Chapter 36
Gabby returned home from the hospital a few days later, dazed and in pain but full of relief. They treated her like a queen, as she deserved. (Well, except Christina, who thought she was a queen herself. She kept insisting that her mother get out of bed to play with her and didn’t understand why Gabby wouldn’t obey.)
There was so much going on that Rob and Natalie agreed that they wouldn’t broadcast the fact that they’d started sleeping together. At least not yet.
After dinner, when Christina had gone to sleep, the four of them would watch a movie in the living room, Angus, Rob, and Natalie piled onto the couch while Gabby stretched out in the recliner beside them. They made their way through old comfort movies and buzzy new ones that had gone straight to streaming because of the pandemic. The night they watched the new movie written by that former teen starlet who had spent so long as a cautionary tale, they all ended up crying, even if it was far from perfect.
As the movies played in the dark, Rob was always hyperaware of Natalie’s body on the couch, inches away from him. Sometimes, they’d sit under a blanket, and she’d slowly move her leg over until it pressed against his, and whole plot developments of the movie would pass by without Rob’s awareness, because the only thing he could concentrate on was the woman beside him. One night, she brushed her hand against his thigh, moving it slowly higher and higher. He looked over. She regarded the screen as if in deep contemplation, but the corner of her mouth quirked up ever so slightly. He ended up having to go to the bathroom for a moment to cool down, and texted her: You are extremely cruel. Also extremely sexy.
One day, up in his room alone for a moment, he felt an irresistible urge to listen to Frank Sinatra. For the entire length of “It Had to Be You,” he simply stood next to his bed and nodded along, a silly little grin coming over his face. The moment the song ended, he shut his computer and shook his head, because he was being ridiculous. He should not let himself get carried away, even if he’d never felt this way before.
Each night, after everyone else went to bed, he’d knock on her door or she on his, and they’d try to be as quiet as possible. Rob had never thought of himself as a cuddly person. He was very particular about his sleeping position—flat on his back—and how silent he liked the room to be—as the grave—but he found himself not wanting to let go of Natalie after they were done. He lay awake as she drifted off, listening to the softening of her breath, inhaling the scent of jasmine and sex on her skin, and half the time he ended up falling asleep too before he’d made himself let go of her.
It was all stolen kisses in the pantry and secret glances until one morning, when Rob ran into Angus in the hallway as he was creeping back to his own room.
“Well, well, well, what is happening here?” Angus had said, the biggest grin spreading over his face.
“Erm,” Rob said, scratching his chin, unable to keep his cool.
Angus ran forward, grabbed Rob’s hands, and jumped up and down. “Finally!”