Chapter 25 #2
Lori’s eyes widened, and she grasped Rosie’s shoulders. “You’re going back to being a therapist? That’s so exciting!” She held Rosie at arm’s length and narrowed her eyes. “But when were you going to tell me this yourself?”
Rosie shook her head and took Lori’s hands. “I haven’t told myself yet. Shay’s just stirring the pot, aren’t you, darling?”
Shay winked and kissed Rosie’s cheek. “I just want you to follow your heart.”
Rosie shared a look with Lori, who was clearly thinking the same thing: if Rosie followed her heart, it would lead only to Shay, and she’d run in the opposite direction.
Rosie appreciated the support. Having Lori believe in her had taken some getting used to, but she had a feeling that it would be too easy to accept Shay’s cheerleading.
“Okay,” Lori said and arched her eyebrow at Rosie.
She shook her head almost imperceptibly so that Shay didn’t see. Lori wouldn’t try to play matchmaker the same way Rosie had after Lori’s divorce because this was different. Trying to force them together would only split them wide apart.
“Well, when you figure out a date, will you let me know if you want my company? I can get Beth to look after the Sanctuary for a few days, and we can make it a road trip.”
Rosie pulled Lori into a brief hug. “I’d love that. We’ll take my car though—I wouldn’t feel safe in your little Bolt thingy on the freeway.”
“That’s a good call,” Gabe said as she came to stand beside Lori. “Where’re you headed?”
“Memphis.”
“The birthplace of rock and roll.” Gabe looked impressed. “What’s the occasion? Can I tag along, or is it BFF business only?”
Lori rolled her eyes and gestured back to the urn still on the stage. “It’s where Rosie’s mom wanted her ashes scattered.”
“Oh, God. Sorry.” Gabe hit herself upside the head. “Ignore me.”
“We could all go…if you didn’t mind?”
Rosie spun around to Shay, unable to decide if it was the offer or the way she’d made the offer which was the most startling.
Hand-holding. Cheek-kissing. Emotional support at public gatherings.
And now double-date mini-breaks. It was as good as one of those fake romance tropes in those books Lori was always reading.
Rosie wasn’t inclined to turn down the opportunity to spend more time with Shay, even if it was at the expense of a BFF hangout.
Lori would always be around, but Shay had made no such promise.
“I don’t mind at all.” She turned back to Lori and Gabe.
“And it’d be good to get to know you better, Gabe. ”
Rosie had given Gabe a hard time when she first came on the scene, but she’d since proven she was worthy of Lori. And it wouldn’t hurt to score points with Shay’s best friend; she never knew when she might need them.
Gabe grinned. “Oh yeah? So you can figure out my weaknesses and exploit them if I ever hurt Lori?”
Rosie tapped her nose. “Exactly.”
Gabe jutted her chin toward Shay. “I should probably do the same then.”
Lori frowned at Gabe, and the three of them exchanged looks as if they all knew something Rosie didn’t.
“You don’t have to worry about us hurting each other,” Rosie said. “We both know what this is and what it isn’t.”
Gabe raised her eyebrows and tugged Lori close. “We should get to Bonnie’s before…before Woody gets there and obliterates the buffet.”
Lori frowned. “You can’t be hungry already? You had two grilled chicken breasts in the truck on the way here.”
“Got to keep these babies fed.” Gabe flexed her arm and stretched the seams of her suit jacket.
Lori visibly swooned and when she clasped Gabe’s giant bicep, her hand looked tiny.
“As much as I love these, you’re being rude.” Lori turned back to Rosie. “Do you need us to do anything?”
Rosie shook her head. “Nope. You’re good to go.
Alyssa’s dealing with the flowers, and I just have to look after the urn.
” Which was an ordeal all by itself. Every time she picked it up, she had visions of dropping it and her mom spilling out all over the ground.
Having to vacuum her mom up with a Dyson would surely result in a vengeful haunting.
Gabe put her hand on Shay’s shoulder. “You should stay and help with that.”
“I’m pretty sure I can handle holding an urn.” Rosie frowned at Lori, hoping for an explanation, but she just shrugged. Gabe pulled Lori away gently and signaled for the rest of her little team to leave.
Ellery waved from the side of the room and then wandered over. “I’ve been waiting to see how you’re doing.”
“I’m good.” Rosie looked around the room. “No Lenny today?”
Ellery rubbed her forehead and sighed. “I’m sorry, no. She was supposed to come, but…” She drifted off, clearly unable to find an acceptable excuse.
Don’t ever be sorry for her absence. “That’s a shame.” Rosie wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face if Lori had still been there. “Work emergency?” she asked, though she had no idea what Lenny’s current job of the month was. She and Lori couldn’t keep up.
“Kind of. She says I’ve been obsessed with work since I moved into Lori’s building at the Sanctuary. We’re on a break until I come to my senses and prioritize her needs over the needs of other people’s animals.” Ellery shook her head. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about that. You’re really okay?”
“I’m really okay.” She noticed Ellery looking over her shoulder toward the stage.
“Admiring the flowers?” she asked, knowing full well Ellery had zero interest in pretty things like floral arrangements, even though she was constantly sending them to Lenny.
But Ellery did have a weakness for fiery femmes.
Ellery snapped her gaze back to Rosie. “Yeah, yeah. The flowers. They’re…they’re something else.”
