Just Rose

Chapter 3

Grabbing at Muffin to feel he was still in one piece, her hands began shaking violently and her heart pounded through her chest; trying to keep her head on the wheel to steady her breathing and calm her nerves, she could feel her rage rising.

Who in the actual hell???? What the actual f…?

Her car door was ripped open from beside her, causing her to snap up and around and glare angrily into the steel coloured eyes facing her, which had suddenly appeared a little too closely.

‘Are you o…’ A smooth and deep voice that sounded genuinely concerned tried to infiltrate her red haze, but she had already hit maximum rage.

‘What in the actual hell are you doing???’ She screeched at the face before her, not really taking in the jet-black hair, tanned skin or intense grey eyes belonging to the tall stranger. Ordinarily this kind of sexy would have put Rose in a slump of panting hormones but Rose just saw red!

‘You could have killed me!!! Are you aware that road is a sixty? You pulled out into traffic on a god damn sixty!’ She pulled herself out of her seat, releasing her belt to square her small five feet four to the huge six-foot frame before her. Anger searing her every nerve at the sheer stupidity of the man. He quickly stood back, looking almost shocked as she continued to yell at him about his idiotic driving manoeuvre with hands firmly on her hips and letting fiery Rose loose.

‘Whoa there Penelope!’ Splaying his hands in defence as he tried to calm her rant. ‘Look, I’m sorry! I’m sure I got as much of a shock as you! Most folks know how bad the view is for me coming out and cross to the other side to pass the manor opening!’ He was defensively moving away from Rose as she continued to wave her hands about, cursing at him about recklessness and moronic men with stupidly fast and flashy cars, Rose was on a roll. She stopped suddenly, realising something he had said.

‘Who the hell is Penelope?’ She blinked in confused fury, but he only laughed at her sudden change in persona, then tried to smother it with a cough.

Smooth move mister! Asshole. God, You’re Hot!

Rose had only just seemed to notice this little fact, now that she was inches from him.

His whole shocked manner seemed to do a sudden flip into smiling, good humoured, if not a little embarrassed, but Rose was beyond oblivious in her mental state.

‘You!... Sorry, it’s just… Pink car… Pink dress… Fiery little lady who comes out like a bat out of hell, like she’s about to rip my head off…’ The handsome stranger stood with hands up defensively, smiling at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world to everyone except her. Rose stood motionless. Cluelessness and confusion all over her face, which only added to her internal irritation at his far too good-looking smugness.

‘Penelope Pitstop from wacky races?’ He tried again to get her brain to connect to whatever the hell he was talking about. ‘Look never mind. It’s just, that’s what I thought when I opened your door.’ He was laughing now, in a rather deep and husky way which only enraged her more and brought out another bought of fury.

‘Screw you and your stupid wacky whatever’s! Next time watch where you’re going, asshole! Or next time I won’t swerve!’ She turned and threw herself back into her car in the most unladylike manner, attempting to grab her door, so she could dramatically slam it. All previous ounces of rage reconnected with her inner diva, but he grabbed it first.

‘Allow me.’ He slammed it shut with the force of a guy who had reconnected with anger. The humour absent from his face and replaced with ‘I’m pissed off, lady.’ Their eyes glinted at one another angrily, fire meeting fire. Sparks igniting in the air around them and almost crackling with the collision.

Rose didn’t wait for any further conversation, putting metal to the floor she sped off without any hesitation, almost taking him out with her wing mirror in the process and giving zero cares about it.

Rose wasn’t sure why this guy had invoked such a furious response, but all she wanted was to put a huge sea of distance between her and that smug laugh and get rid of the ball of internal anger writhing inside of her. She could see the arrogant sod in her mirror, shaking his head after her, watching her drive off before walking back to his flashy black car and sliding back in with the grace of a cougar.

‘Asshole!’ She screeched loudly, angered at the sheer effortless grace the i***t was displaying.

Muffin was looking at her with his wide, wise eyes, almost telling her she had simply lost the plot.

‘Well, he is! Mr, I’m so good looking with my big muscles and sports car and expensive clothes. So Mr smooth that I think I can give you a cute pet name and you forget I almost killed you!’ She slapped her wheel, eyes darting from the road to rear view mirror manically as she tried not to cause further accident with stupid driving.

‘f**k you! ...Ow, that actually hurt.’ She lifted her fingers to her mouth and blew them gently in a bid to soothe the burning self-inflicted pain, releasing some of her tension as she did so. That ‘almost’ crash had given her a massive fright and her reactions since had been some sort of delayed mental breakdown, brought on by a near death experience. Being confronted by a guy who was far too handsome for an early morning rural drive had just added to her extreme reaction.

I mean who the hell was he? Wearing designer clothes and a flashy car and looking a little too suave for the highlands. Men like him were normally arrogant Londoners, and she had met enough of them to last a lifetime.

