Chapter 2-2
1318 Words
Callie sensed Heath’s unease, and she followed him about Rose’s apartment as he paced. Rose had seen her brother agitated—to say the least—but never from something as benign as another man in her apartment. He was acting like he’d caught them naked and fooling around on the living room floor.
Rose blushed at the image. Feeling exceptionally foolish and out of sorts, she started unpacking more boxes. She needed to do something productive. She needed to stop thinking about Seth Thornton, and about fooling around with him.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Heath asked. He crouched down next to her. “Rose, stop. Look at me.”
She glared at him. “How many times are you going to ask me that question?”
“Until you answer me with something that isn’t ‘I don’t know.’”
She sighed. “I moved here for you. I was content to stay in Seattle, but you wanted me close by. I lived with you for a month until I got my own place. I have a job, an apartment. A life. What more do you want?”
“You have a place with no furniture, no bed, and barely any things. You’re a waitress when you could be so much more.” His tone gentled. “I haven’t seen you in years. You wouldn’t let me see you.”
She looked away. She had hidden herself away from Heath. Not because he’d done something to her—quite the opposite. She’d been ashamed, and she’d wanted to lick her wounds without anyone hovering. Mostly, she’d wanted to hide from everyone and everything until maybe all of the bad would dissipate like a thick mist.
Except that wasn’t how life worked. She could run, hide, avoid, deny until she reached the ends of the earth, but it would all catch up with her eventually.
She hadn’t told Heath about her run-in with Rich, or how Johnny was getting impatient.
At the tender age of twenty, Rose had met Johnny Porter at a local bar, and she’d become enamored with him within two hours. Johnny had been handsome, self-assured, and he’d wanted her, tiny, unassuming, plain little Rose DiMarco.
After their parents’ deaths, Rose and Heath had been on their own. Heath had done his best to provide for them both; he’d finished college and received his teacher’s license. They’d never be rich, but it’d be a steady income. Rose had been able to attend college on a scholarship, and that was when she’d met Johnny.
But then Heath had been arrested for drug trafficking, which had been a total setup. Heath would never do such a thing. And Johnny had come to the rescue, promising to get the charges dismissed and erased. All Rose had to do was stay with him.
She’d had no idea what that would really mean. That staying would mean imprisonment in that tower she hated so much.
Heath didn’t know the deal she’d made with the veritable devil. He thought she’d gotten the money some other way. She would keep it that way; she never wanted Heath to feel guilt over a decision she’d made herself.
Rose had been working to save up the money to pay Johnny back ever since she’d escaped his clutches. She’d reasoned that he’d leave her be if she could pay him back—with interest.
She was so close to having enough money. And then she could get her life back.
“I’m sorry I avoided you for so long,” she said quietly. “My breakup really did me in.”
“Seven years is a long time to get over a broken heart.”
“Six,” she murmured. “We were together a year.”
She’d made the lame excuse that Johnny had broken her heart and had cheated on her. She hadn’t wanted Heath to see her at her very lowest. She’d struggled with odd jobs, lived in seedy apartments, and had barely survived. But she’d clawed her way back from the horror of her past, and she refused to let anyone take advantage of her ever again.
If that meant she’d live the rest of her life alone? So be it.
“I’m not sure one less year makes a difference.” Heath smiled sadly. “I’m glad you’re here, Rose. I’ve missed having you around.”
That made her want to cry, but she choked back any tears that threatened. “I know. Although I’m not sure how you can stand to live in a town this small. Everyone knows you.”
“It’s worse when you’re a teacher. The kids never ever leave you alone.”
“Poor Heath. You could’ve been anything else, you know. A fireman. Park ranger. Tree surgeon.”
He raised his eyebrows. “A tree surgeon? Now you’re just making stuff up.”
Rose, never one to have anyone think she was wrong, pulled out her phone to prove to her brother that tree surgeon was, in fact, a viable profession. After that, they finished unpacking her things, Callie lying down on her dog bed in the corner.
“I’d ask you to stay for dinner, but it’s going to be ramen noodles for a little while before I get my paycheck,” Rose admitted. At Heath’s concerned look, she added, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“You keep saying that, but it’s not really working.”
“I know this might be hard to believe, but I’m not that stupid twenty-year-old girl anymore.”
He chucked her under her chin. “You still look young, and you’re my baby sister. Tough luck.” He looked away, his expression going serious. “Speaking of which…”
Rose really didn’t want to hear where this segue was going, but Heath was too stubborn to keep it to himself. She sighed inwardly.
“About Seth Thornton. Watch yourself.”
“What, does he have a cellar full of bodies somewhere?” she joked.
Heath didn’t laugh. “I don’t know him well, since he’s been in the military until last year, but from what his brothers have told me, he’s not the same guy they knew. He went through some s**t; he’s basically disconnected from his family entirely.”
“But he came back to Fair Haven anyway?” Now Rose was even more intrigued.
“I guess. Look, just be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt, okay?”
Rose barely bit back a smile. “I’m not interested in dating anyone. I’ve decided to become a nun, actually. Now, are you done lecturing me about the monsters under my bed, or should I get a chair and sit down?”
“You’re a brat.” He kissed her cheek and then said goodbye.
Rose sat on the floor next to Callie after Heath left, rubbing the dog’s silky head. She’d spoken the truth when she’d said she didn’t want to date. After Johnny, she couldn’t date. She’d gone on two dates that had been disasters: one had resulted in her accidentally punching the guy in the nose, while the second had ended with her leaving the guy without a word when he’d asked her to come over to his place.
She was messed up. Broken. No guy wanted a girl who was too scared to let a guy so much as hold her hand.
“What do you think, girl? Have I made a mistake moving here?”
Callie woofed quietly and wagged her tail.
Rifling through her suitcase, Rose found the safe where she kept her most precious possessions: a ring from her mother; a watch from her father; her passport; and a wad of cash that she counted whenever she needed to find some sense of calm.
She counted the bills, knowing the amount exactly but needing to confirm the number anyway. She was so close to paying Johnny off, she could taste it. It had taken her years of saving, but by the end of the summer, she’d have the money.
The last item in her safe? A gun she’d bought the day she’d run from Johnny.
The gun was small, unassuming, yet it had provided her with peace of mind ever since she’d bought it and taken shooting lessons. She wasn’t a sharpshooter by any means, but she could protect herself. Combined with Callie as her guard dog, she felt almost safe.
She knew it was an illusion, though. Until she paid Johnny off, she’d never be fully safe.
- Writer