She suppressed a smile. “Something else is definitely right.”
“Anyway, I’ll get out of your hair,” Ellery said. “I’ll see you at Bonnie’s.”
“Perfect.” Rosie gave Ellery a quick hug.
“Not a fan of Lenny?” Shay asked when Ellery had gone.
Rosie grimaced. “Lenny is her own biggest fan. She doesn’t need me or anyone else for that.”
Shay chuckled. “So no.” She thumbed toward the stage. “Does Red need help, or can we go too? I need to talk to you about something, and I don’t want to do it here or at Bonnie’s.”
“Sure. Let me just check.” Shit. Rosie’s stomach dropped as she walked back to the stage.
Shay had figured out that Rosie’s feelings had gotten out of hand, and she was going to pull away.
All the niceties today were just indicators of Shay’s guilt that she was about to break Rosie’s heart.
God, she hoped Shay was still willing to be friends.
She didn’t want to think about not having Shay in her life at all, not now, not after everything they’d shared.
Maybe it was because of her family. Her dad’s accident might mean that he needed extra care, and of course Shay had stepped up to fill that gap.
God forbid any of her brothers did their share of the caring.
Their relationship had become too demanding for her, and she had to cut it loose. Fuck and damn it.
Rosie had a quick chat with Alyssa, who said she’d be at Bonnie’s as soon as she’d taken care of the flowers, which Rosie couldn’t wait to see the back of.
She picked up the urn and headed back toward Shay, who was waiting at the exit.
“Where do you want to go?” she asked, hoping Shay wouldn’t suggest somewhere Rosie really liked.
Having her heart broken would be hard enough without having it associated with one of her favorite places.
“I thought we could walk along Navy Pier.”
That worked. It was just across the street and would be busy on a Saturday afternoon, which was all the motivation Rosie needed to keep her ugly crying until she got home.
She would’ve preferred Shay to wait until after the evening gathering, but Rosie figured she might be leaving early to get back to her dad.
She had said that the weekends would be her time to look after him, and Rosie hadn’t expected Shay to be here at all.
She clutched her mom’s urn to her chest. Although Shay’s car was only a short walk in the opposite direction, Rosie decided to keep it with her. She just wanted Shay to get this over with.
They took the short walk along East Grand to the pier in a strangely awkward silence, something they’d never had before, as they battled against the wind that her city was so famous for.
It was an awkward silence Rosie was familiar with from other relationships.
She’d come to think of it as the calm before the storm, but she hoped the tornado that was about to rip out her heart wouldn’t take their friendship with it.
“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to say this,” Shay said when they stopped at a relatively quiet spot on the pier.
Shay could barely make eye contact with her, and Rosie’s heart ached at the conflict in her expression.
It somehow made her feel a little better that this clearly wasn’t easy.
Perhaps it was because it showed that their time together had meant something to her, where countless other women had failed to make an impact.
“It’s okay.” Rosie wanted to reach out and hold her close, but there was no way she could risk putting the urn on the uneven wooden planks of this part of the pier.
“It is?”
She nodded. “Of course.” If Shay was struggling to put it into words, Rosie would help.
Even though her heart was about to shatter into a thousand pieces, she would never begrudge the time they’d had together or forget Shay’s support in Mexico.
“We both knew what this was from the start, and you made it clear what you thought about long-term relationships. Even though it’s something I never had, I understand the need to put your family first.”
Shay frowned and shook her head slowly. “I don’t think you understand.”
Rosie tried for a smile and hoped she’d managed it. “I do. It’s gotten complicated, your family needs you, and you want out of this. I do understand.”
Shay continued to shake her head and laughed lightly. “Why would you think I want out of this,” she gestured between the two of them, “when I’ve fallen in love with you?”
The world began to spin like the Centennial Wheel they’d just walked past. The wind whipped through her hair and whistled in her ears.
Her body felt light and distant, and control of it slipped away slowly, as if her soul was becoming untethered from it, the same soul that yearned to hear those words coming softly from Shay’s lips.
“Oh, shit!”
Wait, what? Not those words. And as Shay lunged toward her, Rosie became aware too late for the reason for Shay’s reaction.
Something shattered into a thousand pieces, but it wasn’t her heart; it was the Mexican clay pot holding her mom’s ashes.
And the Windy City claimed its contents, gathering them up in a gray twister and carrying them out over Lake Michigan.
As the grainy remains of her mom floated up and away with the blustery breeze, it was as if Rosie’s entire past was swept away on the currents of air.
And in the unwritten future and infinite possibilities that awaited her, Shay stood front and center, offering Rosie her heart and the love she had stopped searching for, the love she thought she didn’t deserve.
“You’ll be my Princess Charming?” she asked, hungry for confirmation of the words that had released her from the chains of her past.
“I will if you’ll let me.” Shay stepped closer and pulled Rosie into her arms. She gently tucked a wisp of Rosie’s hair behind her ear and kissed her. “If maybe you could fall in love with me too…”
Rosie laughed and took Shay’s face in her hands.
She pressed her lips over Shay’s, finally able to really claim Shay’s kiss as her own, as just hers.
Her soul reached out across the ether and deep in a place beyond physical representation, she felt Shay’s soul wrap around hers, making her feel safe and loved and truly held for the very first time in her life.
She pulled away just enough to say, “I’m already in love with you.”