Chapter 47
Chapter forty-seven
Rosa tossed and turned all night. The conversation with Imogen earlier had unsettled her more than she’d thought it would.
At six, she’d given up trying to sleep and got up. She prepared breakfast and organised the day ahead, then sent Billy a text, asking if they could meet at lunchtime.
Billy’s response had been far too flirty for that early in the morning, especially after an emotional teenage rollercoaster and a sleepless night.
She managed the morning with Roger, setting down the file he’d requested onto his desk, barely receiving a grunt in recognition.
By the time she slid into the booth at Banjo and looked up at the grinning face of her ex-wife, she was about ready to explode.
“Hey,” Billy said, noting the tension in Rosa’s demeanour. “Everything alright?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. We need to talk.”
“Yep, I worked that out from the ‘we need to talk’ text I got in reply to my ‘last night was amazing’ text.” She sat back. “Are you dumping me?”
“What? No…I mean, I don’t know, but no, that wasn’t my intention—though it might need to be,” Rosa blurted.
“Take a breath, Rosa.” Billy reached out across the table, but Rosa pulled her hand back. “Tell me what’s happened?”
Before Rosa could speak, a waiter appeared, smiling down at them.
“Are we ready to order?”
Rosa was flustered, picking up the menu and putting it down again and pushing it away.
“Can we get a few more minutes?” Billy said, giving him one of her best smiles.
“Of course,” he replied, glancing around the busy room. “No rush.”
As he walked away, Rosa leaned in. “Was he being sarcastic?”
“I think he might have been.” Billy chuckled. “Forget him. What’s happened to get you all rattled?”
“It’s Imogen,” Rosa said bluntly.
“Okay, what about her?”
“She’s angry with us,” Rosa said, sitting back and letting that hit.
“About what?” Billy’s eyes narrowed as she tried to fathom a reason for their daughter’s ire.
“She’s angry that we didn’t fight harder to stay together and give her the proper family all her friends had.”
Billy’s eyebrow rose, then fell into a frown. “Alright, I can get that.”
“Can you? I was shocked—she’s never shown any sign of this before.”
“Emotions can surface at any time. Something must have triggered it for her recently, and now she’s expressing it—which is good—it’s healthy. The fact that she felt comfortable telling you means she trusts you deeply.”
“Really? Because I felt absolutely horrid last night, watching her speak and seeing how we’ve caused that.”
“And we can fix it.”
“We can’t guarantee that.”
“So, what do you want to do, Rosa?”
“I just need to make sure we get it right this time. We can’t get her hopes up only to bring her world down again.”
“So…what do you want to do?” Billy asked again, just as the waiter sauntered back over. She looked up at him. “An Americano and a latte. Two bowls of chips, please.”
“Did you just order for me?” Rosa said, as he turned and walked back towards the till.
“I ordered for us—to get rid of him and save you from having to stare at the menu and pick something you probably didn’t want, just to appease his impatience. So yes, I ordered something I know you’ll eat enough of to call it lunch.”
Rosa pushed the menu away across the table again.
“Look, I think it’s a good thing that Immy has said what she’s said. It doesn’t change how I feel about you—about us. I want us to work now. The past is done. We can’t change it with what-ifs, and feeling shitty about it won’t make it any better.”
“It’s not done for Imogen.”
“Yes, it is. She just has to work through that now and make her peace with it. We can’t change it, and we can’t magically give her the childhood she wanted.”
“We’ve traumatised our child,” Rosa whispered. “And I don’t want her to end up like—” She stopped suddenly, closed her eyes, and turned her head away.
“Like me.” Billy smiled. “I don’t want that for her either, but she’s not me. She’s talking to you—I didn’t have that safety net.”
“I’m sorry, that was mean of me…I just don’t want her to have to go through what we did…what you did.”
“Neither do I, and she won’t…because she has two parents who love her, and who love each other.”
Billy kissed Rosa on the cheek, her hand lingering at Rosa’s elbow as they said their goodbyes and promised to talk more later.
She watched as Rosa turned and headed back towards the car park, waiting until she was out of sight before heading back to the office.
Barely five steps later, she recognised the face of a woman smiling at her.
“Hi, Billy,” Pippa said with a wave.
“Oh, hey,” Billy said. She twisted around to make sure Rosa was gone. “How are you?”
“Good, thanks. All settled back in after the trip? Robbie had such a good time—she hasn’t stopped talking about the skiing they did.”
“Yes, I think we all got something out of it.”
“Must have been a nice opportunity to spend time together as a family. Was that Rosa I saw heading off?”
“Uh…” Billy twisted around again, as if Rosa might suddenly pop up and deal with this for her. “Yes, it was.” She didn’t add anything further.
“Well, it was great to see you. Pop into the café one day—we can have a catch up.” She leant in, kissed Billy’s cheek, and gave her a friendly hug. “Bring Rosa.”
“Sure…have a great day.” Billy waved and set off, not eager to get any more involved in a Rosa-focused conversation.
By the time she made it back to the office, she’d forgotten all about Pippa catching them together. She was more concerned with making sure she and Rosa didn’t mess up. Rosa was right—the last thing they needed to do was cause Imogen any more heartbreak over her parents.
Niamph grinned as Billy shook off her coat and hung it over the back of her chair.
“So, sneaking off for lunch now too, huh?”
“There was no sneaking—not really—and there was no…” Billy leant forward. “It was actually a proper chat between parents about their child. Not hanky panky.”
“Shame.” Niamph winked, then turned serious. “Everything’s okay, though, yeah? With Imogen?”
“Yes, I think so, but Rosa is worried, and she’s got a point. We need to make sure we get this right between us.”
“Because Imogen won’t like it?”
“No, because this is all Imogen wants,” Billy said, taking her seat at the desk.
Niamph’s eyes went wide. “She knows?”
Billy shook her head. “No, just a general conversation she had with Rosa last night about wishing we’d fought harder to stay together so she could have had a proper family.”
“If only she knew.” Niamph smirked.
“I know, and I’d have been okay with telling her beforehand, but now…I’m not so sure. I think Rosa is right to be concerned. Like Imogen, I want nothing more than for us to be a proper family again, but I can handle things if it all goes wrong. I’m not so sure either of them can.”
“Billy, nothing will go wrong. You love them and they know it…they both want it.”
“That’s what I keep reminding myself.” Billy smiled. “Whatever it takes, I want my family back.”