CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
Rosalie rolled over when her bedroom door squeaked. “Momma?”
“Yeah, baby,” she said, peeling back the covers so Autumn could climb into bed with her. Her daughter had been the only reason she’d survived the past week and a half. Without Lee, Rosalie wasn’t quite sure how to function.
During the week, she got up and went to work to the best of her ability. Life had turned numb and very dull around the edges. She’d forgotten a meeting this week, and that hadn’t happened once since she’d opened Curious Kids.
Autumn snuggled into her chest, and Rosalie wrapped her arms around the little girl. “Momma feeling bad still?”
“A little,” Rosalie whispered. She didn’t know what time it was, but light filled the bedroom. It had to be late, but on a Saturday morning, she didn’t care.
“Can we go see the giant pumpkin?” Autumn asked.
Rosalie had forgotten she’d promised to take her daughter to the Fall Festival this weekend. She seized onto it with both hands, using it to pull herself up and out of her depression. “Yes,” she said. “Let me get showered, and we’ll go.”
Autumn cheered and climbed out of the bed. “I’ll get dressed.”
Rosalie didn’t argue, but she’d have to kindly and gently re-dress her daughter once she finished getting ready. Autumn would likely choose her Halloween costume or a dress that wasn’t right for an outdoor festival.
For now, Rosalie just let her skip out of the room while she went to shower. She’d just finished getting dressed in a pair of shorts and a pale blue tank top when her phone rang. Natasha’s name sat there, and her sister had always been able to cheer her up.
She could barely smile today, but she answered the call and lifted the phone to her ear. “Hey, Nat.”
“Rose,” she said, her voice far too loud. “I’m sending you a picture of our garden.”
Rosalie smiled fully now. “Sounds good, Nat. Are the sunflowers huge?”
“So big!” her sister yelled. “Mom said I can send pictures now, but I have to ask her first.”
“That’s a good idea,” Rosalie said. “How’s the new manager? What’s his name again?”
“Scott,” Nat said. “He’s nice. He knows a lot of math.”
Rosalie sank onto her bed. “I bet he does.”
“I saw a new cheerleading routine,” she said next, the topics changing like the weather in Texas sometimes. Rapidly.
Rosalie enjoyed talking to her sister, and for the next ten minutes, she felt like she might be able to recover from the silence and distance between her and Lee Cooper. Neither of them had ever said they were going to break-up, but she hadn’t called or texted him, and he hadn’t attempted to communicate with her either.
She regretted standing up to him so powerfully last week, but at the same time, she wanted to be happy inside her relationships. She hadn’t realized how unhappy she’d been with James until he’d left and she’d had to pick up all the pieces of her life alone.
Even then, she hadn’t known.
She hadn’t truly understood what happiness and joy and love was until she’d met and started to date Lee.
I have to get him back, she thought, with another immediate question of,How?
“Oh, I have to go,” Nat said. “My ride is here.”
Rosalie’s radar pinged at her. “Your ride?”
“Say good-bye,” Mom said, and Rosalie hadn’t even known she was on the line.
“Bye!” Nat said, and Rosalie knew she’d be gone.
“Mom,” Rosalie said. “Why is she getting a ride? Where is she going?”
“The grocery store,” her mom said, but something sounded off in her voice. “The school is doing weekend outings, and today’s is for Nat to get her shopping done.”