Page 63 of Just a Distraction

“Who has the money for that?” Eden asks. “You know we’d help you watch him if it wasn’t on the other side of the country.”

“The funding is partially subsidized, so it won’t be that bad,” Rose says. “And I know you would.”

“Leaving us for a dream so crazy?” Leila says, shaking her head. Her tone is more sorrowful than Eden’s. She looks at me. “The thought of it is killing our mom. She just wants her family to be all together.”

“I’ll probably come back to work here in Colorado after the program ends. It’s going to be fine. Look, I need you guys to make your peace with it and be happy for me. I’m doing this.”

“We are,” Leila insists. “We’re pained at the amount of debt you’ll incur. But we’re happy for you.”

“If you’re happy for me, you can stop offering unsolicited advice,” Rose shoots back.

“Not everybody is able to follow their dreams, Rose.” Eden’s tone is menacing. It curls around the air, like an age-old argument that’s never resolved. “That you’re taking so many liberties to make all your dreams come true is . . . well . . . refreshing and also infuriating.”

I stand, Thorin’s front paws sliding off my legs. I bounce Callum on my hip as if he’s getting fussy. He’s not. He’s perfectly content. But I feel the bile rising inside of me. I have to say something.

“I personally think she’s going to be an incredible nurse.”

Rose’s tongue clicks in surprise and her sisters grow quiet.

“She’s intelligent,” I go on, schooling my tone as much as I possibly can. I don’t want to be a jerk about it, but I want to make some things clear here. “And driven, and determined. She’s going to help so many people. You should see her at the resort. She’s good at her job. I’ve been around her enough that I could make a list of fifty things that make her qualified to be a nurse.She’s great at managing people. She’s kind, but not too soft on people, you know?”

“Milo,” Rose kneads the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. “You don’t have to say—”

I adjust Callum to my other side. “It’s all true, though.”

“Rose will make an excellent nurse,” Leila says, her gaze on her baby.

“She will.” Eden gets up, her mouth in a thin line, and calls for her kids, asking them to come. “We’d better get going to Tollark. You sure you don’t want to come, Rose? You could bring Milo if you want.”

Rose thanks them for the invitation but tells them we can’t come. The sisters leave, gathering their kids and their things in a flurry of shouts and hugs and laughter.

And now we’re left alone, just me, Callum, Thorin, and Rose.

The air between us is thick.

Is Rose . . . upset?

Chapter 25

Rose

“Rose. What’s wrong?” Milo’s giving me this look of complete innocence, like he has no idea what he did.

I’m pacing along the living room and into the kitchen. I really hate that I’m like this, a fuzzy-headed stress case, but I can barely contain myself. “I’ve never really had anyone stand up for me like that.”

When he’s still giving me the deer-in-the-headlights look, I sigh. Right now, with kindness oozing off him in waves and him cradling my little boy, who fell asleep in his arms, I can’t make sense of what’s going on inside of me.

“Was it the strong tone I took with your sisters?”

I offer a smile. There’s no need for me to be bothered by his words. They’re just foreign to me. “I don’t need you to stand up to them. I’ve got it all taken care of.”

“I have no doubt about that, but Rose, it hard for me to listen to them say that stuff.” He’s standing, gently patting Callum’s back, looking completely comfortable in this position. Like he does this every day.

I place my hands on my waist and roll my neck to try to get some of the tension out. “I’m so used to it, it barely registered.”

That’s not entirely true. Everything was registering because Milo is here. I was looking at things from his perspective—analyzing everything with a microscope. Maybe that’s part of why I’m so upset by it.

I’m embarrassed. By my family, by our craziness, by how much we’re solidly in a different class than Milo and his family.

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