22. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Milo
I find her near the end of the day and sling the vacuum off her huge cleaning cart. I know she’s anxious to get Callum from Childcare, so I plug it in and get to work.
“You don’t have to help me,” she shouts in my ear over the sound of the vacuum down the hallway of suites on the first floor.
“I know,” I shout back. I give her a look that says Just let me get this done .
She hesitates, a war flickering over her expression. I know she’s torn. She was concerned about leaving Callum all day after he’d been sick, and even though it had been well over twenty-four hours since he’d shown any signs of illness, I know she’s worried. And my brothers might see me vacuuming, which could raise questions. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. Rose needs the help.
When she still doesn’t leave me be, I turn the vacuum off and rest my forearm on the handle. “Hey, it’s okay. I finished what I needed to do for my own job. It’s no problem to help you out with yours for a few minutes.”
Her brows go high on her forehead and she stares at me, her mouth hardening in a line. “I just . . . I can do this on my own.”
“You can, I know. I just wanted to help you, that’s all. It’s either this or become immersed in some fantasy novel upstairs in my suite.” She doesn’t know that by becoming “immersed” I actually mean by writing one.
She makes a shooing motion with her hands. “So go get immersed! This is . . .” She glances from side to side. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“In trouble? I have a bit of an in, with my brother being the owner and all . . .”
“I know.” Her tone is saucy.
I feel my mouth bunching up in concern. “Did I just come across as arrogant or something?”
“Not arrogant.” She teases me with a smile. “Just a name dropper, is all.”
“Oh wow.”
She laughs and swipes at my arm. “I’m kidding. It’s fine. I just feel like this is my job to do, so I should be the one to do it.” She attempts to grab the vacuum from me, then lowers her voice in a whisper. “Besides, do your brothers know you’ve been hanging out with me?”
“No. But I don’t care about that right now. It just looks like I’m simply helping a staff member at the end of a long day.”
She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out, so I capitalize on that by continuing.
“If I help you, we both get to see Callum sooner,” I say. “So really, this is selfish of me.”
“Oh, is that what this is?” She leans in a little closer, waiting for some guests in beachwear to pass us. “You sorta like my little boy, don’t you?”
I grow serious, and Rose’s eyes track mine, searching for the truth. “I do. He’s a great kid. I like his mom, too.” Then I hold up both palms. “I have to tell the truth.”
“Truth from a man? That’s refreshing.” Her mouth drops open in a grin.
I frown. “It shouldn’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
“A novelty. When a guy is honest about stuff? That shouldn’t be refreshing. It should be your reality.”
She blows out a breath. “Yeah, it should. But it’s not. I’ve seen enough men lie to know better.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” She lifts a finger. “But one good thing to come of it is I’m determined to show Callum another way. That it’s possible to be decent and strong, mentally and emotionally. It’s possible to treat both women and men with respect.” She shakes her head. “Not sure how I’m supposed to do that, but that’s my big, hairy, audacious goal.”
“You don’t have to do that alone, though.”
She searches my gaze. “I know. Which is one of the many reasons I’m glad we’re . . . hanging out for now.” She sighs, massaging her temple. “I have to go finish some things in the office.” She taps the vacuum. “Thank you. If you don’t have anything going on, maybe you could come over again tonight. If you want. I know with so much of your family around, you’re probably . . .”
“I want. I want.”
She lights up in a grin. “See you at my place at like six? Come hungry, okay? I had so much time on my hands yesterday, I made sourdough bread.”
And by “made sourdough bread” she also meant beef stew and an angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries on top.
After finishing the meal, I scoot away from her kitchen table. “That was incredible. Your food rivals my Aunt Stella’s.” I grab another slice on the serving plate near me and break off little pieces to place on Callum’s plate. He’s hungrily grabbing bites and shoving them into his mouth with his fist like there’s a swarm of birds ready to steal it all away from him.
“Don’t get too excited. It wasn’t all from scratch. But you have an aunt Stella? Tell me about her.”
“She raised us in the summers when we were growing up. My parents did a lot of traveling for the company, so it was determined that the summers would be a lot easier if we came here. We loved it. She’s an exceptional human.”
She tsks. “I see how it was. You spent your summers in Longdale, playing in the lake, and I spent mine working forty hours a week spread over three different jobs.”
“I admit, that was unfair. What were your jobs?” I’m reminded of our different upbringings, and I know it’s something Rose doesn’t like. It’s another one of the reasons she only wants to date me temporarily. I can understand it, but I can also try to show her that, in the end, it doesn’t really matter.
