Page 15 of One More Time

“That was months ago.” I tried playing it cool, but I couldn’t help my next question. “What do you mean by how he looked at me at the wedding?”

Tessa threw her head back with her laugh. “He was checking you out.”

Just then, a knock on the door startled me enough that I jumped again.

“It’s just Rosie,” Haven said.

Rosie was already opening the door as I called out, “Come in!”

Rosie shook some snow off her jacket as she closed the door behind her. “It started snowing.” She hung her jacket on the coat rack beside my door and slipped out of her boots.

“How much?” Tessa asked.

Rosie crossed the room, sitting down beside me. “Not too much. When I was leaving the hospital, I checked the weather, and it said light snow this evening. But it looks like we have a snowstorm coming in this weekend. I just hope it’s not too bad. I don’t mind the snow personally, but it always means a busy weekend at the hospital. I’m covering two shifts because one of the other nurses is out of town.”

Haven slid an empty glass in front of Rosie just as there was another knock on the door. This time, it was the pizza delivery guy. As I walked toward the door, Haven called out, “I already paid for it. Just make sure to give him a good tip.”

I did as instructed, thanking the guy and saying, “Drive safe,” as he jogged down the stairs. The flurries glittered in the streetlights.

A few minutes later, we were all eating. “Back to the point, so Jack was checking you out at the wedding.” Tessa waggled her brows before she took a bite of her pizza slice.

Rosie slid her eyes to me. She grinned but didn’t offer anything.

“Why are you looking at me?” I couldn’t hide the defensiveness in my voice.

“Jack was also checking you out at the café the other morning,” Rosie replied.

“You weren’t even there,” I protested.

“I came in after you left, and Hazel told me all about it.” Rosie’s grin was sly.

I chuckled softly as I shook my head. “Oh, I love living in a small town when I don’t hate living in a small town.”

“You and Jack would make gorgeous children,” Haven pointed out.

“Well, that’s beside the point, seeing as I have no interest in having kids.”

“None?” Tessa pressed.

“None,” I said flatly.

I wasn’t certain about many things in life, but this was one of them. I’d never had that whole got-to-have-a-baby feeling. My own childhood had soured me on children. Aside from my family's tangled, messy history, I had my own secrets to keep. I feared that having a child would make things way too messy. In a way, I was relieved I didn’t crave it. I didn’t want to worry about it.

Rosie nodded firmly. “I think it’s good you know that.”

Haven looked back and forth between us. “Really?”

“Really. All of you know my family’s history. I love my brothers, and I love my mom, but we all went through a lot as kids. I’m good on my own. I’ve never craved to have a family or a baby, so that makes it easy.”

Rosie chimed in, “Not everybody needs to have kids. Trust me, at the hospital, I see a parade of people coming through who probably shouldn’t have had kids. I don’t mean it to be judgy. The idea of kids is totally different from the reality. Speaking of your family, your mom is awesome. As far as I know, your dad was too, but he died when you were all pretty young. And then along came your grandfather to help.” She shook her head slightly and let out a sigh.

“If you consider verbally abusing all of us, being a brutal asshole, and knocking around some of my brothers as helping,” I said sarcastically. They all knew my family’s story or most of it.

My pulse raced from just speaking about my grandfather. His shadow over our family was long and dark.

Tessa’s understanding gaze met mine. “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s in the past. You still have to deal with your ex.”

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