her in for a little hug. He kissed the top of her head and Josie felt her heart melt.
“Movie time?” he asked.
She nodded against his chest. “Movie time. After I brush my hair and take some ibuprofen.”
He shifted back. “Do you need something stronger?” The concern was back in his eyes.
“No. I’m just a little achy. And the pain pills make me tired.”
“Are you su—”
She put her hand over his mouth. “I will take pain pills when I need them. I promise. Ibuprofen is enough for now.”
“Fine.” He squeezed her butt and let her go. “You get the brush and I’ll get the pills.”
They met back in the middle of the room a minute later and headed for the living room together.
And when he tucked her up against him rather than on opposite ends of the couch, she smiled. And when he watched not only Roman Holiday but also Only You without pulling out any work, she felt her heart melt a little. And when he got up and came back with popcorn with chocolate and cinnamon on it—and admitted he’d looked up a recipe for it—she fell a little more in love.
“So, me telling stories about us at the reception yesterday made you tense,” she commented as she helped herself to the popcorn in the bowl balanced on his lap.
He stiffened for a second, then sighed. He looked over at her. “Yeah. A little.”
“Why?” She put a piece in her mouth and munched.
“Because these women are there to learn about being happy and content without a man,” Grant said. “And then you were there, not just telling romantic stories, but about me—someone that had just spent the day coaching them to be their own person—but also made-up stories.”
She thought about that and took another piece of popcorn. She gestured to the bowl. “Not made up now.”
He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“So you didn’t want them thinking romantic thoughts right after you spent the day telling them that they were fine alone,” she said.
“Right.”
“But that’s not what you were telling them.” She shifted on the couch cushion, propping her elbow on the back of the couch. “You were telling them how to be confident and independent with their money, but you never said that they shouldn’t have relationships.”
He frowned and didn’t respond.
“That’s what you want them to take from your seminars?” she asked. “Really? You want all of these women to walk out totally content to be single?”
“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate.
Josie felt her eyes widen. “But… it’s natural for people to want to be in couples. It’s what we’re designed for.”
“It’s what women are taught from birth to think they’re designed for,” he said.
“You think that falling in love happens because girls are socialized to think that’s what they’re supposed to do?” Josie asked, a little appalled.
They’d just watched two of her favorite romantic movies. And now her husband was telling her that romantic relationships were figments of girls’ imaginations?
“Not just girls,” Grant said. “But yes, society puts a definite emphasis on marriage and coupling up. Women who don’t have a partner are seen as lacking somehow. Even nowadays when we should be so much more evolved.”
Josie took a breath and blew it out. “So underneath all the money stuff and all the you can do it stuff you teach about loans and taxes and investments and entrepreneurship and everything, your message is you don’t need men and you should be happy single?”
“Yes.” Again, no hesitation or even further explanation.
“Wow.”
“I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have partners and get married,” he finally said. “I’m just saying that women—people—shouldn’t feel that that is the ultimate way to be secure. They should choose to share their life with someone else rather than doing it because they have to or because all other choices are somehow worse.”
Josie sat back on her cushion. She felt the impact of his words directly in her chest.
She was married to him right at this very moment because she had to be. She’d needed something from him that wasn’t love or companionship or friendship. It had been money. They hadn’t chosen to spend their lives with each other. They’d made an agreement to spend a few weeks together so that she wouldn’t be burdened with medical bills.
Wow.
They were the perfect example of what not to do, according to Grant Lorre’s seminars.
“Like us,” she said softly. “People shouldn’t do things the way we did.”
He met her eyes. He didn’t jump to deny what she’d said.