Chapter 35
Cole knocked on Rose's door one hour after she left his apartment. She smiled to herself. Apparently, he couldn't wait another minute to see her again.
Rose barely had time to dry her hair, since she stood under the shower spray for longer than usual. Every muscle in her body was sore. A good sore. She rubbed her legs and arms with lotion after the shower, remembering the way Cole loved on her, and envisioned his hands massaging her skin in the same way.
Wow.
She had to take a breath and calm herself. Otherwise, she might be tempted to skip breakfast and work altogether.
"Hey, beautiful," Cole said, greeting her.
My god, he was gorgeous, Rose thought, as if she saw him in a new light. Of course, last night, she saw a whole lot more of him than she had any other man. In the light of day, freshly shaven, hair still damp, a vigorous gleam in his eyes...assuredly, the most handsome man she'd ever laid eyes on.
"Hey yourself," she said. "Ready?"
He leaned in to her. "Depends on what you have in mind?"
Laughing and blushing, she said, "Breakfast down at the diner. Do you think Mona would like to join us?"
Grabbing hold of her hips, he pulled her flush with his body. "Our first morning together, and you want to invite the neighbors over."
"You haven't had a chance to meet her yet," she argued, spreading her fingers over the rounded muscles of his shoulders...and wondered if he still had that bite mark there...
"I met her," he said, bending his head to nibble on her neck. Rose closed her eyes and arched so that he had better access. He had a really great kiss...no matter where he placed it.
"Did you?" she sighed.
"Mm-hmm," he murmured, trailing his mouth along her collarbone. "Last night, she threatened me with pepper spray, and this morning, she got to see the color of my boxers."
Rose lifted her head. "She did?"
"I did," the girl confirmed, poking her head out of her door. Mona had her perpetual grin on her face. "You two are sooo cute."
Cole exhaled roughly and stepped back, but when he turned to Mona, he smiled politely. "Mona, pleasure to finally meet you. I'm Cole."
"Lord, I hope so," Mona said, "Or else Rose has a lot of explaining to do."
Rose breathed out similarly to Cole. "We were heading down to get some breakfast, Mona. Would you like to join us?"
Mona stepped out, slinging a large tote bag over her shoulder. "I thought you'd never stop making out in the hallway to ask."
Cole waved his hand at the stairs. "After you, ladies."
Mona skipped down before them, giggling about how all the good ones were taken, and Cole took Rose's hand to escort her. He kissed her fingers before exiting the building and said, "Can we finish this later?"
"Absolutely," Rose promised, and they followed Mona down the alley to the back door of Momma Babb's diner.
...Cheese omelet...egg white omelet...scrambled...soft-scrambled...over-easy...sunny side up...soft-boiled, hard-boiled, poached... Wow, that's a lot of freaking egg dishes...
Mona scrutinized her menu and glanced over at Rose and her cute boyfriend, Cole.
Aww...they're holding hands...
Why can't I find a guy like that? Hell, he practically went all night...
Bacon, ham or sausage with my eggs? Oooh, all of them. Yeah... And pancakes!
She glanced at the happy couple again and knew for a fact they couldn't have gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep. Yet, here they were...wide awake and from the looks of it, they could probably go again.
Mona slumped. I'd like to go. Been too damn long since I've gone.
Living back home with SheRa had put a damper on her personal life. In college she'd been free. Not stupid or anything, but hey, if she felt like hooking up, she went. She thought living on her own would finally grant her some more freedom. But after only one night in her new apartment, she wondered if her freedom might come with a price...namely, listening to these two going all night, every night.
Mona smirked...then grinned, remembering the sounds from the apartment over from hers — she and Cole only shared about four feet of wall space behind their closets...and then she giggled, until she was laughing outright into her menu, snorting through her breaths.
Rose blinked at her. "Mona? Are you alright?"
"Yup, just thinking about going somewhere."
"After breakfast?" Rose asked.