“You name it, I did it. Movie theaters, car washes, fast food. Lots of fast food.” She shakes her head. “But anyway, tell me about Stella. Does she have kids of her own?”
I nod. “Two. She’s older than my dad, and her kids are older than all of us brothers. Her husband passed away before I was born, so she pretty much raised them all on her own. She’s got a lot of energy. Always in everybody’s business. But you know, my parents weren’t really like that, so in some ways, it was nice to have someone all up in your grill about what you were and weren’t doing.”
“Ah. I get it. My mom had to work a lot and was too tired to be up in our grill about our lives. I pretty much fended for myself.”
“That must have been hard.”
“I didn’t know any different.” Her posture and tone are casual, but there’s pain in the set of her shoulders, the flex of her hands.
“I would love for you to meet Stella. And my parents. Well, and my brothers and their wives, too. And my niece, Navie. She and Callum could hang out.”
“Whoa, whoa. Slow down.” She fights a grin. “How about one or two at a time? Eventually?”
“Right. Of course.” I wipe Callum’s mouth and hands with a small washcloth. I keep looking at him as I address the next topic at hand. “I got your letter today.”
“I was just about to bring that up.” She stands and comes around to my side of the table. She leans on her palms on the tabletop to meet my line of vision. “I’m sorry I fished those papers out of the garbage.”
I shrug. “It’s mostly just embarrassing. I hadn’t meant for anyone to see them. But then as I thought about it, I’m sort of glad it’s out there in the open.”
“Glad?” Her lips twist to one side.
“Yeah. You and I weren’t really talking about things between us. But for the housekeeper to happen to see your name and think to tell you about them? What are the chances of that?” I shift in my chair. Just because it ended up being a good thing, doesn’t mean it’s not embarrassing. “I’m glad you know where I’m at.”
She groans and rests her head on the table.
Her voice is muffled in her arms. “Look, I meant what I said in my letter today. That both Callum and I light up when you walk in the room.”
“I love being around you two.” I clear my throat. “Rose, I’m not attached to Longdale. I mean, I love it here, and I love being near my family, but, if push comes to shove, I—”
“I won’t ask you to uproot your life, Milo.”
“I know. I’m just saying that it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for me to relocate to the Chapel Hill resort, too, if it came to that. I can’t pretend I wouldn’t love to see where things could go between us. And I can’t pretend that getting letters from you and seeing you and spending time with you and Callum aren’t the best moments of my day.”
“That’s a lot of best moments of your day.”
“If you’re around, it’s all considered the best.”
She shakes her head but can’t seem to control the smile from lighting up her face.
“You did call me an attractive man,” I tease. “So there’s that.”
Tears spring to her eyes, and she laughs. “There is that.”
“You are beautiful, Rose.” At her grunt, I sigh. “I can control my feelings. I’ll never push you. But I also want to be honest with you. And I hope, in the end, I can change your mind.”
She presses her lips together, and in a flash, I see her wistful look before it’s shut down by a hardened expression.
All the women I’ve dated, and there were a few in college and a couple in high school, were my friends first, it’s just how it’s happened. But this thing with Rose? We’re friends, too, but I feel a connection with her that I’m not willing to let go of, and certainly not willing to jeopardize.
She grasps both of my arms with her hands, her eyes searching mine. “Any chance you’d be interested in a hug right now?”
“As much as you can handle.”
She goes on her tiptoes, her laugh muffled against my chest. “So, about those letters you wrote but then threw in the garbage?”
I smooth her hair away from my throat. “Yeah. Embarrassing. Juvenile. But like I said, I don’t regret you seeing them.”
“Me, neither. It gives me some hope that I’m not a completely broken human being.”
What? “Broken?” I pull away so I can see her face, but I keep my arms around the small of her back. “No way. You’re so capable and quick-witted and smarter than anyone I’ve ever seen. You’re a brilliant mom. You’re hardworking and a great boss. The things you’ve been through haven’t broken you, Rose. They’ve given you a strength that is in and of itself, beautiful. There’s nothing like it. And you wouldn’t have gotten it without the hard stuff. The things you’ve been through? They’ve made you more beautiful than you know.”
She hesitates, hope brimming in her eyes. She opens her mouth to respond, but my phone rings. It’s Henry, who also sends me a text: Urgent. Answer your phone.
“Hey, if you don’t want your private business to be broadcast to the entire family, start talking,” Henry says through the phone.
I said goodbye to Rose, reluctantly, when I got the text from Henry. I let his call go to voicemail but call him back as I get in my car and set out on the drive back to the resort. “Talking about what? What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is Sebastian’s started asking questions. He looks at the security videos sometimes. You know this, don’t you?”
