When I Was His

72

I can't contain my tears when I open the door and see my dad, dianne, my uncle John and my mom stood outside. My mom and I haven't spoken since I moved out so I hadn't expected her to come with my dad.

" Hey Rosie what's up, why are you crying" my dad asks as he pulls me into his arms.

"I just really appreciate you coming to help me"

"your our daughter we will always help you"

I look over at my mom and she looks uncomfortable, I move to the side and gesture for them to come inside.

Dianne looks around in awe, she is taking in every detail of arks house.

Oh my god,I'm in arks house, this is so fucking cool" dianne comments.

"language" my mom chastises.

"so where do we start" John asks as he looks around.

"I've moved everything from this floor but upstairs there's broken furniture to bring down, some garbage bags and some boxes too" I say as I point at the stairs.

Without any delay my dad and his brother head upstairs. My mom and dianne just stand and wait for instructions.

"there's a cleaning crew coming to do a deep clean but I've collected all the trash and emptied the bar. I was going to change all the bedding and stock the cupboards once my food shop comes"

"ok so if you show us the linen closet we can make the beds, maybe you should call someone to come and repair the walls" my mom says as she looks at the fist shaped hole on the wall by the door.

I show dianne and my mom around the house and leave them to it while I search online for a decorator. I take a walk around the house and make a note of all the damage to the building. There's holes in the walls and broken doors. After a call to Richard I have the number for a local decorator who is able to come today for a price.

My dad and John have done so much in the 30 minutes since they went upstairs. It looks a hundred percent better, the things I had piled at the top of the stairs were now in the skip. I had thought it would have taken longer. They start to move the large pieces of furniture that I had been unable to move.

My mom and dianne had changed the linen on every bed, my mom had even found a vacuum and was vacuuming the carpets even though I told her a crew would be coming soon.

........

I put away the groceries with my mom and sister as the cleaning crew work around us. My dad and John sit by the pool soaking up the la sun, I'm so jealous.

"ill make some spaghetti once this is all away, the men will be hungry" my mom jokes.

It's typical of my mom to take charge and to make sure everyone is catered for. My mom shakes her head as she opens the freezer to put away some ice cream and sees a bottle of vodka.

"ill take that"

"Rosie haven't you learnt from arks mistakes" mom complains.

I roll my eyes "I'm not drinking it now, I'm just taking all the booze out of the house"

I don't tell her that I'm planning to take all the alcohol back to my house, I know my mom would have an opinion.

"you and your sister can put this away ill start to cook, your dad looks famished"

I look out to the pool at my dad and he looks anything but famished, my mom just likes to look after him. I think that's why I am the way I am. It means so much to me that when ark comes home that his house is a home again, I don't want him coming back to the mess he left it in. I don't know what will happen between us, I don't think we will be a couple but that won't stop me from caring about him.

........

"mom this is really good" dianne says as she wipes the sauce from her plate with her finger.

"if it was that good you won't mind doing the dishes" mom jokes.

I clear the table and load the dishes in to the dishwasher. The cleaning crew are working around us giving the house the deep clean it desperately needs. The house is looking clean but empty, ark had damaged more of his furniture than I had originally thought.

The house is so busy there's the cleaners plus a decorating team who busy themselves with patching up the walls and removing broken doors and frames.

I know it's not all going to be completed today, the decorating team told me they can come back next weekend to replace all the doors and paint the walls. I have at least a month to get this place sorted but I'm still so stressed. I haven't had the chance to look at replacing the furniture, I'm not sure where I would even start.

A loud bang on the door takes me by surprise, I'm not expecting anyone else.

"Richard" I leap into his arms and he holds me tight.

"I thought I would come and offer my help. What do you need me to do"

I wipe a stray tear from my eye, why is it that you can feel fine and then when someone asks how you are the façade crumbles. "I don't know, I just don't know where to start"

Richard gives me sympathetic look before his attention is taken by a man who walks past holding a ladder. He cranes his neck to watch the man ascend the stairs.

"they have almost finished with the repairs, thank you for recommending them"

Richard turns back to me and shakes his head slightly, I'm not sure he heard anything I had said he seemed distracted.

"come inside ill introduce you to my family"

"great I can't wait to meet them, are they as nice as you" he asks as he links his arm with mine.

"put the vodka down you lazy bastard" my mom yells as we walk into the kitchen.

Richard smirks and looks at me, " I'll take that as a no"