Page 74 of Coming Up Roses
After a moment, her face lights up. “I need to clean it!” She skips towards me.
“Sorry,” I say to Flynn, shoving my hands in my pockets to hide the fact they’re quivering. I take a deep breath, exhaling the tremor of anxiety I’m feeling. “We can still go when Katie’s back?”
“Of course,” he says, leaning against his ute with his arms folded casually across his chest. “Never apologise for Sadie, okay? Never.”
“Okay.” I shoot him a smile and my heart gives a little flutter as he returns it. Then Sadie slips her hand into mine and I shove thoughts of Flynn out of my mind.
Focus on Sadie.
It’s not hard to do when she chatters the entire time she’s cleaning the bit in Scout’s bridle. Once she’s done with that, she cleans Aurora’s for Katie, then asks me if I know how to clean the straps and when I say I do, from my childhood as a pony club kid, she asks if I’ll help her, to surprise Katie.
It’s impossible to say no to her, so we carry the saddles and bridles out into the sunshine to wipe them down and rub saddle soap into the leather.
“This looks productive.” Katie’s voice cuts into my contented thoughts.
Apparently fifteen minutes has passed and my anxiety hasn’t spiralled since she left. Sitting out here in the sun, the smell of leather tack and saddle soap surrounding us, listening to Sadie ramble about her day, it’d be pretty hard to be stressed out.
“Surprise,” Sadie says, jumping up to wrap her arms around Katie’s waist.
“Thank you,” she replies, bending down to drop a kiss on the top of Sadie’s head. “And thank you.” Katie turns to me. “All okay?”
“Yeah, great, and no worries about the saddle. It’s been a while since I’ve cleaned one but Sadie showed me what to do.”
“You guys hanging out?” Katie asks, tilting her head towards Flynn, who’s loaded his bike onto his ute in the time I’ve been with Sadie.
“Yeah. He seems to think I should learn to ride that thing.”
Katie’s eyes widen and I recall Flynn saying something about his friends thinking he was crazy for letting anyone ride it. She doesn’t say anything about it though, just nods once. “How do you feel about picking Sadie up from school tomorrow?”
The usual hit of panic shoots through me, but I push it down. It’s collecting her from school and driving her home. That’s it. I can do that.
I take a deep breath. “Yes, I’d love to.” She grins. “Does Dallas know about this?”
Katie shrugs. “Look, I love the man, he’s the best person I’ve ever met, but he’s … overprotective. I understand why he is the way he is, but that doesn’t mean things should always stay that way. He needs a little nudge now and then, and it turns out I can get away with that.”
“As long as it’s not putting you two in an awkward position. I don’t want to mess with what you’ve got going.”
She smiles, and it’s softer than I’m used to seeing from her. She’s always so confident and self-assured and is clearly comfortable pushing Dallas’s boundaries, which I admit is probably good for him.
“I know,” she says. “I love Dallas, and I love Sadie too, which means we’ve got to make this work. He’s anxious about pushing you too hard, too fast. But Sadie deserves her mum in her life, and you deserve it too,” she adds and I feel heat prickling at my eyes.
Oh, god. Am I going to cry right now?
“Thanks,” I whisper, just managing to hold the tears in.
“If the school pick up doesn’t work, for whatever reason, let me know.”
I nod and she calls out to Sadie, who’s been carrying the bridles back inside, asking her if she’s ready to go. Sadie waves goodbye to Flynn, then wraps her arms around my waist. The familiarity of the gesture makes me want to fall to my knees and cry in appreciation for everything that’s brought me back to this point.
“Bye, Mama,” she says.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say, voice thick as I let the word Mama wash over me.
“You good, Rosie?” Flynn says, voice low behind me.
“I’m absolutely perfect,” I say, turning to him with a grin.
“That you are.”
