Chapter 1 – Rosie
ROSIE
When I went through cosmetology school over a decade ago, I had no idea my breasts would get so much attention. But here they are. On display for my client’s viewing pleasure.
As I crank back the stylist chair and my client rests his head over the sink, I spray the water through his salt-and-pepper hair.
This is the point when my clients typically close their eyes and relax.
But Blake’s are zoned in on—you guessed it—my rack.
Blake is one of Weston’s colleagues, in his late-forties, and apparently “gets laid more than any other guy in the office.” West’s words, not mine.
When I glance over at Hannah, she has her scissors gripped in her hand and she’s giving me the look she always does when a male client checks me out too long.
We’ve been working side by side long enough that her look no longer needs an explanation.
She used to mouth the words, gesturing with her dark, expressive eyes and entire body like she was a mime.
But now, I know what she’s insinuating the second I glance her way.
If he looks at your boobs one more time, I’m gonna cut off his balls.
My lips curl up to one side at her loyalty, but I give her a stern shake of my head. West won’t mind him looking—he’d even get off on it if I told him—but if he so much as lays one finger on me, this guy won’t last another day in the office. I clear my throat. His eyes fly up to meet mine. Caught.
“So, Blake?” Hannah calls. “Have you met my client?”
Blake tries tilting his head from where it’s perched over the sink. “No, I can’t say I have,” he mutters, an edge of annoyance in his tone.
Hannah’s client is a kind woman in her forties as well. Pretty and recently divorced. But she’s not his type. It’s all part of Hannah’s plan to distract him from ogling me. Which I can appreciate.
Four years ago, I rented this space next to hers in Blush—the most prestigious salon in downtown Seattle—and we bonded almost instantly.
She quickly became one of my favorite friends in the city.
Okay, she became my only friend. Before her, there hadn’t been anyone I trusted.
Not with my daughter Charlotte and not with my secrets either.
“Well, my girl here is smart, sassy, and a lot of fun,” Hannah yammers on. “You two should go out.”
“Oh, yeah?” Blake looks unconvinced. So much, in fact, that he finally closes his eyes. “Sounds great. I’ll leave my card. Give me a call.”
“Um…yeah, okay,” Hannah’s client says from behind the shield of foils framing her face.
I smirk, rolling my eyes at Hannah, but she doesn’t notice. She’s too busy standing straighter with her chest thrust out. Hannah: 1. Rich douchebag: 0.
My workdays usually end earlier than Hannah’s because I pick Charlotte up from school. But today I quit even sooner to give myself time to clean up my space in preparation for being gone next week.
“While you’re getting a tan, I want you to think of me stuck here getting poured on,” Hannah whines, flashing me her sad puppy eyes in the reflection of our shared mirror. Commiserating with her, I pout my lips. “Tell Charlie to pick me out a cute Golden Harbor souvenir.”
“I will.” After I wipe down the glass shelves to the side of my station, I return the hair products, organizing them by their proper uses. “But you know I’m not gonna have much time to spend at the beach.”
Hannah’s scissors pause in her manicured hand, and she gives me an irritated look. “Didn’t you tell me your grandma’s house is literally on the beach?”
“I mean…yeah, I guess.” I grab my jacket off the hook on the wall and wrestle it on, and a shock of pain in my shoulder seeps into my arm. “But I’ll be pretty busy with my grandma’s service and packing up all her stuff.”
Hannah sets her scissors down and whispers something to her client. She shuffles over to me and wraps me up in a hug. “Just promise me you’ll go out and have some fun with your old friends. As jealous as I am that I can’t be there, you need some fun in your life.”
I pull back, a little gasp escaping me. “I have fun.”
“Sure, you snagged yourself a hot piece of ass. But I can’t remember the last time you had fun.” She takes me by the shoulders. “Double up on your pain meds and go out to a bar. Drink a beer. Do something wild. Dance. Sing karaoke. Throw an axe.” She shakes my shoulders. “Just do something.”
“Ugh. Fine, I’ll try. But no promises.” I groan. “I’ll text you.”
“You better. Love ya.” She hands me my umbrella, and I give her one last glance before I slip out into the Seattle rain.
“Don’t go,” Weston pleads, tugging the suitcase handle from my grip.
“I have to.” I wrinkle my nose as I sigh, a wave of emotion rising in me unexpectedly. Shielding my eyes, I turn away from him and snatch my purse from the bed.
With a firm grip to my waist, he spins me to face him.
But my mind is elsewhere. It’s restless.
I’ve got a mental travel checklist scrolling through my brain.
West rests an open palm on the side of my neck, pushing gentle pressure against my skin with his thumb and fingertips.
It stills me and my eyes slide up to meet his. Blue and clear. Trustworthy.
“Then I’ll come with you.”
I give him a lopsided smile. I know he can’t. He knows he can’t. And yet maybe he wants to. That should be enough. The want. But it’s not.
And the intent doesn’t matter anyway.
The streetlamp outside flicks on and the light pours through the window where the voice-control blackout roller shades have yet been commanded to cover. It’s a reminder of my flight and the time it takes to get through security at SeaTac Airport.
I reach up and squeeze West’s smooth hand. “Can you really get the time off work?”
His lips twitch. Like he didn’t think I’d call him on his bullshit. “No. But you know I want to.”
“I do.” I push up on my toes and kiss him lightly on his perfect cupid’s bow lips.
But his greedy hand slides to the back of my neck with increased force and he lengthens our kiss. His mouth moves over mine with determination, his tongue darting out to pry open my lips. He’s eager to make me stay.
