while my balls bounced off the barrier.
The entire time, we laid the trash talk on thick, calling each other every name in the book, and it felt like when we were kids. There was no malice meant by any of it. Just good-natured teasing.
We didn’t get downtown until after ten. Most of the nervous energy that had pulled the muscles tight in my body had dissipated, and I was able to relax at last. We didn’t talk much on the drive, but it was a comfortable silence. With one date in the books, the other four were looking far more manageable. I might actually keep my job and help the museum.
I pulled into a parking spot and put the car into park. Rome hadn’t told me the exact location of his place, but I was sure he had some flashy penthouse in one of these buildings. All he would admit to was that he was within walking distance of Fountain Square.
“You know, I had a pretty good night. I’ll have to check out that pinball joint again,” Rome admitted as he unbuckled his seat belt.
A soft grunt of agreement rumbled up my throat. “You should take your friends.” I glanced at the clock on the dashboard and did some quick math. I still had time to get home and review my class notes before bed. “Well, I’ll need to check my calendar, but I’ll text you for our next—ahhh!” I screamed as I looked at Rome to find that his left arm was resting on the driver’s seat and he’d leaned in ridiculously close. “What are you doing?” I shouted as I slammed against my door, trying to put as much space between us as possible.
Rome reached out and put his hand on the steering wheel as if he meant to get even closer. “What? Don’t you end every date with a kiss?”
“What? No! Fuck, No! I’m not kissing you!”
Rome’s crazed laughter filled the car, and he flopped back into his door. “Holy shit! The fucking panic! You’re hilarious!”
“It’s not funny, you twisted fuck! Why would you do that?”
Rome grinned and pointed at me. “To see that expression right there. I’ll be waiting for your text.”
He didn’t give me the chance to shout or sputter anything else. Rome opened the door and rolled out of my car. I watched him in the rearview mirror as he strolled down the block, his hands in the pockets of his coat and a spring in his goddamn step.
Oh my God, I hate this man. Four dates are still too many.