"Lord, I wish," Mona replied and slapped her menu on the table. "Okay, I know what I want. What about you two? Y'all should be starving."
Both of them blushed a cherry red.
"Aww," she said. "Y'all are so adorable. Was last night the first time?"
Rose looked away, but Cole stared at her with raised eyebrows. "Are you usually this blunt?" he asked.
"It's a curse," Mona said without shame. "My last boyfriend dumped me when I told his momma about his statue fetish. It was all very weird. I'm pretty weird, but he was just weirder. He was pretty good in the sack, but getting him aroused was way too much work."
Neither of them said anything.
"TMI?" Mona inquired. "SheRa thinks I should get a warning label tattooed on my forehead. Do you have any tattoos? Rose, I wouldn't be surprised about you. The quiet ones are usually a little kinky."
Rose's eyes blinked at her, and Cole cleared his throat. "No," he said. "She doesn't."
Mona grinned. "I guess you'd know, huh — whoa...hello, gorgeous."
The front door of the diner opened and in walked a tall, lean man in dusty jeans, work boots and a shit-eating grin. Mona ate him up. He hitched his jeans up over his hips and rubbed at his belly, a very flat belly, but he had some nice arms. And long fingers. She liked a man with long fingers.
Yeah, he'll do.
That yummy, gummy bear saw her, grinned wider, and walked over to the table.
He knows what he wants...that'll save time...
Mona sat upright and smiled.
His eyes fell on Rose and began to glow. Actually glowed. Well, damn. He's got the hots for Rose. Does Cole know?
Mona glanced at Cole. Yeah, he knows.
Their visitor said, "Hey, Rosie. Hi, Cole. I was wondering if you got back yet."
Cole said, "Got in late last night."
Mona snorted.
Rose turned cherry red again.
And the gummy bear's grin faded as he looked between Rose and Cole...and noticed the hand-holding. Aww, poor baby, Mona thought. I'll give you a little loving.
He shifted his shoulders and turned his gaze to Mona.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Mona."
He blinked for a brief moment, scanned every part of her visible above the table...and flashed a bright smile. "I'm Zack. I'm a Sagittarius. I like fishing, camping, getting dirty and midnight swims in the buff." He slid into the booth across from her and next to Cole.
Mona leaned an elbow on the table. "I'm also a Sagittarius, and I like to get dirty, to eat and don't really care what time of the day we swim in the buff."
Vaguely aware that Rose and Cole eyed their exchange with a mixture of surprise, amusement and confusion, Mona kept her gaze on gummy bear Zack. He also leaned across the table and said, "Want to give the lovebirds some alone time and get a booth for ourselves?"
Mona grabbed her bag. "I like the way you think, Zack."
"I think I'll like the way you think, too," he said, standing up and escorting her to a secluded table on the other side of the diner. Mona grinned inside her head. I might go somewhere today, after all.
Rose stared after Mona and Zack. "What just happened?"
"Zack finally conceded, and Mona plans to heal his broken heart," Cole answered, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand.
"She's too young for him," Rose said, frowning at the couple. Mona giggled at something Zack said.
"You should be more worried about Zack," Cole said.
"She's barely old enough to buy beer," Rose said.
"I doubt that has ever stopped her from drinking it," Cole replied, bringing her fingers up to kiss the knuckles.
Rose turned her eyes to Cole and smiled at the warmth in his gaze. "How would you know? You just met her."
"I'm a good judge of character," he said, nibbling on her pinky finger.
Rose sighed. "I have a bad feeling that someone will get hurt."
"I agree," he said, and added, "But they are both adults, and they both, obviously, know what they want. My only concern is that you'll get caught in the middle."
She shook her head. "You're right. They are adults, but Zack has been my best friend for years, and I really like Mona — she reminds me of Violet sometimes. I don't want to be forced to take sides later on when they realize it'll never work."
Cole smiled. "Well...if and when it comes to that, I'll take Zack and you take Mona, okay?"
