Chapter 27
Rosie opened the door to a bouquet of red tulips so large that she couldn’t see Shay holding them.
“They’re from Red at the Flower Loft.” Shay peeked around the side. “She said I should be bringing you red roses for a first date, but since I already know your favorite flower…” She offered them to Rosie.
“They’re absolutely beautiful. Thank you.” She turned from the door to put the bouquet in the kitchen, but Shay didn’t follow. “Are you coming?”
“I was waiting to be invited inside.”
Rosie wrinkled her nose before she realized Shay was doing as she’d suggested and treating this as a real first date.
“Please come in.” She pulled a vase from a cupboard and half filled it with water.
When she placed the flowers inside, she noticed a single orange tulip nestled in the center of the red ones.
“That one’s from my momma,” Shay said. “She would’ve loved you, especially because you opened my heart again.”
A bubble of emotion rose from her chest and emerged as a gasp.
“Are you okay?” Shay asked, reaching out.
Rosie nodded and pushed away the intrusive comparison to her own mom. She definitely didn’t want to think about her right now. “It’s just the way you talk about your mom; I wish I could’ve met her.”
Shay placed her hand over Rosie’s. “Me too.”
“Do you think I’ll get to meet your dad?”
“Hey now, that’s at least fifteen to twenty dates down the road, princess. Don’t rush this,” Shay said and winked. “So are you ready to go?”
“Yeah. And this is really what you want me to wear?” Rosie motioned at her very casual outfit of jeans, sneakers, and sweater.
“You look perfect. Shall we?”
Rosie took Shay’s hand, and they went downstairs to her car. “You’re still not going to give me any clues about where we’re going?” she asked when Shay had been driving a few minutes.
“I thought you liked surprises?”
“I usually do.”
Shay glanced at her briefly. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
“Then relax and enjoy the ride.”
Along the route, Shay updated Rosie on her dad’s condition. He was back home after making a faster than expected recovery, and the rest of the family were pitching in with caring for him.
“Aaron’s cracking the whip,” Shay said. “Even Matthew’s spending time with him, although that’s ended up with Daddy being addicted to Candy Crush. Now they’ve both got their phones surgically attached to their hands. Has Janie made any progress with your mom’s debt?”
Rosie huffed. “God, I hope so. She’s getting the details of the whole application process so I can match the same times to my schedule and show I was nowhere near Lancaster.
It looks like the ID used was fake too, and they’ve got CCTV in the bank.
It shouldn’t take long to prove I had nothing to do with it.
” That didn’t stop the anchor of anxiety weighing heavy in her gut at the thought of all that money they were trying to get her to pay back.
“Yeah, but you don’t need that extra worry, do you?”
“Definitely not.” She squeezed Shay’s arm, grateful for her understanding.
Shay took the freeway toward Chicago, which didn’t give Rosie any clue as to where they were headed.
They fell into general conversation, mostly about their mutual desire to see America’s first Black female president elected in a couple of months.
Time slipped past along with the miles until Shay pulled into a parking lot outside a small brick building Rosie thought she recognized but couldn’t recall why.
A giant freedom flag hung in the second-floor window.
“What is this place?” Rosie asked as she stepped onto the gravel, thankful she was in sneakers and not nice heels that would instantly be scratched up and ruined.
“You’ll see.” Shay took her hand and led her inside.
The double doors opened into a corridor, and while Shay signed them in at the reception desk, Rosie took the opportunity to investigate.
A nearby table was filled with stacks of leaflets on every kind of neglect and abuse, all manner of STDs, and details of nearby health clinics offering free services.
The rainbow theme continued, along with pamphlets on counseling and gender reassignment.
It was all worthy work, but Rosie was struggling to see how it was first-date location material.
A sign on the wall pointed to accommodation, and several signs pointing to the right indicated the canteen, break room, library, and offices.
On the back wall, a brightly colored sign in graffiti-style said, “Homeless, not hopeless.”
Shay put her hand on the small of Rosie’s back. “This way.”
“Kudos for originality,” Rosie said. “I’ve never gone on a date to a homeless shelter before.”
