Page 6 of Cuts Like An Angel: Part 3

Chapter Four

Rosie

It had started to rain while they were in the lounge arranging everything—he was cutting open a vein for a woman who’d not even cut open an envelope for him. She didn’t deserve him.

It made Rosie want to shout as she watched William standing on the back porch. How lucky that woman had been, and she’d thrown it all away, for what? Cheap thrills and some money?

He’d built this porch in the week since he’d shown Rosie Maria’s bedroom—something they’d managed to build themselves before the seasons changed. An American thing—he’d done it for her. It had been a deck out back before, but it was old and crumbled. This was so much better.

William sipped at his coffee; his second of the day, or maybe third? But who was counting? Not her. She swung a little on the swing they’d bought, kicking up her legs to make it go higher and dipping her foot into the light rain with each passing. Soon, this would all be ruined by that terrible thing known as a day job, and she’d have to go and leave him. Just a few hours.

“Do you think the lounge is the right choice?” he asked looking back at the house. “Maybe we should put her in her room. Or her backroom. It’s not too late. We could change it. Maybe if we … no. I …” A pause. Rosie didn’t speak. It was best not to sometimes. He lowered his eyes to her. “But then I’d have to walk past her all the time. We could--”

Rosie paused in her swinging, catching herself with one foot. “The lounge is fine. Honestly.”

“It’s just …” He turned from her. Her William. Was there ever going to be a true way to help him? Helpless knots formed in her stomach. “We have to walk past her stench every day. When we come in, when we go out, she’ll be there, rotting and stinking.” He motioned with his hands, waving them to signal a kind of lunacy. She wanted to hug him, but she was learning the signs with him, slowly and surely. This was not a time for hugs. This was a time to let his mind work, let him get to the bottom of what bothered him.

“I think the lounge is the best idea. We can walk by her and ignore her. Or we’ll just start coming in the back door. At least this way, she’ll scare off the unwanted hagglers at the door,” Rosie said.

He mock gasped, a slight smile beckoning. “You know, that’s your future mother-in-law.”

“True though,” she said, not allowing herself to pick at what he’d just said. Mother-in-law? That meant? Oh, God. She’d be at this later in her head. Shut up, Rosie.

“Good job we’ve had Halloween. The local kids might have thought we had a ghoul hooked up and were up for some trick and treating.”

She smiled and focused on him rather than what he’d just said. William was like the waves of an ocean. He dipped into the serious, wading in a little deeper each time he went there, but on the other side, he came back up. His pushing-it-all-away routine. Okay. She could deal with that if this was how he wanted it. The room, Maria’s room had been a victory. Maybe he didn’t know how much of one, but she did.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay while I’m at work?”

He leant on the railing, one hand gripping the edge of it, and the other holding his coffee. He crossed his feet at the ankles. The sight of him made her need to bite her lip and press herself into the seat or she’d be up so fast, pulling at his clothes. She’d not make it to work. Not that it was a bad idea. Just …

“I’ll be fine. I’m going to work on that flyer, and then probably pop out and get some shopping.” He swigged at his coffee. “I should go and check on the room. Make sure it’s all okay.” He nodded, to himself, not her and left before she had the chance to stop him. He’d already checked it a good ten times since they had got up. She’d even made him go for a walk when he’d checked the room so many times, while she made them breakfast, but that had only made him worse, giving him time to ruminate on it all. But she had to trust him when he said he’d be okay.

She stopped her swinging and followed him.

“Maybe we don’t need the bars,” he said to Rosie when she came up behind him and snaked her arms around his waist. He hadn’t made it into the room. Just to the door. The room was perfect already. Well, perfect in their opinion. To Maria, it would probably be a totally different story. Maybe the sheets would be too white, or the curtains let in too much light, or too little. Something … she’d find something. She always did. It was like she had a knack for finding fault. Rosie knew this and she hadn’t been around her all that much. On all the visits, it was what shocked Rosie the most, the way the woman could twist the mundane of things into something sinister. It was an art. Perhaps she could earn a lot of money doing that.

Rosie slid in beside William and ducked into the room.

“I hate the bars. Whenever she needed a new bed for her room upstairs, that was always her request, a top and bottom that was made out of bars rather than a solid headboard. She used to--”

He bit off his own words so hard that Rosie nearly asked if he’d cut his tongue. “Well, here they make sense,” Rosie offered. “It wouldn’t be a hospital style bed if it was all lavish headboards and valance sheets.” She paused. “You know,” she said, walking along the edge with him. “It is still okay if you decide to put her in a home. There are quite good places, and she only needs residential care, so she can come and go as she wants there. I mean … if it’s too hard for you here. You could. I’m just saying. I …” She shut her mouth with a snap, seeing his expression.

But he moved into Rosie, lifting his arm around her and resting it against her shoulder. She pressed her face into his chest and the scent of his cologne and pheromones was enough to make her want to call in sick. That’d be great. Call in sick on her first day back. “Tried that, remember? That’s how she ended up in the hospital. Besides, there’s probably a warning on her file now.”

“Like an old lady warning?”

“Exactly like that. Toxic hag notes.”

Rosie snorted out a laugh and slapped him playfully on the chest. “You know, I was reading about them in the office at work. We’ve been given warnings about sexy Englishmen on motor--” Her words cut off and she gripped her stomach as it created such a racket, deep rumblings emanated from somewhere in the depths of her guts.

William backed up. “What the heck was that?”

Another growl, threatening them both with the arrival of some monster. Then it stopped. “Nerves,” she swallowed.

“Sounds like they’re dying.”

At least she hoped it was nerves. Nerves about leaving William alone. He’d been on his own before. Hell, he was on his own way before Rosie met him and he did fine. Rosie fought to step away and rubbed at her stomach. “This makes me nervous too.” She went to the bed and ran her hand along the pristine sheet. He’d made the bed a ton of times already, stripping it, starting again. “I’ll be back around six tonight. I think we have five trainees coming in today. Shouldn’t take so long.”

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