The Notorious R(uth) B(arakat) G(rimaldi)

Chapter 24: Given To Us Only Once

AN: The chapter title references a line from the video at the top, which is a clip from "Call Me By Your Name." If you haven't seen it, stop reading and go and watch it now, it is the most beautiful movie, right up there with "The Way He Looks," and "A Room With A View." I happen to think that the monologue in the above clip, spoken by the dad, is one of the most beautiful passages ever written for film. And it doesn't hurt that he's talking to Timotheé Chalamet, whom I envision as Elliott--hey, his name is "Elio" in this movie!! No way! How cool! Unless I knew that on some level when I chose his name? I don't remember, TBH. Anyway, this is how parents should be with their children, always. And I'm putting the text of what he says at the end of this chapter, so you can see it in writing also, and be amazed all over again.

🌹❄️💖❄️🌹

Over the next few days, it became obvious to Ruthie's parents that they were witnessing a full-fledged love affair.

"I've never seen her like this," Todd said to Phil as they sipped their after dinner drinks in front of the fire.

Ruthie and Elliott were washing the dinner dishes as they laughed and talked at the sink. Clarence was supervising from a place on the counter, and Amal was hovering about their feet, hoping something nice had been left on a plate that they might give her. There was a lot of body contact as they rinsed and stacked the dishes, as Ruthie bumped Elliott with her hip and he flicked water on her.

"Do you think we need to talk to her?" he added. Todd had always been the more openly emotional parent, possibly because he wasn't around as much.

"About what?" Phil countered. "She's had the STI talk, the birth control talk, the 'sex changes everything, so wait until you know you're ready talk;' what else is there to say?"

Todd shrugged. "I don't know. It's just strange to see her like this, so into someone else besides us, you know?"

"Are you jealous?" Phil asked, pouring himself another glass of wine. He hid a smile by lifting his glass.

"No, I'm not jealous, and what an idiotic thing to say," Todd retorted, refilling his own glass.

"Methinks he doth protest too much," Phil quipped.

"It's 'The lady doth protest too much, methinks,'" Todd corrected absently. "Don't quote something if you don't know the words."

"Who said it was a quote?" Phil replied. "Maybe I meant to paraphrase."

Todd inclined his head toward the kitchen, where the young couple had finished loading the dishwasher, and were now wiping the counters, as Elliott put an arm around Ruthie and let his hand linger on the back pocket of her jeans.

"Look, she's only fifteen, that's all I'm saying. And it really looks like, if they're not sleeping together, they will be, very soon," Todd said. "I think that's too young for a physical relationship, don't you?"

Phil put a strong hand on Todd's shoulder, giving a squeeze of sympathy. "I thought we agreed on this. We don't make decisions for her unless she asks us to? We've been doing it since she was five, and it hasn't steered us wrong yet, has it?"

Todd nodded. "But she made the decision to date that horrible gonad in a cowboy hat, didn't she?" He turned toward his husband. "That was awful."

"But she tore herself loose from him, too, right?" Phil countered. "And before anything happened, it sounds like. She knows what she's doing," he assured Todd.

Todd was quiet, but as Ruthie and Elliott finished up in the kitchen, he called them into the living room.

"I want to talk to you guys," he told them, ignoring the look his husband was giving him.