Rose sighed again. "I give it a week, tops."
Cole laughed as they both stared at Mona and Zack. "There's a lot of fireworks there. It'll take at least a month to fizzle out."
"What about us?" Rose teased. "How many months until we fizzle out?"
He frowned seriously, really thinking about it, but his brown eyes twinkled. "Oh, about three to the power of infinity."
"Only that long?" she asked.
"I may have to search for a few more favorite spots," he said, "but we should be able to extend the fireworks a little longer."
That familiar ribbon of fire graced Rose's belly, and she was grateful for the waitress swinging by to take their order. That gave her a moment to divert her attention to other things. She had a lot to tell him about her weekend, and she wanted to hear about his trip.
She opened the conversation by saying, "I went to Mass yesterday."
Cole's brow wrinkled. "I didn't realize you are Catholic."
"I'm not," she said. "Mr. Shaw was. I went to speak to Father Roberts about him."
"Did you learn anything new?"
Excited, Rose said, "Yes!" and explained all she discovered about Mr. Shaw. Cole listened with interest, sitting back in his seat.
"That's...that's quite a story," Cole said. He picked up the fork on his napkin and twisted a tine into the tabletop.
"Isn't it?" she asked. "Mr. Shaw and Rosalie were so brave."
He brought his gaze up sharply. "Brave? You said that last night. About us."
"Well, their story inspired me," she said.
He stared at her while the fork slowly turned. Rose diverted her eyes between his stare and the fork, feeling unsure the longer the moment stretched. Then he said, "Tell me you love me, Rose."
She blinked. "I love you."
He closed his eyes. "And I love you."
With a gentle smile, Rose leaned forward and covered his hands with hers, folding their fingers around the fork. "I know, Cole."
He repositioned their hands so that his were on top of hers and the fork clattered to the table. "But I want you to love me because of you, not because you suddenly discovered that my uncle had been in love."
"Is that what this is about?" she asked softly. "Oh, Cole...I'll admit that Mr. Shaw has influenced me so much over the years, but I also know that he's gone. Finding out about him and Rosalie didn't make me fall in love with you. You made me fall in love with you. But we both have to acknowledge that Mr. Shaw is the one person who brought us together. He is the reason we are sitting here right now."
"I know," he sighed. "But ever since I met you, I feel like I'm competing with his memory."
She dipped her head. "I miss him. He was a great man." Meeting Cole's gaze again, she added, "I was afraid of you...because the more I got to know you, the more I knew how great you are."
His eyes softened. "So...you love me?"
Rose laughed. "I love you, Coleman Fuller. And I'm not afraid to admit it."
He kissed her fingers again. "And I love hearing it. So...my uncle was Devland Shaw, huh? That's...nonsensical."
"How so?" Rose said.
"If he was the youngest son of a poor Catholic family from Louisiana and his parents did not record his birth, but his older brother and my great-grandmother did have birth certificates, why would they not acknowledge Devland as his son?" Cole mused quietly, staring down at the small dent he created with the fork. "A Catholic family who felt such disgrace by their son's suicide would have made sure all their children were baptized in the Church. A record of that would exist."
Rose frowned. "Oh...I hadn't thought of that." She slumped in her seat. "Father Roberts is joining us for dinner on Thursday so he can tell us more. Maybe he could answer that. What about your weekend? Anything interesting happen?"
He grinned at her. "Other than the greatest night of my life?"
"I meant at the convention," she said with a laugh.
"I received a job offer," Cole said, rubbing the knuckle of her ring finger.
Rose stiffened slightly. "You did?"
He must have felt the change in her because he glanced up and smiled. "I'm not leaving you, if that's what you're worried about. My entire world sits right here, and now that I've found you, you're stuck with me."
Her heart flipped over while her eyes blinked back tears. "Only you can make your threats sound charming," she said.
"Thank you."
She laughed. "So you turned down a job for me?"
