13
Rock and roll: Music for the neck downwards.—Keith Richards
After eating one too many of the doughnuts Mel brought home, Rhett dawdled over her coffee while she pretended to read the comics section from the newspaper.
In reality, she was trying to figure out the best way to approach Rhys again.
A long night of heavy-duty thinking and introspection gave her answers to questions she didn't even know she had.
Now it was time to straighten things out and begin to set them right.
From across the table came the rattle of paper as Mel skimmed the Business section of the Dallas Morning News.
Ever since she returned from her usual Sunday morning run to the bakery there had been an air of smugness about her, and Rhett couldn't help but wonder just what she'd gotten up to while buying pastries.
Knowing Mel, it probably had to do with a man, and Rhett figured Gary was on his way out, soon to be replaced by whoever captured Mel's attention.
Rhett folded the comics and set them aside. If anyone knew how to approach a man, it was her sister. Who better to ask for advice? She cleared her throat in preparation.
"So, I did what you said and thought about my situation with Rhys."
The Business section was flung aside as Mel leaned forward, eyes bright with anticipation. "And?"
Rhett huffed a short laugh of surprise. "Well, I appreciate your enthusiasm."
Mel's cheeks grew pink. "Sorry. But you're my baby sister, and I just want you to be happy, okay? So." She cupped her chin in her hands. "Was it the whole James/Collinsworth thing?"
"Not really. I'm not saying I didn't get a little freaked out when I realized I was actually sitting there with the guy I've drooled over since I was kid, but..."
"But that's not what made you want to stop?" Mel narrowed her eyes in what looked like skepticism.
"Are you kidding?" Rhett laughed again, and admitted the truth. "It just made me want to do it more."
"Well, that's understandable."
"What?"
"Nothing." Mel shook her head. "Just thinking about something else. So, did you listen to some Stones and figure it out?"
"Huh." An indelicate snort accompanied her statement. "Mick and Keith were of no help with this."
Mel's lips twitched with amusement. "Did you try Robert and Jimmy?"
"Yep. Also Steve and Neal, Bret and C.C., Lars and James, and even Bon and Angus."
Amusement turned into full-blown hilarity as Mel laughed so hard tears came to her eyes. "Bon and Angus? I'd imagine their advice would be to tell Rhys to take the highway to hell."
"Pretty much," Rhett giggled. "It was one of the few times in my life that music has let me down, and I was some kind of pissed off, too.
" She snickered along with her sister for a bit before she got herself under control.
"Okay, serious now. I was lying there in bed.
Thinking," she added with an arch look at Mel.
"And about one o'clock this morning I realized what really freaked me out yesterday. I felt like I was cheating."
"Cheating?" After a moment of thought, Mel's blank look turned to one of incredulity. "On Todd?"
"Mm-hm." Rhett nodded. "Look, Mel, I was married for twenty-four years.
That's almost a quarter of a century. Todd was it for me.
I'm not saying I didn't admire other men, because that would be a lie.
And yes, I even fantasized about other men sometimes when I was mad at Todd, or too tired to really want him.
Or if I heard Rhys's voice on the radio.
" As she finally let that particular cat out of the bag, her face grew hot with a furious blush.
"You mean you..." Mel blinked. "You mean that even after your first time you kept fantasizing about Rhys?"
"Not every time." Disgruntled, Rhett crossed her arms over her chest. "But there were times over the years when I just couldn't get into it with Todd. And thinking about Rhys worked so well my first time, so...Oh, come on! Every woman does it, and you know it."
"You're right, we all do it. But this is a little odd." She waved her hand at the ceiling. "I mean he's right up there."
"Yes, he is. And yesterday I sat next to him and felt his leg against mine, and his breath on my neck, and his lips on mine.
" Rhett swallowed. "And it was real, and I didn't want him to stop.
I knew things were going to progress, and I was going to let him make love to me.
That's when that part of my mind started shrieking that I was cheating. "
"But Rhett." Mel appeared flummoxed. "Todd's dead."
Lips twisted in exasperation, Rhett tilted her head.
"Ya think? But Mel, yesterday was the first time I was even close to being with someone else.
That part of me that was a married woman for so long was kind of...
I don't know. Taken by surprise, I guess.
