He shrugged. “Ten years ago, yes. Now… not so much. Your brain is fully developed, and you’re well past your teen years. You’ve lived enough years as an adult so it doesn’t feel like we’re all that far apart.”
“That was a good answer,” I said approvingly. “Have you dated men younger than you before?”
“Here and there. Sometimes they don’t understand that my job might fuck with their plans or that I don’t want to have more than one drink with dinner. But the same can be said for men my age too. So I’m not sure if that's an age thing or if I just have shitty taste in men.”
“Maybe both?”
“Maybe.”
I wanted to tell him that it was obvious his taste in men had improved because his current boyfriend was a catch, but he wasn’t actually my boyfriend and I didn’t want to make fake boyfriend jokes out loud in case I got comfortable doing so and somehow slipped up at a bad time.
The next movie started and I sort of wished that Rex had one of those old-style pickup trucks with the single cab and the bench seat. It would have been nice to curl up into his side and watch the movie with his arm around me. I tried to rein in my wishful thinking and turned my attention to the movie.
Volcanowas just as bad—from a scientific standpoint—asDante’s Peakhad been, but it was equally entertaining. I mean, lava does what it wants unless you’re Tommy Lee Jones, and then lava does what it’s told.
“Were movies always this entertaining?” I asked when Rex returned from throwing away our empty drink containers and popcorn bucket.
“Movies are still entertaining,” Rex said simply.
“I guess I don’t watch many. I did when I was a kid, but then suddenly I was a teenager and then adulthood came at me kind of fast. My parents split when I was a teen, and they didn’t know what to do with an angry teenager, so they chose to do nothing.”
“Some people are better suited to having pets than children, and some shouldn’t be given a pet rock to look after,” he stated, buckling his seat belt and turning the car on. Most of the traffic had left while we chatted, and Rex slid out of our space and slowly made his way toward the exit.
“Were your parents the pet rock kind?”
Rex laughed. “No, they were okay. Mom was thirty-five when I came along, and then when Nigel showed up a decade later, they were pretty distraught about it. Mom hadn’t even known she was pregnant until she gave birth. She’d chalked her missedperiods up to menopause and then suddenly she had an infant and a ten-year-old. Dad was older than Mom by about fifteen years, so by the time Nigel was born, he was sixty.” Rex paused. “Dad died when Nigel was still small, and Mom struggled with Nigel. Pregnancy was hard on her.”
“It sounds like adulthood came at you fast too.”
Rex nodded. “I stepped up and did what I could. Mom has since passed, and in some ways, Nigel was like the kid I never had. Right from day one, I did my best to look out for him.”
“That’s why it’s important for you to do this, isn’t it?”
Rex nodded. “I don’t want him to find out that his fiancé is my ex. It’s not important to me since there’s no love lost or anything. In order for there to be lingering feelings, feelings would have needed to exist in the first place.”
Despite the serious tone of the conversation, I stifled a laugh. Rex looked at me with curiosity. “It just reminded me about that movieHe’s Just Not That Into You.”
“I’ve seen that one.”
“Me too. Blue made me watch it with him.”
“I love the ending when he goes to her door and he’s allyou’re the exception.”
“Awww, Rex. You’re a softie, aren’t you?”
“I work with animals all day, and sometimes I can’t give them a happy ending. So yes, I like watching movies that end happily. I like movies where the dogs don’t die and the whales are freed.”
“I like that you like those things.”
Rex pulled up in front of my building and shut the engine off. “I need to get home and let my dog out, but I’d love to walk you to your door.”
“Okay,” I said, suddenly a little flustered. My face heated and I just thanked my lucky stars that it was dark and he couldn’t tell how red-faced that made me. Was it dumb to be swept off my feet by my fake boyfriend walking me to my door? It waschivalrous as fuck and something I’d never had the pleasure of experiencing.
I got out of the car at the same time as Rex and he shot me a smile. “Next time, wait for me and I’ll get the door for you too.” He offered his arm to me and I looped my hand through the crook of his elbow. It was a bit old-fashioned, but it made me feel special.
I stopped just outside the security door to my building and turned to face him.
“Well, this is me,” I said, knowing that if he were really my boyfriend, he’d probably kiss me. We should kiss. It would be good practice for the wedding. But would we really have to kiss to prove that we were together? Would it even be called into question?
