NRoberts - G2 Black Rose

 He waited five seconds, heard nothing but water running. And laughed. “Guess that’s answer enough. You know, I’m fairly intelligent and responsible. I could be taught how to care for a plant.”

 “Possibly, but your track record’s ugly, Mitch. Just ugly. We may discuss a probationary period. I threatened to hurt Cissy if she didn’t maintain what I did over there. I heard her talking to Logan about hiring him to come in twice a month to deal with it. And that’s fine. We should all be self-aware enough to know our limitations.”

 “You water it. You put it in the sun. I can do that.”

 “As if that’s all there is to it. You want to hand me a towel?”

 She shut off the water, took the towel he handed her, and began to dry off. “We’ve been so busy at work I’ve barely been able to knock two thoughts together about anything else. Stella’s wedding’s right around the corner, too. And I know there are things that need my attention in this project.”

 He watched as she slathered on cream, as the scent of it mixed with the scent of her soap. “We’ll manage it all.”

 “Winters fly by now that I’ve got the business. A lot more to do over the winter than people might think. And here we are, into another spring. I can hardly believe it’s . . .”

 Her eyebrows drew together, with that faint vertical line between them. Falling silent, she carefully replaced the top on her cream.

 “Just hit you, didn’t it?” he asked.

 “What would that be?”

 “The two of us, right now.” He stayed where he was as she moved by him into the bedroom, as she opened a drawer for fresh clothes. “End of the workday, talking over the shower. It’s all very married, isn’t it?”

 She slipped on cropped gray sweats, tugged a T-shirt over her head. “How do you feel about that?”

 “Not entirely sure. A little nervous around the edges, I guess. Amazingly calm at the center. What about you?”

 She rubbed the towel over her hair as she studied his face. “Getting married again wasn’t just not on my radar, but top of my list of things to avoid. Such as poisonous snakes, frogs dropping out of the sky, ebola viruses, and such.”

 He smiled, leaned on the doorjamb. “I heard past tense.”

 “You have good ears. I fell in love once, very young. And when I fell in love, I married. It was very good, and I’ll love John Ashby all of my life. I’ll see him in the sons we made together, and know I wouldn’t have them if we hadn’t loved the way we did.”

 “People who can and have loved like that are fortunate.”

 “Yes, we are. At one time I was lonely. My boys were going their own way, and the house just seemed so empty, so quiet. I was sad, under the pride of seeing the young men I’d help create, I was so damn sad.”

 She walked back into the bathroom to hang the damp towel, then opened her daily moisturizer to smooth it over her face.

 “I needed something to take that away, or thought I did. I wanted someone to share the rest of my life with. I picked someone who, on the surface, seemed right. That mistake cost me a great deal. Emotionally and financially.”

 “And because of that, you’ll be very careful about another marriage.”

 “I will. But I’m in love with you, Mitchell.” She saw the emotion rush into his eyes, and what a thrill it was to see it, to know it was there because of her.

 She saw him start to step forward. And stop himself, because he knew she wanted him to wait. Another thrill, she thought, to be so well understood.

 “I never expected to love again, not with the whole of my heart. That was the mistake I made with Bryce, you see. The basic mistake, in marrying someone I didn’t love with the whole of my heart. Still, marriage is an enormous step. I hope you won’t mind if I let you know when and if I’m ready to take it.”

 “I can work with that, because I love you, Rosalind. Mistakes I made before hurt people I loved. I won’t make them again.”

 She walked to him. “We’re bound to make new ones.”

 He leaned down, brushed his lips over hers. “That’ll be all right.”

 “Yes, I think it might be all right. Why don’t we go downstairs, see what David’s got cooked up? Then you can tell me about your day instead of listening to me carry on about mine.”

 AS IT WASlate, the children had already eaten and their parents were busy with bedtime rituals.

 “Sometimes you can forget this house is full of people.” Roz dug into spaghetti and meatballs. “Other times it’s like being at the monkey house at the zoo.”

 “And you like it both ways.”

 “I do. I’m a contradictory soul. I need my solitude or I get mean. I get too much solitude, I get broody. I’m a pain in the ass to live with, you may want to factor that into the equation.”

 “I already have.”

 She paused, fork halfway to her mouth, then set it down as a long, rolling laugh spilled out of her. “Serves me right.”

 “I’m messy, often careless with details that don’t interest me at that particular moment—and I don’t have any intention of reforming. You can factor those in.”

 “Done. Now what did you want to talk over with me?”

 “I never seem to run out of things I want to talk over with you.”