11. Rose
ELEVEN
ROSE
"Miss Rose, that's just about the best meal I've ever eaten," Kyle Adams, one of the B how are you?"
"I told you to call me Rose, Mike. Is Willow okay? God, did I say something to hurt her feelings? You'll tell her I'm so sorry, won't you? I never—"
"Rose, you didn't say anything wrong. Willow is sad because…well, because she's been a bit of a bitch to you."
"Don't you dare call my daughter a bitch," I cried out.
He laughed. "I wish you were my mother, Rose. But the truth is that Willow has been a bitch. And Jude's been an asshole to you. Willow gets it now, and she's horrified with herself, as she should be."
"My kids are not like that, Mike—"
"Yes, they are. That's why you left. I saw with my own eyes, and I wasn't surprised when you walked away, but your kids and husband were."
Since I didn't have anything to say to that, I remained silent. Maybe they weren't surprised, but I doubted they were missing me. Jude never had, and Gray didn't even notice I existed, so why would he start feeling my absence now?
"Rose," Mike said.
"Yes, I'm here."
"I wanted to ask if we could come see you for Christmas."
I was shocked when he said that. "But I thought y'all would go to Atlanta to be with Gray."
"Yeah, so I'm not a big fan of your husband or Jude right now, Rose, no offense. But if you would be open to it, Willow and I would love to spend the holidays with you."
I swallowed. "Mike, Gray will—"
"It's either that, or we stay in New York."
Mike didn't have family and that would mean they'd be alone.
I couldn't have that. "No, no. You should come here.
You can stay at my friend's B everyone in your house is getting big degrees. You got to be proud of that."
I was, but the problem was that they weren't proud of me. They were ashamed of their mother, who wasn't as smart or educated as them.
"Who'd think Black it was the same, I'm busy why are you disturbing me tone.
"Aimee. She said you were busy, and she'd let you know."
"Okay. I'm…sorry, I—"
"Gray, Willow called me, and she and Mike want to spend Christmas here at Angel Island, or they said they'll stay in New York. I said yes, but I didn't want you to feel blindsided. You should talk to her and Mike."
"I don't want to talk about Christmas," he ground out. "I want to talk about us. What the fuck, Rose?"
I licked my lips. "Gray—"
"You just left with no way for me to contact you."
"I sent you a text message with my number days ago. You never got back to me."
"What?" I heard him rustle around, and then he was back on the phone. "Fuck. I didn't see that."