And it nearly works.
My head goes dizzy, and I hook my fingers into the top of his belt holding up his slacks.
He tugs my bottom lip with his teeth and pulls away to whisper, “Stay. Leave tomorrow.” His hot breath combined with the scent of his musky cologne make my head swim.
“Alexa, close blinds,” he commands, and they slide down.
Teasing the hollow of my neck with a trail of kisses, he tells me, “I’ll take the rest of the night off. ”
The reminder of his work turns me off instantly. I love West. I do. But when it comes to work, I will always be second place.
“Mama, I’m ready,” Charlotte calls from the hallway as she gallops like a horse into our bedroom, flipping on the bright overhead light as she does.
I step back from West, giving his chest a pat. “Me too, Charlie.” I sling my purse over my shoulder and grip the handle of my suitcase again. “We’ll be back in a week,” I say, gazing at West’s creased brow before giving him one last quick kiss.
“I already miss my girls. A week is too long,” he whines, and I decide a grown man in a power suit whining is surprisingly sweet.
It softens him. We’ve softened him. West’s brother told me so.
Said if it weren’t for Charlie and I coming into his life a year ago, West would’ve surely been named Seattle’s most eligible bachelor.
He’s probably happy because he’s now been given that title in some circles.
Including Seattle’s Business Tycoon magazine.
“It’s just a week. That’s only seven days,” Charlie tells West, pushing her reddish-brown hair out of her face.
My lips quirk into a smile. West crouches and Charlie runs into his awaiting arms. He wraps her up in a big hug and he squeezes her, rocking side to side. “How’d you get to be so smart?”
“I’m smart like you,” she says, and her response lights up his expression.
“Nah, you’re smart like your mama.” He shoots me a wink then releases her and stands, propping his hands on his hips. “You take care of her, okay?”
“I can’t take care of her. I’m only six.” She giggles.
“Fine. You two girls take care of each other. Deal?” He holds out his pinky finger and she hooks her little one with his.
“Deal.”
“All right, c’mon, Charlie, we gotta go.” I nudge her in the back, ushering her toward the hall.
“Wait, Rosie,” he calls, and I turn.
“West,” I say on a sigh. It really is sweet.
Charlie and I haven’t been anywhere without him since we started dating a year ago, though he’s gone on several business trips without us.
We’ve just never been the ones doing the leaving.
I’ve never had a reason to. Until now. “We can’t miss our flight. ”
“If you need me, just say the word and I’m there.”
Part of me believes him. For this relationship to work, I have to.
“Thank you.”
“I love you,” he says.
“We love you too.” I flash him a smile and shuffle out of the bedroom.
Outside, the city lights reflect off wet asphalt, and the scent of rain on a warm summer’s day fills my nose. It’s something I’m still getting used to after growing up in California.
West’s condo is in the ritzy part of downtown Seattle, near Pike Place, meaning it isn’t the ideal location to raise Charlie. But the alternative—and where we lived up until moving in with him—causes my heart to race and my breath to go shallow.
Taxis, Ubers, and bikes occupy the street. People flood the sidewalks in packs. At this time of the day, most are heading to dinner or the local bars. I squeeze Charlie’s shoulder to keep her close until I finally spot our Uber.
“There’s ours.” I point and nudge her. “C’mon, get your suitcase.”
The driver tosses our luggage into his compact SUV, and Charlie and I climb into the back seat. She looks out the window and is quiet. It’s painful how I already notice her struggle with anxiety. She’s younger than her father was the first time I comforted him during a panic attack.
My phone buzzes in my hand.
Stella
Can’t wait to see you!
Me too! But we’ll be there late
Maybe we should get a hotel tonight?
Stella
I’ll be awake
Come by and you can pick up the keys to Dottie’s cottage
I went by there earlier and stocked the fridge with a few things I thought you and Charlotte might need
My shoulders tense. I glance at Charlie and catch her chewing on the string from her hoodie. I tug it out of her mouth, and she scowls at me but doesn’t protest.
“Hey, wanna look at pictures of Grandma Dottie’s cottage again?”
She nods. “Is it really on the beach?”
“It’s just a short walk. You can see the waves from her front deck.”
She smiles wide, showing off her newly toothless grin. During the last week, she lost both front teeth. “Is the water cold?”
“It shouldn’t be too cold this time of year. Not like when we went to Long Beach.”
“Brr.” She shivers at the memory.
That was the last full day West spent with us.
He let his brother handle the business for their finance company for the day.
He arranged everything. Even remembered to bring sand toys for Charlotte.
We collected sand dollars and ate fish and chips in town.
West let Charlie fill a paper bag with all the saltwater taffy she could fit.
We had needed a day like that. I’d been questioning where our relationship stood and where it was headed. And he rose to the challenge and showed us we were a priority. The next night he took me to a fancy restaurant downtown and proposed. I said yes.
I open my photos app on my phone and find the album I labeled “Grandma Dottie” and hand it to Charlie. After I received word my grandmother had a stroke, I started compiling all my photos of her and her cottage in California. Not just for me, but for Charlie too.
Seeing where we’re headed will hopefully calm her nerves. But it’s not just where we’re going that’s got her anxious. She’s about to meet a lot of new people for the first time. Including her father.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
My chest aches with heaviness from this secret I’ve been holding in for far too long. I lean closer to Charlie and push her hair out of her face, resting my head against hers. “Let me look with you,” I whisper.
I want to soak up these last moments where it’s just Charlie and me—before I rock her entire world.