Page 56 of Cuts Like An Angel: Part 3

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rosie

Mark’s mouth was moving, and Rosie was sure words and sounds were coming out, but she was somewhere faraway. Probably following William out and asking him about who was on the phone. She replayed the sound of the ringtone in her head, like a song she couldn’t get out, but each new playing distorted it and mingled it with the sound she was used to hearing.

“Earth to Rosie,” Mark said. He waved a hand in front of her face.

She blinked herself back to the restaurant, to the noise of happy people and endless chatter, to the face of Mark. “Sorry. I …”

“Winter getting to your head already?”

“Yeah.” She glanced back to where she’d last seen William as he’d slipped through the throng of people. He’d stayed by the entrance for a few seconds, and then had taken his call outside.

“How are things going with his mother?” Mark asked. “She giving you hell?”

Mother … it was like another world, another place. She floated back to Mark and sucked in a long, slow breath. “She’s okay.” She found the lie come to her like a trap door. Mark might have been William’s friend once, but they were men now, different than the children they’d once been. “It’s a little hard some days,” she added. “But we’re getting there.”

Mark laughed. “You need a medal if you ask me. If she’s anything like I remember her. Does she still work? Still turning tricks? I suppose not so much.”

“No,” Rosie said, and took a sip of her lemonade. It was sweet and bubbly, a contrast to what she was feeling right then. She’d have been better with something deep and soured. “She’s not doing anything really.”

Apart from screaming obscenities, pissing on the floor and making our lives hell.

Rosie smiled through her thoughts. Thoughts of Maria, or William at home, William now. She bit on her lower lip and made herself focus on Mark.

“So, what’s your story then? Been here long?”

“Almost a year.” She gave a nonchalant shrug as if it didn’t matter why she was here. “I thought I might have myself an adventure. Try something new. I love it here.” She added the last part before Mark could come to any other conclusion. Her life certainly wasn’t what she’d planned. She didn’t plan to meet William, and she sure as hell didn’t plan on Maria, but it was all good. If she had to deal with Maria for the next decade, then she would. William was worth it. He was the one great thing in her story. “Maria was telling me about Sam.”

“Sam …” He drew out the name with a breath and sat back in his seat as he did, his glass of whiskey resting on his knee. “Wow. Sam. I’ve not heard that name in a long time. What did she tell you about her?”

“Not much. She said William was in love with her once and that she died.”

Mark nodded, and this time it was his gaze that travelled the way William had gone, although Rosie was sure he wasn’t looking for his friend, more finding somewhere to focus his gaze that wasn’t on her, but somewhere in his memory. “It was such a long time ago. Or it feels that way. God, she was amazing.” Mark focused back on Rosie, but she couldn’t be fully sure if he was seeing her. “She had this kind of smile that would set you on fire. I mean … not that you don’t. I …”

Even if Rosie’s smile was forced, she still did it. “It’s okay. I get it. Maria said she was something special.”

Mark nodded again. “She was. I always thought it would be me who’d end up with her, not William. But the more I think about it, the more he was the right one for her. He could treat her right where I couldn’t. Wild teenager, broken home. I’m sure you’ve heard stories like that on the helpline a ton of times.”

“You’d be surprised,” Rosie said. “Were they together long?”

Mark shrugged. He drained his glass and then angled his mouth to let out a silent hiss to release the alcoholic burn. “I went off to college and left them to it. William told you we haven’t seen each other in a while?”

“He said you lost contact.”

“Yeah. Me mostly.” Together their gazes drifted to where she wanted to see William coming. Mark was the first to return his attention to the present moment. “I’m glad he has you. He deserves to be happy after all his mother put him through. I always thought he’d end up dead, you know. I used to wait for that call, or that letter to tell me.”

“Is that why you drifted away?”

“You mean I feared losing him?”

Rosie nodded.

“Maybe. Sam used to worry so much about him. She’d call me sometimes when she was really worried, but he always turned up fine.”

Rosie watched Mark. He talked about William in an almost whimsical way. He talked of Sam as if her and William had been together in the way Maria had said, which meant William was lying to her, or playing it down. She could handle that he’d had other relationships. Hell, she’d had her own. That was life. Like he’d said, they weren’t fresh out of school. But lying …

“Do you think you’ll go back to America? I loved the States when I was there for a while. It’s so big and different. Even one State to another, like every State has its own collective way of being.”

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