“Rosie. Well, it’s nice for Caleb to finally bring a girl home.”
“Nah,” I quickly amend, trying to fight off the pink I can feel heating my cheeks. “Rosie’s just a friend, we’re here with Noah and his girl, Addy. Going to spend tomorrow with them.” I clear my throat, feeling Rosie’s attention on me. When I quickly glance in her direction, I can see her eyes narrowed slightly, but she hasn’t dropped her perfected mask. She just nods and turns a placating smile back to Dad.
“Well, shall we?” He steps aside and gestures inside. Rosie claps her hands together and erupts with a bigger smile.
“Let’s. Sure smells good, what have you got cooking, Mr. Smith?” Rosie’s quick charm and bright confidence shine as she heads inside, walking around like she’s been here a million times. If she’s at all phased by my father’s brashness or the unfamiliar surroundings, she doesn’t show it.
“Please, call me Bob. And it’s my famous BBQ ribs.” He smiles at her over his shoulder as he takes off ahead of us.
“Ugh, yum. I love ribs,” she says as she follows after him, and I can feel my heart racing as we enter the kitchen, a smile spreading across my face.
“Love, we got company,” Dad says to his wife, and she spins from where she stands at the sink with a delicate smile. “Thisis Caleb’sfriend,Rosie.” I don’t miss the way his voice lingers on the wordfriend.Dragging a hand down my face and praying for patience, I move forward, making sure to get a good look at Rosie’s face…waiting.
“Rosie, this is my wife. Vivienne.” I watch with barely restrained amusement at the way Rosie’s eyes blow wide, her cheeks pinken, and her lips part with shock. Her eyes dart to me, blazing a fury as she closes and opens her mouth like a helpless fish. I can’t contain it any longer. I double over, sputtering the laugh that is barreling through me. My eyes sting with tears because I can’t handle the look of horror on Rosie’s face as she finally understands my hate for the name of her vibrator.
With blushed cheeks and, I think, a twitching eye, Rosie wipes her palms on her shorts before stepping forward and thrusting a confident hand in front of Viv to shake. “Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Smith.”
Viv smiles gently, shaking Rosie’s hand. “You too. And please, call me Viv.”
Rosie smacks her chest as she coughs and I have to cover my mouth as I continue to laugh silently, scrunching my eyes closed.
“The hell has gotten into you?” Dad scolds me from across the kitchen where he picks at the snacks Viv has on the bench.
“I’m…” I take a breath and wipe my hand down my face. “It’s nothing, sorry. I had a memory come up, and it…never mind.” When I glance at Rosie, I nearly lose my shit again, she is glaring so hard at me.
“So, Caleb. Why don’t you show me around,” she says pointedly through her teeth. I know better than to turn her down. She spins on a heel, leaving the room. I follow her, chuckling.
When we make it back near the front door, she spins back, furious, and slaps a hand to my shoulder.
“Ouch!” I flinch away from shock rather than pain.
“Idiota estúpido!”I bite down on my bottom lip. She is so fucking sexy when she’s fired up and spitting Spanish at me. “You didn’t think to warn me!?Ay Dios,that was utterly humiliating. She probably thinks I hate her because I stared like a fish out of water.Juro que podría matarte ahora mismo!”She slaps me a few more times on the arm, light and in quick succession as I back away from her, unable to stop the chuckle.
“What is wrong with you!”
I raise a finger and bop her on her nose, just because I know she hates it. “That, pretty girl, is why I didn’t tell you first.” I grin at her smugly and watch as she swats my hand away again. “Far too entertaining watching your reaction.”
She huffs a breath that pushes her curls out of her face, and I lean back, crossing my arms. She mimics my stance, her scowl firmly in place.
“So, how many times have you come screaming out my dad’s wife’s name?” I bite my lip again to smother my laugh when she unleashes another round of playful slapping on my arm. But when I break out into another round of giggles, I see her scowl break into a reluctant smile and she starts to chuckle herself.
“Conche tu madre,that was so embarrassing.” When she stops laughing, she covers her face and grunts. “And for the record. I don’t call out the name of my vibrator when I come. That’s just weird.” She drops her hands and goes back to her snarky, playful expression, and my chest warms.
See?Easy. It’s so goddamn easy to be around her. I reach a hand to absently rub at my chest and I can feel my smile easing just a bit as the tension between us grows once more. Rosie’s eyes drop to my chest, but then she clears her throat.
“Well. Guess we better go back out and stop hiding away like a couple of kids in trouble.” She tries to pull back on her mask, but there is a hint of something peeking through—that is gone too fast for me to see it. She rolls her eyes before giving me onelast playful slap and murmuring over her shoulder, “La conche de tu madre,” with a dismissive wave of her hand.
I wait a beat but then follow her back through the kitchen. Feeling oddly at peace in this house for the first time in an incredibly long time.
Thankfully the four of us have a good rest of the afternoon, and I’m thankful that Rosie is here to create some kind of buffer. Dad doesn’t lay into me anywhere near as much as he normally would, and he also doesn’t bring up how broke we were when I was young—which he loves to do—and also doesn’t brag about how much he has had to work for everything he has—another thing he loves to do. I do notice him continuously scrutinizing Rosie, and I don’t miss a few of the subtly probing questions he throws at her, trying to gauge who she is as a person, but I don’t doubt he’s already made up his mind. Ol’ Bob Smith is the least open-minded and progressive person you’ll ever meet. He also believes someone always has an ulterior motive, that no one is as kind as they “pretend” to be.
The woman he loved left him and his child to go marry a millionaire in Paris to live her lavish life with spawn she was actually proud of, so I think his trust issues are somewhat warranted. It blows me away he trusted Viv enough to marry her, though I suspect her subdued nature and demure personality were enough for him to realize she wasn’t interested in ever leaving this city, let alone him.
“Suppose we should break out the sweets,” Viv says with a smile, clucking her tongue like the trained wife she is. Rosieleans back in her seat, utterly relaxed, drinking her beer, before giving me and Dad a pointed look.
“Yeah. How about you guys clean up and bring out dessert? Viv and I will organize another round of drinks.” She smirks playfully at me and then looks over at my dad, her smile a dare, and after watching how controlling her own father is around her, I feel a fierce amount of pride at her pushing. My dad’s eyes only narrow slightly, though he doesn’t drop his smile, only looks at Viv—who looks like a chastised kid at the suggestion that the women hang out while the men do the cleaning—before he clears his throat. Before he can say anything, I let my hand playfully squeeze Rosie’s thigh before I grab a few dishes.
“Sounds like a plan.” I pointedly look at Dad and he huffs a breath, grabbing the remaining dishes and following me inside.
