201 Days #3
He took her around his backyard, introducing her to friends from UCLA, where he had been an undergraduate; Wharton; and work.
Rhea relaxed on his arm. His solid body, his low, grounded voice—he was having the same calming effect on her he always did.
Danny was a human Xanax. His friends were all warm and welcoming and seemed very excited to learn that Danny had a girlfriend.
As they moved from group to group, she began to feel like a celebrity: the woman Danny Beckett finally chose.
At Ada’s baby shower, the shock about Rhea’s boyfriend meant Rhea was an odious crone, but the shock about Danny’s girlfriend meant he was a discerning prince who took his time picking the lucky winner.
Rhea was trying to be mentally present and enjoy her winnings, but all she could think about was Han’s advice:
“Rhea, you need to show Danny the kind of stable, loving parent you would be, so you can make the idea of raising a child together feel safe and finally have your dream life.”
Okay, fine, those were not his exact words, but that was the sentiment.
As she engaged in small talk with Danny’s social circle, she kept her eyes peeled for an opportunity to follow Han’s unintentional guidance.
What better way to soften one’s negative stance on parenthood than learning about their partner’s amazing parental qualities?
A few minutes after Rhea observed Danny’s gentle patience while drawing with Chichi, she’d started ovulating.
Surely, Danny seeing Rhea’s maternal side would have a similar effect.
Rhea sat by the fire, eating a veggie burger, listening to Danny’s UCLA friend talk about his upcoming tonsillectomy.
He was hoping the surgery would help his sleep apnea, and Rhea genuinely tried to care about this, but she was keeping one eye on every child at the party, hoping she could bond with one of them in front of her boyfriend.
Danny sat down next to her with a veggie burger of his own and joined the riveting topic of tonsils.
“Uncle Danny, wanna come in the bounce house?” a small voice said.
Rhea whipped around to find a ten-year-old boy who looked like Danny standing a few feet away.
“Of course, bud, lemme eat this real quick and I’ll go with you,” Danny said. “Oh, and, Kai, this is my girlfriend, Rhea.”
“Hello,” Kai said politely.
“This is my nephew,” Danny said to Rhea.
Kai turned to leave, obviously not wanting to continue this interaction further, but Rhea said, “Hi there, Kai! I like your shirt. Are those Ninja Turtles?”
Kai turned back and said, “No, just turtles.”
And rather than wait for a possibly more inviting, friendlier child to bond with, Rhea said, “I’ll go in the bounce house with you!”
Thank goodness someone had trained Kai to stifle his autonomy and sacrifice himself to keep all the adults around him comfortable.
Rather than following his instincts and saying, “No thanks, weirdo,” he sadly said, “Sure,” and headed toward the bounce house, trying to hide his obvious No thanks, weirdo energy.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that—you’re eating,” Danny said.
“No—I’m basically done.” Rhea stuffed half a burger in her mouth. “I’m happy to go. I love kids.”
She noticed a slight hitch in Danny’s gaze and regretted the last sentence; it felt a little too dicey given their history.
She put her beer on a nearby table and practically skipped toward the bounce house, as if she wanted nothing more than to toss her aging body around an inflatable castle with a strange child.
Kai was nowhere to be seen; he was probably hiding in the depths of the castle, hoping to shake her.
As she wobbled up the inflatable slide in her wedge heels, more regrets overcame her; she regretted wearing wedges and a daringly short Zimmermann dress, she regretted eating a second veggie burger, but mostly she regretted ever talking to Kai.
She casually tossed her wedges; they landed in a pile of cacti.
She got on her hands and knees to crawl through the opening that was meant for small children.
She had to crawl one-handed and use the other hand for holding down the back of her dress, hopefully covering her vagina as she struggled through the tiny archway.
Once inside, she realized there were far more children at this party than she’d thought.
The bounce house was packed with sweaty, sticky bodies, and most of them were voluntarily smashing into one another.
She clawed the perimeter and tried to stay upright.
She saw Kai on the opposite end of the bounce house, no doubt trying to get lost in the crowd.
She ignored his Leave me alone vibes and bounced across the castle toward him.
Her breasts immediately flew out of her dress, and she had to stuff them back into her bra while she continued bouncing.
One hand held up the top of her dress while the other hand held down the bottom.
She was in the middle of the castle now; even if she wanted to stop bouncing, there were too many children bouncing near her.
Rather than bouncing herself, she was being bounced, and she hated it.
She took deep breaths, trying not to spew veggie burger all over the innocent crowd.
She could not fathom what had made her think this was a good idea.
How was she going to bond with Kai in this chaos?
And why would Kai want to associate with this middle-aged stranger who kept flashing her breasts at children?
“Hey, Kai, how high can you jump?!”
Rhea’s adrenaline had spiked; the lack of control over her body was making her lose control over her mind.
Kai pretended not to hear her. Every time she tried to bounce closer to him, someone bounced her farther away.
She knew she needed to leave the poor kid alone, but she couldn’t slink out of the bounce house this early.
She felt like she had been in there for several years, but, in reality, it had probably not yet been a full minute.
She tried to relax and let the crowd bounce her closer to a wall.
Ideally, she would cling to the wall and let a few more minutes pass before she crawled out of the castle.
She would put on a big smile and make it seem like she’d had a great time with Kai.
She doubted Kai would out her; he seemed like too much of a well-trained people pleaser.
She tried to spring herself toward a wall, but a larger child smashed into her and she fell to the ground.
She sheltered her face from all the socked feet and curled into the fetal position.
Huddled in a ball, her body was jounced around the castle like popcorn until finally, she slammed into a wall.
She dug her fingernails into the netting and held on for dear life.
From her low vantage point, she saw Kai slip out the exit.
He’d blown her cover; everyone would know there had been no bonding.
Rhea admitted defeat and was crawling toward solid ground when a slight sniffle came to her rescue.
She barely heard it over the crowd. She stayed low and spotted a very young girl curled up and softly crying; jackpot.
Rhea crawled over to the girl while keeping one hand on the netting.
“Are you okay?” Rhea asked.
“I hurt my mouth.”
The little girl took in Rhea’s adultness and ability to aid her plight and started wailing.
“Oh no, lemme see….”
The girl stuck out her tongue. There was blood in her mouth.
“Oh, yeah, I see that, do you wanna get outta here?”
The girl nodded, and Rhea scooped her up. Rhea shakily stood and kept one hand on the netting while she clutched the girl and bounced toward the exit. She crawled out with the girl clinging to her neck and slid down the inflatable slide.
As if he had been training for this his entire life, Danny sprinted toward Rhea and ever so subtly lifted the front of her low-cut dress.
“Was my nipple out?”
“…Don’t worry, no one saw.”