Shay smiled. “I hear the food at this restaurant is Michelin-worthy.”
She opened a door that led into a large gymnasium-type room crammed full of tables, which in turn, were overflowing with kids who seemed to range from about thirteen to early twenties.
“Kitchen’s open,” someone yelled from the far end of the room.
The voice sounded familiar, but Rosie couldn’t place it.
“Let’s meet the chef.” Shay guided her away from the melee the announcement had incited and headed toward the kitchen area.
“Jackie?” Rosie focused harder on the woman behind the counter, serving food to the huge line of kids gathering for dinner. She looked at Shay. “What’s going on?”
“Change,” Shay said as if that explained everything.
Rosie stopped walking. “That’s one of my ex-clients.”
“I know.”
Rosie frowned, trying not to jump to erroneous conclusions and panic. “How and why do you know that?”
“I asked Lori if she knew of any of your old clients that you felt hadn’t made progress after working with you.
She said you never mentioned names, and the only one of your clients she was aware of was someone whom she’d referred: one of her ex-wife’s colleagues called Jackie.
” Shay nodded toward the kitchen. “I did a little digging with Woody, connected the dots, and that led us to Jackie Dunn, ex-lawyer and now Senior Director of Development here at Alphabet House.” Shay pulled Rosie close.
“You were worried your work wasn’t making a difference…
but it did. I’ve talked to Jackie, and she couldn’t sing your praises enough.
You’re the one who put her on this path, Rosie.
And now she’s helping hundreds of LGBTQ homeless kids. ”
Rosie leaned heavily on Shay, overcome with the whole situation. “But—”
“Your ethics are safe,” Shay said. “I did all of this, and it was Jackie who said that she’d love to see you again when I mentioned that I knew you.
” She placed her finger over her lips when Rosie opened her mouth to protest. “I know it’s a bit of a gray area, but Jackie has no idea why I sought her out.
She thinks it’s all a cosmic coincidence.
But I wanted you to see that what you were doing, the thing that you loved so much, was really helping people. ”
Rosie didn’t know how to respond. All manner of emotions overwhelmed her and battled to be voiced, but beyond the questionable ethics was a beautifully thoughtful idea.
She tugged at Shay’s arm and began to back out of the room, hoping that Jackie would remain too busy to notice her.
When they got back into reception, Rosie threw her arms around Shay and hugged her tight. “Thank you.”
Shay looked confused. “You don’t want to say hi?”
Rosie shook her head. “I don’t need to. It’s enough to know that she’s on a different path and that she’s attributed it to my intervention.”
“Okay, I think I get it.”
Rosie pressed her forehead to Shay’s and exhaled deeply. “Thank you for understanding me. Thank you for this.”
When Shay had signed them out again, she took Rosie’s hand, and they headed back to the car. “I have a back-up plan.”
“You do?” Rosie arched her eyebrow. “Impressive.” She peered over Shay’s shoulder as she opened the trunk of her car and smiled when she saw a picnic basket.
“We can head to Solo’s boat and have dinner on the lake at sunset.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Rosie pressed her body to Shay’s and pushed her against the car. She ran her finger along Shay’s jaw and kissed her hard.
“I thought you wanted to take it slow,” Shay said when Rosie allowed her to come up for air.
Rosie gave her a wicked smile. “What? You never kissed someone on a first date?”
“I’ve never had a first date.”
“You’re relying on me to teach you all about them, remember?” She captured Shay’s bottom lip between hers and sucked it into her mouth before she kissed her deeper, a kiss that stripped away the last vestiges of her desire to take it slow.
“I remember,” Shay said, breathless from their kiss. “But I’m getting the feeling that you’re making it up as you go along.”
“Isn’t that what life’s all about?” Rosie kissed the end of Shay’s nose and smiled, her heart full of love and longing, of excitement and anticipation for all that lay ahead of them.
What had started as friends with benefits had blossomed into a romance Rosie had never imagined possible.
Shay was the Princess Charming she could never have dreamed of, scooping Rosie up onto her black horse and riding off into an unwritten future of passion and promise.
~ THE END ~