Pushing that irritatingly flawless face out of her mind’s eye, she suddenly felt remorseful for swearing angrily in front of Muffin and sat back in her chair, trying to release the tightness of her muscles. Flexing her shoulders and tilting her head from side to side to flex her neck. Slow steady and calming breaths and internal chanting to cool her jets.

The black sports car appeared in her rear-view mirror, coming up behind her fast and she instantly tensed back up, teeth gritting and eyes narrowing angrily. Putting the foot down, she sped away from him before reaching the sign for the town and slowing back down again as she passed it. Completely pointless, but satisfying to say the least, riled by the way this man made her feel. Throwing daggers from her eyes in the mirror, she slowed to thirty and meandered through town looking for a car park as the car behind her turned off at the huge museum; she sighed with relief at his departure.

Hot or not, I don’t need you behind me today!

‘Asshole.’ She muttered to no one in particular and hit the indicator to turn into a big half empty car park. Within minutes Rose found a space easily and expertly deposited her car, latching Muffins lead on and exiting gracefully with a much sunnier disposition.

Although the town was bustling with pedestrians, it seemed most came via a little free bus from surrounding areas and not many drove. The streets were quiet from traffic and felt peaceful, despite the people milling around. Wandering about, she soon managed to navigate her surroundings, quaint little shops ranging from the normal grocery stores to little cute boutiques, home decor, crafts and tourist shops. Several cafes and a huge bakery shop that sat very close to the car park she had used.

It was a pretty and picturesque little town, lots of barrels filled with flowers and park benches to pretty it up and lots of potted trees and quaint old-fashioned street lamps. It was more beautiful than even her memories and she could see the appeal for tourists. This was proper highland charm right here.

She decided to browse the shops first, before going in pursuit of the church she had yet to see, buying the odd necessity and really getting a feel for the place. Rose was happy to find, that although it wasn’t exactly the small town of her childhood memories, it was enough unchanged that she got a familiar tug of emotion deep in the pit of her stomach; just the same. This had been Olivia’s favourite place, she would have loved to see that it was thriving but still held all the same charm as before, as though caught in a time warp.

After successfully not finding the church in the small town and seeing a lack of mulling locals Rose decided to head to the coffee shop, situated in the bakery to rest her weary feet. It wasn’t sign posted and there were no obvious roofs rising above the rest to indicate where the church would be. She had put Muffin back in the car with a bowl of water, a new bone, the windows opened and the radio on, before coming to get something to eat and ask for directions.

She was sure that in this little place, her car and the dog, would be safe from a break in. Besides, her alarm was loud and immobilised her car easily and although Muffin wasn’t much of a guard dog, he did have this incredibly scary toothy face he pulled when he was frightened and tried his version of a broken growl. If nothing more, it would scare away any lingerers; It did make him look a little rabid and possibly mentally unhinged.

As soon as she opened the door, the smell of newly baked bread and fancies hit her like a warm hug. She wanted to fall into that smell, it was so heavenly and had memories flooding back and filling her up with so much warmth, chasing away the last ounces of anger. She could almost feel herself transported back to her childhood and eagerly swept in to see if they still stocked her favourite cakes.

The tables were almost all empty with the odd couple or group, sitting far apart, quietly chatting and oblivious to her entrance. There was a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, despite being a complete stranger here and she felt better that no one was openly staring and pointing as she had feared.

The girl behind the counter, dressed in a green uniform reminiscent of school dinner ladies smiled at Rose as she approached, with no expression other than friendly.

‘Hi there, what can ah get for yeh today?’ The girl asked in a polite, yet very heavily accented brogue that suggested she had grown up in the farms surrounding the town.

‘Hi, can I have a jam tart and a hot chocolate please. Thank you.’ Rose smiled back and pulled her purse from her shoulder bag, breathing in the fresh ground coffee bean smell wafting her way.

‘Sure thing, will just be two ticks for yeh.’ The girl turned on her heel and moved off to arrange Rose’s order on a tray, allowing her a moment to properly look around the clean surroundings.

Glancing around she took in the bright, simple decor, the mint coloured walls and dark wood floor which all seemed new. The cases of fancy patisseries and treats and the huge display case, showcasing elaborately decorated cakes for seasons and celebrations. It didn’t have small town oozing from it and it saddened Rose a little. This bakery had been one of her favourite places to come on a weekend with her aunt, back when it had been a small corner shop and not the huge one she now stood within.

The bakery her aunt had loved had been small and quaint and had obviously grown into the neighbouring shops over time, to accommodate more seating and bigger kitchens. The woman who used to run it had been an Italian woman called Bella. A large round warm lady who had enveloped little Rose in cuddles and always satisfied her sweet tooth with a cream cake when they had come. Rose guessed this is what success looked like when a small-town bakery managed to keep going for decades. As she looked around at the modern art, and clean, simple window dressings, Rose was suddenly aware of the young woman at the window table, smiling at her openly.