Page 30 of Kiss From A Rose

"All good?" she asked.

"Yeah. You liked mycoq au vin?"

"You got all fancy marrying that rich prick," Malou guffawed. "Coq au vin, my hiney!"

"Well, I'm making the Angel's Rest B&B food options more gourmet." I fluttered my eyes and mimicked a very bad French accent to make my point.

Malou cackled. "I talked to the lawyer today, and the way he's setting it up, you won't have to pay too many useless taxes when they transfer the house to you."

I stroked her bald head. She got hot and cold, and when she was hot, she removed her hat and put it back on when that changed. Living with cancer meant that her body’s temperature control was broken.

"I don't want you to die," I whispered.

She grabbed my hand and squeezed. "I don't want to die either, Flower Girl, but hell, I can't live like this. I'm skin and bones, and everythin' fuckin' hurts."

"I hate cancer."

"No shit," she agreed. "How did Leah's talk with Gray go?"

"Gray was being Gray." I kissed her forehead. "But Willow finally reached out. She and Mike are comingherefor Christmas."

"Oh, that's wonderful, Rose. I can't wait to meet your baby girl," Malou said eagerly.

My kidshadmet Malou, but that was when they were little. I always came to see her by myself, and even though I asked Malou to visit us in Atlanta, she didn't. I didn't push it eitherbecause I was more comfortable here at the B&B with her, and I knew she was as well.

"Her boyfriend is a good guy. He's doing a PhD in psychology."

"Look at you with your GED; everyone in your house is getting big degrees. You got to be proud of that."

Iwas, but the problem was that they weren't proud of me. They were ashamed of their mother, who wasn't as smart or educated as them.

"Who'd think Black & White from the trailer park were gonna be living like us." I felt her shiver, so I put her cap back on and made sure she was tucked in.

"You not gonna ship me to a hospice when I'm dyin', will you? I wanna die here in my home, Rose."

I could hear the fear in her voice. She trusted me with her life, but doubt crept through when she felt weak and tired.

"You don't even have to ask, honey. You know I'd never do that to you."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Even if you go back to Atlanta…just…make sure…." Her eyes began to close, and I once again kissed her forehead as she fell into a fitful sleep. I wasn't going back to Atlanta. I was staying here on Angel Island with Malou for as long as she had left.After, I would build mynewlife here and pay homage to my friend.

I went into my room and took a deep breath. It was around seven, maybe with it being that late, Gray would pick up his phone.

I wasn’t that lucky.

"Hi, Rose, I'm afraid Gray is busy. Can I take a message?" Aimee was her cool, professional self when I asked for her boss.

"Ah…yes, thanks, Aimee. Can you ask Gray to call me at…?" I gave her my number.

"As soon as he's free."

I hung up and knew he wouldn't call. I wasn't even sure if Aimee gave him my messages. He'd probably told her not to bother him unless I was having a life-threatening emergency.

Leah called me as I got ready for bed so I could spend a couple of hours either reading or watching mindless television. I had started to do that every night after setting up the kitchen and dining room for breakfast, which we served from seven to ten on weekdays and eight to eleven on weekends. It was a Friday night, so I could sleep in for an extra hour, which meant I could wake up at six instead of five. Not that I didn't mind waking up early. I wasn't sleeping very well and working distracted me from the horror show my life had become.

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