Page 40 of Take 2
Ellen starts joking about the rain on the TV, and Ryan shakes my shoulders. “New rule: no sad crying at the Oscars either. No betting, no crying.”
“Just champagne and sex.”
“Exactly.”
“Can I cry ifHerwins best picture?”
“I would be deeply concerned if you didn’t.” His steps force me backward to the living room. “We’re missing Ellen’s roast of all the nominees.”
“I do love you more than movies.” It sounds like I need to convince him, and I shouldn’t. Not after four years. Not after vows and uprooting our lives together.
“I know.” He kisses me and sits me down.
Deep breath. It’s the Academy Awards. No bad feelings. Hollywood’s biggest night and my nerdiest. That can fix anything.
Ryan offers me an effervescing flute and sits before tapping his against mine. “Happy Anniversary, Bella.”
“Are we even going to celebrate the date we got married?”
He leans back and wraps an arm around me. “There aren’t going to be billboards and commercials and stuff all over the place to remind me of that date, so probably not.”
The Academy Awards were always important to me, and the addition of our own happy milestone being attached to it is perfect.
I clap for Lupita Nyong’o’s win and roll my eyes so hard they might fall out whenHerwins original screenplay. “It was rigged! Apple rigged it because it’s a love story about Siri.”
Ryan covers my mouth and looks around with wide eyes. “Bella, don’t say things like that. They’re always listening.”
Anna comments on my Insta post, calling me a thirst trap and asking if I always write in a cocktail dress and heels.
Ryan sees it and laughs. “I’ll send her the messy bun and hoodie pictures to disillusion her.”
“You better not take sneaky pictures of me like that when I’m working.”
“Absolutely, I do. You’re beautiful when you’re focused.”
“And sexy when I’m excited.” I bob my eyebrows. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“Who’s been telling you you’re sexy?”
“My husband.”
“Damn it, you’re married?”
I wiggle my ring finger at him.
“Should have known a woman like you couldn’t stay on the market. Let me guess, you met him while you were yachting in the Mediterranean?”
“So close. It was a college bar in Madison, Wisconsin.”
He bites his lip. “Only you could make the words ‘Madison, Wisconsin’ sound sexy.”
“Madison, Wisconsin,” I say with over-dramatized heat.
“Stop it, or I’m going to make you miss it whenHerwins best picture.”
“Maybe you should start fucking me just in caseHerwins.”
“Preemptive consolation?”