“Did I do something wrong?”
He sighs. “Clandestine hugs? Long conversations with her and her kid in the lobby? Helping the housekeeping staff with the cleaning? Or I should say one member of the housekeeping staff in particular . . .”
“Don’t you have better things to do than analyze those security recordings, Henry?”
“It’s part of my job. I have other people for that, but occasionally I glance at them.” His voice is low and deliberate. “Been getting quite the eyeful.”
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner? And Sebastian’s seen it, too?” I should have known. I’ve always lived under a microscope with so many older brothers. It’s this microscope that has me always pushing myself to succeed. To fall in line.
“I figured it was none of my business.”
“That’s right.”
“But when Sebastian noticed and asked me about it, I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”
I just sigh. When I don’t say anything, he continues, with delight in his voice. “Are you with her right now?”
“No.” I might sound defensive, though, and I realize that, so I amend my statement. “I was, but I’m on my way back to the resort.”
“So, uh. Can I ask about what happened with Gloria?”
I chuckle, but don’t respond.
“Does Gloria know about this new one?” Henry asks. “Or what’s the status with that?”
“Henry,” I mutter.
“Hey, just wondering. You do you. I don’t care. But I never thought I’d see the day when any other woman could compete with Gloria.”
“You all know nothing, okay? Absolutely nothing.” I ease the car onto the road that will eventually turn into Lakeside Road. “You’ve made up this big story and named it Gloria. You. Know. Nothing.”
“Well, if you care to enlighten us, we wouldn’t have to make up stories.”
“I’d rather not,” I say past the lump in my throat. In the past, my dating life was under a microscope, and the family felt like they had to give me their two cents. I don’t want that right now.
“Alright, alright.” Henry’s voice is soft. “Just be careful.”
“I don’t even want to know what you mean about that.”
“I just mean that there were a couple of girls before I met Quinn who weren’t interested in me , they were interested in Dad’s money. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Seriously? You think because she works in housekeeping, she could only be interested in my money?” The truth is, that thought did occur to me. For about five seconds until I started to get to know her. That’s when I realized she’s not. If anything, my money is scaring her away because she thinks that means we’re too different to be together. That I could never be content with her.
She’s just plain wrong.
“Well, she might not understand that you personally don’t have much right now,” Henry says. “But she might be thinking you’ll have a lot of money eventually.
He’s right, I don’t have a lot right now. But there are trust funds in place and I have plenty for my needs. Our parents don’t give handouts—there are requirements in place to ensure we’re not getting something for nothing.
“That’s enough. I’m not going to even dignify that with a response.”
“It has to be said one time.” Henry’s voice is urgent. “I’m not making assumptions. I don’t know her at all. I’m sure she’s a great person. But if it was never said to you and then you got hurt anyway—”
“She’s not like that. Besides, things are casual between us.”
At Henry’s scoff, I continue. “They are. She’s moving to North Carolina. You can check with HR because they have it all set up to have her transfer to the Chapel Hill location in September.”
Unless I can change that.
“Okay. Whatever. Doesn’t seem like anyone should be dating anyone casually if they have a kid.”
“Well, it’s my choice, so . . .” My hands grip the steering wheel as I drive through the town center of Longdale, forcing myself to keep to the speed limit.
“I’ve seen a lot. And I’m sorry I even have to say anything. Also? You’d better tell her about Gloria because if the family meets her—what’s her name?”
I sigh, a bitter taste gathering in my mouth. “Rose,” I mutter through my teeth.
“If the family meets Rose. . .” There’s a smile in his voice as he repeats her name. “They might say something about Gloria and then you’d have a lot of explaining to do. I’ve learned the hard way that being open about stuff is the only way to go.”
“Thanks, expert on all things love.” I laugh at my own joke. “I’ve explained my family’s grand assumptions all those months ago. Don’t worry. It’s not going to be an issue.”
Henry starts laughing. And as uncharacteristic as it is, I can’t help joining in a little bit, too. Seeing Henry happy now, when times were so dark for him in the past, makes me happy, too.
“Shouldn’t you be home with Quinn and Navie? I’m sure Petra could use a walk.”
“I am home with them. Sebastian texted me to ask about you and your mystery woman.”
“Well, you can just tell him if he has questions, he needs to ask me directly. Please give me that, Henry.”
“Okay, okay.”
When he starts laughing again, I balk.
“What’s so funny?”
“I just figured it out. Rose is Gloria.”