Page 74 of Rebound With Me
“I think it makes no difference to me if you do or don’t, and you’ve got no business asking my opinion.”
“It’s just, you know. What if I give up my room at Darcy’s place to move in with him, and then he realizes this was just a rebound? I’ll never find as good a place with as cheap a rent as I have now.” She bites her lower lip, pretending to be confused. I almost hate her.
I think of Nina and take a deep breath. “Who knows what’ll happen. You either enjoy what you have right now or you don’t, I guess. Personally, I’m actually grateful that you ended up with Russell, or I probably never would have found Nina. So thanks.”
She looks at me, her lower lip quivering, and then her eyes harden. “Yeah, I feel the same way. If you hadn’t made it so unbearable for me to keep being Charlie’s nanny towards the end there, I wouldn’t have gotten my job now and I wouldn’t have met Russ. So thanks for being such a moody dick all the time.”
“My pleasure.” I grin. She smiles. It’s probably as close as we’re ever going to get to a truce. I start to turn to go back into the restaurant. “Just stay away from Charlie. I mean it.”
* * *
I gave our waiter my credit card to pay for the table before returning from the lobby, and managed to get through dessert without showing any hint of emotion towards Sadie, but she had to get in one last dig about how “fascinating” it is that Nina and I got together, and I slammed my water glass down on the table. It startled Nina, I saw how Russell gave her a look afterwards, and Sadie had this smug expression on her face. I had to get us out of there immediately.
Now we’re back in our room, and she’s barely said two words to me. The TV is on, probably more to block out any sounds that Sadie and Russell will make when they get back to their room, but also to give her something to look at other than me.
I feel sick.
“I shouldn’t have agreed to go to dinner with them,” I say.
She looks down at her hands. “I’m glad we did, to be honest.”
“You are?”
She nods. “Mostly. I had a pretty good little talk with Russell when you were in the lobby.”
I feel my ears getting warm. “Yeah?”
“Not a lot, I just…I think it’ll be okay for us to work together. I’m not mad at him anymore. I don’t think he’s mad at me.”
“That’s good. I’m glad. Can we turn off the TV?”
She picks up the remote and turns it off.
I sit on the sofa beside her and take her hands in mine. We both jump a little when we hear doors and drawers in the next room slamming shut.
“Uh oh,” she mumbles. “How’d your talk with Sadie go?”
“It was…mildly dysfunctional.”
“She’s very…shrewd.”
“If by that you mean ‘manipulative,’ then yes. She is.”
“I think Russell’s really taken with her.”
I exhale, slowly. “I do too. I’m so sorry I let her get to me like that. Slamming the glass down, and…”
“I saw what she was doing, I don’t blame you.”
“Still, I should have been able to control myself better.”
She gives me a quick glance, and I have no idea what it means.
I can hear Sadie yelling behind the wall, so clearly, “Oh my God just give meoneminute!” I can’t imagine the principal’s still going to want her to move in with him now, but maybe he likes the drama. You never know how people are going to respond to each other. Maybe I wouldn’t have found Nina so appealing if I’d met her a couple of years ago, although that’s hard to imagine.
She’s watching the door to our room, as if she’s afraid one of them will knock on it. We hear Russell say “Just come on,” and then a few seconds later their door shuts and Sadie is stomping past our room.
“We’re leaving!” she yells out. “Enjoy the rest of your stay!”