" She busied herself straightening the scattered newspapers so she wouldn't have to meet her sister's bemused gaze.
"It just took some time to realize that I'm not betraying anyone if I'm with someone else. "
"Hm. I never thought about that. So, it wasn't the whole Rhys James the Rock Star thing?"
Rhett looked up with a frown. "You're really fixated on that, you know?"
"I'm not fixated on it." An obstinate look tightened the skin over Mel's cheekbones. "But you've mentioned it more than once."
"Okay, there's a difference, all right? But I think it was my way of shifting the blame to him for something that was my problem." She focused on the papers again, squaring the edges and making sure the folds lined up. "I'm really ashamed of that."
"Hm." Mel picked the discarded Business section up off the floor. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"This is where you come in." Rhett glanced up through her lashes.
"Me?" For some reason, Mel appeared flustered. "What do you expect me to do?"
"Help me figure out how I'm going to talk to him."
Mel's answer was to glance at Rhett's cell phone on the table.
"I can't just call," Rhett protested. "Wouldn't that be too impersonal?"
An exaggerated rolling of the eyes accompanied Mel's shrug. "Then go up there."
"Yeah, I don't know how. You need a special card to get up to the penthouse."
"Well, if you think a phone call's impersonal, I guess texting is out."
"Be serious," Rhett pleaded. "I'm afraid I've blown it with him, and—"
The ringing of her cell phone interrupted, and she huffed out a breath of irritation. A glance at the screen wiped that out and brought a rush of heat that was immediately followed by chills.
"Oh, oh, oh," she breathed. "It's him."
"Who? Rhys?" Mel stood and leaned across the table to see the screen.
"No, Angus Young," Rhett snapped.
"One rock star at a time, little sister." An expectant look lifted Mel's brows. "Aren't you going to answer it?"
"I don't know what to say." Rhett chewed on her bottom lip as she stared at the name Rhys on her phone's screen. "I can't."
"Oh for the love of God," Mel muttered. Before Rhett could move, she swiped her finger across the cell phone's screen, answering the call. "Go," she whispered.
After a stare of outrage, Rhett put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Hello, Rhett. It's Rhys."
At the sound of that smoky voice, Rhett's heart gave a pleasurable little thump. Once again she felt the kisses he gave her, and she couldn't help but lick her lips.
"Hi," she said. "I'm really glad you called. I kind of want to talk with you about something."
"That's funny." There was a definite smile in his voice. "I want to talk with you about something, too. D'you think you could come up for a bit?"
She found herself on her feet with no memory of standing up. "Sure, but can I get to your floor in the elevator?" Her heart pounded with a mixture of anticipation so strong it was almost painful, and trepidation because she still had no idea what she was going to say to him.
"Oh." He sounded stumped. "There must be some way I can rig the lift so you can come up."
"All right. Give me a couple of minutes, and I'll see you then."
After she ended the call, Rhett looked up to meet her sister's smug grin.
"You're welcome," Mel said.
Try as she might, Rhett couldn't maintain her irritated frown. She grinned, leaned over, and gave Mel a fat, wet kiss in the middle of her forehead.
When the elevator doors slid open, Rhett did a double take. Ready to tackle the puzzle of how to get to the penthouse without a key card, she was surprised to see Rhys leaning against the far wall, said key card dangling from one finger by its chain.
"I couldn't work out how to get this thing to come up without a card," he explained with a half-shrug.
Rhett couldn't help but laugh at his wry expression. "I can understand why it's necessary." She stared at the numbers over the door as the elevator rose. "But it's got to be inconvenient."
"Especially if your hands are full. I'm still waiting for things you see in Sci-Fi flicks, like retina scans."
Their conversation was easy and unforced, and Rhett's shoulders relaxed. The tension she expected between them was absent, and relief made her smile.
"Yeah, but then you'd end up with situations like in that Sylvester Stallone movie where Wesley Snipes's character cut some dude's eyeballs out so he could open a gate."
Rhys looked at her with a horrified expression. "No shit? I don't think I've seen that one."
"It's a great movie, eyeballs aside." She followed him into the small vestibule where the summer flowers had acquired a slight wilt overnight. "I can't remember the name of it, but you'll have to come down and watch it with me some night. Mel has it on DVD."