5. CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
Rose
I felt some of the grief of leaving my family behind loosen its tight grip on my heart the moment I stepped onto the porch of Angel's Rest Bed Gray ultimately hadn't even noticed or appreciated the sacrifice I had made. He just expected I'd change my plans.
He used to be more considerate, but as the years had gone by, and he'd become busier with his company, he had started to bark orders rather than make requests.
Well, this horse ain't gonna pull the plow anymore. I wanted and needed to be with my friend as life left her. It was heartbreaking, and I knew it would hurt. I wished I had someone in my life to lean on but the only person I could was Malou, and she needed me to stay strong for her, which I fully intended to do.
Angel's Rest Bed & Breakfast was the embodiment of dreams realized. It was lovingly maintained. The house, an elegant structure from a bygone era, had been transformed meticulously into a twelve-bedroom Bed & Breakfast. With its unique charm, each room whispered stories of travelers who had sought refuge within its walls. The wooden floors, aged to a perfect patina, creaked softly under my feet, adding a cadenced melody to my movements as I took over taking care of the B&B.
The most enchanting feature, however, was the covered pool. It was an architectural marvel, seamlessly blending the indoors with the outdoors. Nestled at the back of the B&B, large glass panels framed the heated pool, offering unobstructed views of the Atlantic Ocean. The sight was breathtaking.
In the early mornings, I'd sit by the poolside, captivated by the mist dancing over the water. The steam rising from the heated pool mingled with the cool sea air, creating an ethereal spectacle. The sea, a silent witness to my new beginning, and Malou's poignant farewell stood stoically. Its beauty soothed my troubled heart, reminding me that life, much like the landscape before me, was an intricate blend of light and shadow, joy, and sorrow. This place was a haven where souls came to reclaim themselves, to laugh, cry, and find peace. For me, it marked the beginning of an unexpected journey—one of self-discovery, healing, and perhaps, eventually, accepting the twists and turns of life.
Lilah, the young woman who cleaned the B&B, hugged me as soon as she saw me. Angel's Rest came with a small pool house where Lilah, who was just seventeen, lived with her two-year-old baby girl, Grace. I could relate to her, though in her case, the girl's father didn't want to have anything to do with either of them. I'd been lucky.
"I'm so glad you're here because Miss Malou needs to rest and not run around," Lilah tattled on her employer and my friend.
"Well, hell, Lilah, I ain't tryin' to kill myself, that be the cancer, hon," Malou quipped with a sharp laugh.
I settled into the room next to Malou's on the ground floor. These were the only two interconnected rooms that were supposed to be for families who came to stay, but since Malou was too tired to climb the stairs, I'd moved her down here months ago.
"No guests tonight," Malou told me as I went through the B&B's books on her laptop while she lay on her bed, the television on mute. "But tomorrow, we get a full house. I made sure Edgar stocked the fridge."
Edgar was Lilah's cousin. He cleaned the pool, maintained the garden, and handled all the little tasks we needed done, both inside and out.
"I'll take care of everything," I murmured.
"You sure you want to do this, Rose? You've just been takin' care of three ungrateful assholes, and now you have to take care of my ass."
"At least your ass ain't ungrateful," I remarked. "And don't call my kids assholes."
Malou chuckled. "But your husband I can?"
"Sure," I laughed.
I set down my reading glasses and closed Malou's laptop. I had left mine at home—the one I bought when she got sick, and I took over her accounting, social media, website management, and all the general marketing and bookkeeping.
"You hear from them?"
She put her hand on mine.
I sat beside her on the bed, and in that moment, I felt an intimacy that I had only ever shared with Gray. Over the years, Malou and I had slept side by side many times—during childhood sleepovers, when I visited her as an adult, and she had no spare room, and more recently, through her chemotherapy sessions. Each instance had woven a deep connection between us, rooted in countless shared moments of support and vulnerability.
"They have no way to reach me," I pointed out to her.
" You did that so you didn't have to feel bad if they didn't call you."
I took a deep breath. "I don't know how I went wrong with the kids that they see me like Gray does, a burden."
"You've never ever been that, Rose. You're the kindest person I know. Your family is a bunch of shits who I hope will realize now what they lost. I'm really hopin' they come back and find you while I'm still alive. Cause you deserve that, and I deserve to dish out a can of whoop ass on that man of yours."
I rubbed my face with both hands and got out of bed. I stretched and rotated my shoulder.
"Or maybe you can find a young buck to take some of your edge off," Malou cackled.
I grinned. "You think I'll make a good cougar, Miss Malou?"
"Yeah. I mean, look at you. You're nearly forty, and you got a bangin' body and tits. And then there's your face."
"I have wrinkles and stretch marks, and I feel about a million years old," I confessed. "Now, why don't you get some rest, and I'll start on the bread."
Malou served fresh bread at the B&B for breakfast. She used to work the dough the night before, but the past year, she'd been ordering bread from a nearby bakery and whining about it not being good enough. Now that I was here, I wanted to make sure her home smelled of baking just the way she liked it.
She'd fallen silent, and I realized she was sleeping. She dozed off a lot. I set her iPad on the bedside table, where she continued reading her smutty romance novels—bless her heart. I pulled her duvet up over her shoulders and then turned off the television and the lights, leaving her to rest so she could live another day as fully as possible.