"No," he said. "I accepted it...for me."
That took her aback. "Oh." She had to stop and remember that their relationship was not in the best of places when he left for Boston. "Well? Tell me about it."
"Do you know that website Parchment? Where people can write all they want and share it with others?"
Rose smiled. "Yes, I follow a few authors on there. Parchment gave you a job? Aren't they based in New York?"
"Upstate New York," Cole answered. "Apparently, the owners and creators started the website in their house in Syracuse, in a small utility room that they converted into an office." He sat back in his seat and chuckled. "Now, they run one of the largest story sharing corporations in the world, but Sarah and Jeremy still spend most of their time in their little office next to the washing machine and dryer."
She began to feel very positive about his news. "They must encourage all their employees to work remotely."
"Actually, the majority of their employees work in the downtown office," he said. "But my position will be a new venture for the company, so I will be able to work mostly from home, with some travel involved."
Rose took a sip from her water glass. "...with some travel..." This began to sound a lot like what her father had to do when he still worked for his company. She remembered the story about how he chose to move to Arkansas to be with her mother, about how he still had to initiate his replacement and that took several months, and how he still had to travel for his job, yet he was able to take his family with him for much of it. Rose never felt as if her father had been a distant parent. She never considered his job arrangements as odd or difficult on their family. But she'd been a child. How did her mother feel about her husband leaving for months at a time, returning home every other weekend while he was on a project?
"You got real quiet," Cole said, watching her.
"I was thinking about how my father had to travel a lot for his job," she said.
"Was it hard on you?"
"No...not really," she said with a fond, little smile. "His work took him all around the world because his company had contracts with the U.S. Navy and many law enforcement agencies, and when he was able, he took us with him. I have about as many stamps in my passport as birthdays behind me."
"Well, I doubt I will travel outside of the States," Cole said. "But to Syracuse and South Carolina, for sure."
"Why South Carolina?"
"Parchment is partnering with a major publishing house to get some of their more prevalent authors published," he said. "And Jeremy and Sarah are hiring editors to help polish the manuscripts. My first client is a teenage boy from South Carolina. I'll have to meet with him a few times over the next year."
Rose studied his expressions as he explained. There was a lot of activity in his eyes and smile. "You're excited about this."
He scratched at the dent in the table. "I rarely get to meet my clients, and if you could read this kid's story... His voice is one of the most powerful I've read in a long time. To work with him...to be part of his story... Rose, I've worked so long just trying to make ends meet that I've never been able to follow my dreams. This is my chance, so yeah, you could say I'm a little excited."
She leaned forward to stare into his eyes. "I don't remember you ever telling me what your dreams are. What do you want to do?"
He smiled slightly. "I want to do exactly what Jeremy and Sarah are offering me. To help writers become better writers and more aware of their craft. I want to do it on a bigger scale than what I do now, to be part of something bigger, but I don't want to lose the integrity of the life I live now."
Rose inhaled deeply. He described her desires perfectly. That was what she wanted with her music. She wanted her music to become something more, too, but she also did not want to change too much of what she knew. And now, knowing that they shared the same aspirations with their chosen careers, she believed supporting him would cement how much she'd fallen in love. She wanted him to know that she realized what a fool she'd been lately.
"You know, Cole, there's this lovely B&B called Pelican Inn on Pawley's Island in South Carolina. We stayed there for only one night back when I was about nine years old. I'd love to go back one day."
He looked up at her. "You'll go with me? To South Carolina?"
Tracing a little circle on the back of his hand, she said, "I'm sorry I didn't go with you to Boston, Cole. I'm sorry you felt like I didn't want to be with you. I...I was wrong."
He shook his head. "No...you were right. The paths that brought us together had to veer off at some point, just so we could see each other and ourselves from a distance. In some way, I'm glad I went alone." He reached up and cupped her cheek. "If you had come with me, I would have spent the entire weekend with you — and that still sounds beautifully appealing — but my opportunity would have passed by and you would have learned nothing more about Mr. Shaw. And last night might not have happened. So, sitting here now, across from you, after everything, I'll change none of it."
