Chapter 14
Rosie
“Come on, Mummy and Auntie Sassa,” Tabi shouts, unable to pronounce Sasha’s name due to her excitement. “I want to see the pigs.”
With a hand in mine and another in Sasha’s, we let her drag us to the pig field.
“It’s too cold for this,” Sasha mumbles as Tabi squeals with delight at the grumpy pigs. “I could be in a warm bed with the guy I hooked up with last night, but instead I’m shivering at a farm park.”
I side-eye Sasha, who’s wearing dark sunglasses. “You look like your mum when she used to drop you off for primary school in the morning.”
“You take that back.” Sasha pokes me in the side. “I’m nothing like Cassandra. Am I wearing massive gold bracelets that crash louder than cymbals or a giant fur coat?”
We giggle, which earns us a glance from Tabi before she copies the pigs’ oinks. “At least she was fun to be around.”
“Your parents are fun, but in the weird way where they don’t show it or laugh,” Sasha cheeks. “At least your house was safe growing up. They always had your back. How are they about you leaving the carpet business?”
“Grouchy.” I kneel beside Tabi, who sticks her fingers through the pigs’ fence. “We don’t feed pigs our fingers, nugget. We won’t be able to draw later if we do.”
Tabi’s brow furrows, and she stares back at me. “I want to paint later.”
“Okay. Do you want to paint pigs or something else?”
“Pigs with bus wheels.” She gasps loudly and jumps up and down. “Can we feed the chickens?”
“Yes, but we have to see the horse first.”
“Mr. Grumpy Horse?” She squeals and runs to the stables. We visit here often because it’s rarely busy, especially on a cold Saturday in March. A stable worker waves as Tabi nears her.
“So your parents aren’t happy?” Sasha pulls her padded jacket tighter as she resumes our conversation. “Did they see the car? If you hadn’t promised me a trip in the Porsche Macan and brought a coffee, I wouldn’t be here.”
“They saw it. Mum said I should work somewhere sensible, not somewhere they give you ridiculous cars before you’ve worked your first day.”
“Oh, Mother Denham.” Sasha shakes her head. “Does she know it has heated seats—well, heated everything? I felt like a queen.”
“No, and she wouldn’t care. I told Niki I didn’t need a car, but he called to explain mine was a pile of trash no one could fix.”
Sasha laughs. “He has a point.”
I roll my eyes. “And he said his assistant needed something reliable to arrive punctually, help with his plans, and be a gopher. He tried to give me his two-door Ferrari.”
“Why did you say no to the Ferrari? We’d have driven here like fucking models.”
I glance over my shoulder to check no young children hear Sasha’s swearing, which she insists on with me, because she’s on her best behaviour at work.
“I can’t get a child seat in the back. I asked if he had something with more room, as I’d need to get a lot of stuff in the back to gopher for him.”
Sasha sips her coffee and groans. We join Tabi, who’s glowing as the stable worker helps her onto a box to stroke the horse.
“Did you tell him about nugget?” Sasha says, referring to Tabi.
I shake my head as Tabi beams like it’s Christmas morning. “I will on Monday. I’m nervous. I’ll have to deal with his judgement. You remember what happened when I was interviewed at the football club. They acted like I had two heads!”
“You could sue them for that.”
I shrug as Tabi rushes to us, her wellies waggling. “I petted Mr. Grumpy Horse. He was funny.”
“Was he moody like Grandpa?”
Tabi giggles. “Yes. Last night, Grandpa told me I needed to learn to wash dishes ‘cause I…”
“Should be earning your keep,” I reply, rolling my eyes.
“He was grumpy because I won hide and seek.”
Sasha raises her eyebrows.
“He managed five seconds behind the door before she found him. He huffed all night.”
“Grumpy, grumpy Grandpa,” Sasha says. “Let’s feed the chickens.”
Tabi sings, “Grumpy Grandpa,” as she runs ahead. I glare at a grinning Sasha.
As I grab the feed from my rucksack, Sasha whispers, “Why are you really nervous about telling work about Tabi?”
I sigh. “I’m considered a struggling single mum everywhere in my life. My parents despair of me, I can’t afford to do nice things, and I’m useless compared to the other mums I meet at preschool events.”
“But—”
“Don’t deny it. I can’t even dress like them. They’re all yummy mummies who fit work around their kids and have it all. For once, I want to be seen as the capable woman who didn’t get knocked up by a man whose name she didn’t know, who enjoyed herself at university. Who orgasms during sex.”
“You didn’t tell your interviewer you’ve never orgasmed during sex, did you?”
I ignore her as I explain, “I wanted to be Rosie rather than Mummy.”
“So it’s unrelated to the fact you kissed your boss.”
“No,” I squeal. Sasha dead-eyes me as we reach the chickens, who cluck loudly around Tabi’s feet while she stares at them with a wide smile. “I’d tell him if I was dating him, not that I date. He’s just my hot boss.”
“Who you gave your knickers to,” Sasha says under her breath.
“Which I told you never to mention again,” I hiss as I tuck the feed into Tabi’s palm. She opens her fingers wide, and it falls straight out.
I show her how to cup her hand and give her more.
Her eyebrows dive together, and she sticks her tongue out as she concentrates.
This time, she takes the seeds and drops them one by one.
It’s all I can do not to pull her into my arms and smell her shampoo.
My girl’s growing up, and I want a good life for her.
I want her to achieve her dreams. If her dad were around, maybe that would be possible.
“I read up about Niki, which he encouraged me to do, as he didn’t want to tell the full story of the accident.
” Tabi’s out of earshot, walking around the chicken pen, still dropping the seeds as the chickens follow her like she’s their pied piper.
“He could have been killed, and that takes a lot to come back from. Before that, he was famously called a ‘feckless playboy’ because of his reputation with women and for partying hard.”
“That explains the ring he let you borrow that night. Has he asked for it back?”
“Not yet. I’ll return it soon.” I like that it keeps creepy men away from me at the supermarket. “His sister gave it to him. I’m relieved it wasn’t from a dead or living wife.”
“Because you fancy him.”
I glare. “Because I didn’t like the idea I’d kissed a married man or seduced someone in the throes of grief.”
“Fair,” Sasha says as chickens crowd around Tabi.
“He had a girlfriend, a model, before the accident, so he might date her again. His dad made it very clear I wasn’t the woman for him. Not that I want to be. He’s my boss.”
“Say it once more with feeling,” Sasha teases.
Tabi, bored with her one seed at a time idea, throws all the seeds in the air and dances in a circle.
“We’ll discuss this more, including Niki’s playboy past, when Tabi’s in bed,” Sasha whispers as I shake my head and lift Tabi into my arms. “And I need to tell you about the size of the man’s…chicken I played with last night.”
Sasha holds her hands wide apart as I reply, “We need to get to the rabbits for the petting session.”
“Some of us had a very long petting session with the giant chicken last night.”
I cover Tabi’s ears as I giggle. “You’re the worst on weekends.”
“That’s not what he said.” She winks back. “You’ve considered the size of your new boss’s chicken. Maybe you can finally get your first…I’ve run out of euphemisms. Maybe you can get your first climax.”
I ignore her as we walk to the petting barn.
He’s my boss, and he’s out of my league and eight years older than me, so chickens, petting, and climaxes are off-limits.