Chapter 36
Charity
Hugging the cup of coffee to my chest, I watched as Rose folded laundry, wondering not for the first time how she managed it. Being a single mom and running her own veterinary clinic, working long hours, yet still being there for her boys.
“Want some help?” I asked her, dropping my feet to the floor.
“God no,” she waved me away.
“My underwear is sacred. I do not want you seeing how disgustingly mundane my panties are.”
“Oh, you do make me laugh.” Shaking my head with an amused grin, I put my cup down and stood to help her anyway. “I’ve seen your big panties before.”
She sighed, heavy and despondent. “I wish I had reason to wear nicer ones.”
“How long has it been?” I asked, nudging her with my elbow. “Not since you and Andrew split, surely?”
Theirs had been an amicable split. Amicable and civilized. They were still friends, and shared custody of their boys. Andrew and his new wife, Emily, even stayed over at Rose’s house if she got called out to an emergency.
“You do know we’ve been split for six years, don’t you?”
“Does that mean there has been someone?” I asked, leaning into her space. When she rolled her eyes and started pairing up socks, I knew instantly that she was hiding something from me.
“Well?”
“Don’t be silly. How would I even find the time?”
When she cleared her throat, and moved her gaze to the yard where there was a half size soccer net and a couple of soccer balls, I was positive she was hiding something. It was her choice, though, so I wouldn’t push it, yet.
“Liam stayed over last night.” It was clearly the change of subject she wanted because she whipped back to me so fast, I thought she might fall over.
“Well, that’s serious,” she commented. “Not that a weekend away wasn’t. Which you still haven’t given me all the details on.”
“I told you it was great. That the sex was incredible.”
Rose thrust her hands on her hips and frowned. “You already sent me a message to that effect. That is not giving me the details. Why do you think I invited you for coffee on my day off?”
Her phone beeped and she took it from the back pocket of her jeans and looked down at it. “Oh shit.”
“Everything okay?” I asked as she continued scowling at her phone screen.
“Dixon has had to euthanize one of our client’s prize sows. Seems it’s taken a turn for the worse overnight.”
“Oh no, the poor thing. Has it been ill for long?”
Tapping out a message she replied, “Yeah. we thought the treatment program we put her on was working, but it seems not.” She looked up, flashed me a flat smile and then pocketed her phone again.
“Dixon will be so upset. It’s the first time he’s had to euthanize anything on his own. I’ve been with him every other time.”
Dixon was the newly qualified vet who Rose had taken on after Fleur, the last vet she employed, moved to Michigan with her boyfriend.
“Do you need to go to him?” I asked. “I can stay here for the boys if you do.”
“No. He’s fine. He’s gone back to the practice. Peggy will be there.”
Peggy Johnson had been the town veterinary nurse for years. She pocketed her phone, pushed the washing basket to one side, and sat on one of the stools at the kitchen island.
“Okay sweetie, tell Aunt Rose all about it. What’s worrying you about you and Liam?”
“Who says anything is worrying me?” I asked, feeling a twist in my gut.
She raised an eyebrow, and it all came spilling out. “I’m worried that it’s all too good or that he’s suddenly going to turn around and tell me he can’t move on from Mallory. Or worse, he’ll say he can move on, but just not with me. Because—” I said, sighing “—I might not be enough for him.”
“Don’t you dare even think that.” Rose shook her head, but then grinned. “That’s a lot, though, for someone who says there’s nothing wrong. “
“There isn’t… as such. I just started to panic earlier.”
“Have you spoken to him since this morning?” She leaned on the island, her chin resting on her hand, ready to listen intently. I shook my head, aware that I was pouting.
“He left this morning with a kiss on my head and said he was going to be busy all day.”
“And he probably is. He’s got the hotel development and the body. Plus, he’s been away from work for a few days over the last couple of weeks.” She patted my hand. “Stop stressing.”
“I guess.” There was still something bitter in the pit of my stomach. “Don’t you think, though, that he’d have called me if he was interested?”
Rose gave me a thin-lipped smile. “Did you actually listen to what I just said?”
“I did.”
“Look, sweetie, he seems like a good guy. He doesn’t seem the type to sex you to within an inch of losing your mind, give you an orgasm that feels like you’re shooting fireworks from your vagina, and then ghost you.
” She drew in a very slow breath, her spine lengthening, and her chin with a determined tilt.
“Because those sorts of men are not worth bothering with, let me tell you.”
There was a little pout to her lips as she puffed out a sigh.
“Are you okay, Rose? Is there something you want to talk to me about?”
“God no.” She reached for the laundry basket and pulled it to her. “Like you said, my vagina has probably healed over by now.”
The shimmer in her eyes made me wonder, but I also knew Rose and, the more I pushed, the more she was likely to clam up.
Humor was her default, and she didn’t like serious conversations.
I think the most serious discussion we’d ever had was when she caught her eldest son, Jerome, doing something most teenage boys did but never wanted their mom to see.
“Fancy a glass of wine?” I asked her. “I can go to the store.”
She gasped. “What sort of person do you think I am? I have wine. How dare you suggest I don’t?”
“Want me to open a bottle?”
She wobbled her head from side to side and then lifted her pointer finger. “Give me a half hour to do the laundry and then me and a bottle of wine are all yours.”
“Need me to pick the boys up from school?” She shook her head and said stiffly.
“They’re at soccer practice. At least Jerome is, Ruben is staying to see if it’s something he wants to do next semester.”
Nodding, I wondered whether that was what was upsetting her—the boys not choosing to come straight home.
There must be times where she felt lonely, just her and the boys.
Even when they went to after school clubs, she had to be home in case she had to go to them.
When Andrew took the boys, she was working, or used the time to catch up on housework, or paperwork.
“You think he will?” I asked, grabbing a sweater from the pile and starting to fold it. “Want to play soccer?”
She shrugged. “Who knows. Last week he wanted to learn the trumpet, the week before it was drama club.” She paired up two black socks.
“That boy takes after his father for being indecisive.” Her chuckle sounded real, and it felt like maybe her moment of sadness had passed.
“I mean he told me he’d love me forever, but then boom, thirteen years later, gone. ”
I joined in her laughter, because I’d heard all about her divorce from Andrew and it was her decision to end the marriage.
In her words they’d married too young because she’d gotten pregnant during veterinary college and both had been too scared to admit the better idea would be to simply co-parent.
She’d told me that Andrew was an incredible father, and a decent enough husband, but as time went on, they had drifted apart.
‘We were both being bored to death,’ she’d told me. ‘And it was slow and painful.’.
“We could get take-out for when the boys get back?” I suggested. “The Tap has started to do take-out pizza.”
Narrowing her eyes on me she smirked. “Don’t you want to see if Liam wants to come out and play.”
Of course I did. But I was also aware that I was getting too attached and the fall, if it came, would be epic. Perhaps I should start to step back a little. Besides he was going to see Nate and maybe he’d need time and space after that.
“No, I’m sure he’s still busy, and even if he isn’t, I want to spend time with my bestie.”
Rose barked out a laugh. “How the hell did I become your bestie when you’ve lived here your whole life?”
Putting the folder sweater to one side, I picked up a t-shirt.
“Must be your epic charm, Rosemary.” She threw me a glare and pointed.
“You call me Rosemary again and that bestie privilege is revoked. Damn tequila for making me tell you that. But pizza from The Tap sounds great. The boys are always starving when they get home.”
“Want me to pick them up and grab the pizza on the way back?”
There was a beat before she gave a short nod. “Perfect.”
And it would be. We’d have pizza, wine, laugh with her boys and I’d try and forget how much space Liam Brown was taking up in my brain.