Rose swallowed thickly. "I would," she said softly. "I should have known from the beginning that what I was feeling was love."
His gaze warmed. "I really love hearing you say that word."
She laughed. "I really love saying it. It's a great relief to not feel so confused anymore."
With a quick glance around, he lifted up and kissed her quickly on the lips. They parted just as the waitress placed their breakfast on the table. "Watch it, you two," she said with a grin. "Only Momma Babbs does the kissing around here."
Cole winked at her and settled into the booth to eat. Half an hour later, Mona and Zack had already left, and Cole escorted Rose back to the store, and he kissed her once again. And again. Pressing her against the wall with more of his lovely hallway kisses.
"I'm crashing, but when you get your lunch break, will you come wake me up?" he asked, eventually stepping away. "I don't want to sleep all day."
"I can do that," she said with a secretive smile. He gave her an interested look and headed up the stairs. Rose went through the store's back door to find Mona already dancing around to a Cyndi Lauper record. Her voice screeched out "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" as she propped open the front door and moved a floor lamp out of the way. She shimmied her hips in a pair of turquoise leggings and waved at Rose. "Come sing with me!"
Rose smiled. "I'll leave the singing to my sister Josie. I never had the talent."
"Me, either," Mona said, grabbing Rose's hands to twist their bodies with the music. "But that doesn't stop me!"
"Mona," Rose laughed. "I need to go turn on the computer and get the cash bag out of the safe."
"Already taken care of," Mona said, twirling Rose in a dizzying spin. "I really like your friend Zack. He's nice. Treats me like a lady."
"Zack usually does," Rose said, planting her feet so that Mona couldn't spin her around again. "But you should know...he's a lot older than you."
"I don't mind," Mona said. "He's taking me out for pizza and laser tag after work. It's like a real date. I haven't had a real date in forever."
Rose stuck her hands on Mona's shoulders, forcing her to stand still. "I don't want to see either of you get hurt."
"Aww, that's so sweet of you," Mona chimed. "But Zack is a big boy, and I'm a big girl. I promise that if I hurt your bestie, I'll let you kick my butt, okay?"
"And if he hurts you?"
"Trust me," Mona said, scooting away to straighten up a shelf. "He can't be any worse than Statue Boy, and I survived that relationship alright."
Rose was doubtful, but she said, "Okay..."
They did not get another chance to discuss the matter. Customers trickled into the store all morning, and Mona greeted each and every one with her vibrance. Rose never saw anyone multitask like her. She rang up purchases, answered questions, and called out directions on where to find certain items all while Rose stood back and tried not to get whiplash. The girl had the store's inventory nearly memorized, and this was only her second day at work. But she really did remember everything she saw and gave ingenious suggestions to their customers on what could be done or made from many items. Who knew that there were about three thousand different uses for a glass jar? Or the variable crafts made from a coat hanger and a handful of old buttons? Or that the old broken bookshelf in the corner could be repurposed as a child's dollhouse with a little paint, some old wallpaper, and a good bit of Mona's pizzazz?
Mona spent forty minutes with a lady and her little girl on that bookshelf, and in the end of that conversation, the mother and daughter took home the shelf and all the materials with a promise to come back next week to look for stuff to make a fairy garden. That was all Mona. She inspired others to look at the old junk in the store with a new life. Even Rose began seeing everything in a different way. When Mr. Shaw had been alive, he always pointed out the true purpose of an item and never really suggested there was any other way of using it. A tin plate was a tin plate. But to Mona, that tin plate was the beginning of a birdbath, or giant sunflower sculpture for the garden, or a frame for a windchime.
When their lunch breaks rolled around, Mona took hers first, and Rose sat down at her piano during the lull in customers. She played a romantic, happy tune, since she had no reason — at that very moment — to be unhappy.