Chapter 18

Rosie didn’t know how she felt about Dallas going to the hospital without her. Yes, she felt responsible for what had happened to his ankle, but that wasn’t it. She really needed to make sure he was okay.

Rowdy opened his truck door for her, waited for her to climb in, and then closed it. She clicked her seatbelt and sat back.

Dallas was in love with her?

She had no idea what to do. This changed things between them… or did it? He hadn’t exactly been himself when he’d told her, so maybe she should pretend it never happened.

But what if he really was in love with her? If she pretended that it hadn’t happened, wasn’t that the same as leading him on?

Rowdy climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. “I bet you’re wondering what you should do now.”

Since the first day she’d met Rowdy, he’d felt like a brother to her. Come to think of it, so had Cinco.

“I… um…” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I got nothing.”

“The way I look at it, you have three options. You can talk to him about it—obviously, when he’s not medicated. You can ignore it and pretend it never happened. Or you can run away.” Rowdy was Mr. Levelheaded today. “Somehow that last option doesn’t seem like you.”

“You’re right. I’m not going to run away. It’s not in my nature to hide from something like this.” In that way, she was the opposite of her mother, who’d wanted to hide from everything that was unpleasant. That explained, to a certain extent, her mother’s drug use.

“Do you have feelings for him?” Rowdy’s tone wasn’t accusatory. He was merely asking a question.

“I don’t know. I think there’s a possibility that I could develop deeper feelings for him, but I’m just getting to know him. Heck, up until a few days ago, he ran out of the room every time I entered it.” Dallas could mean a lot to her, but she wasn’t sure she was there yet.

“Dallas is a fun-loving guy and always the life of the party, but he also feels things deeply. If you can’t return his love, promise me you’ll let him down gently.” Rowdy kept his eyes on the road. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and I know that right now you’re overwhelmed, but he’s my annoying little brother. He irritates the crap out of me but I don’t want him hurt.”

She’d never willingly hurt anyone, especially not Dallas.

“I’ll do my best.” What else could she say?

“I’m sure Justus and CanDee will have better insight into how you should proceed with Dallas.” He turned onto the gravel path that led to his house. “I must say that Dallas is going to be so embarrassed when he remembers what he said to you.” He sounded like he would enjoy being a fly on the wall when Dallas figured it out.

“You have very strange relationships with your brothers.” Rosie knew she had strange relationships with her sisters, but it was nothing like the Rose brothers.

“Speaking of siblings, your sister Louisa is very intense. She and Cinco hit it right off. Two intense stick-in-the-mud people. Their superpower is boring people to death. Louisa’s saving grace is amazing flan; unfortunately, Cinco has no redeeming qualities.” He hit the garage button on the visor, and the garage door rolled up.

Louisa, Ariana, Esther, CanDee, and Justus were lined up waiting for her.

Rosie’s shoulders shook with laughter. “I keep imagining Louisa in tights and a cape. It’s so bad.”

Rowdy’s face twisted in disgust. “Know what’s worse? Cinco in tights and a cape.”

The image of lanky, seven-foot-tall Cinco in tights and a cape topped off with a cowboy hat popped into her head. It was funnier than her image of Louisa. “Now I can’t get that picture out of my mind.”

“Welcome to my world.” Rowdy stopped the truck just in front of the garage and threw it into park.

Rosie barely had the door open before she was pulled out of the truck and into Louisa’s arms.

“We were so worried. You scared us.” Louisa held on tight.

“Let me see her.” Ariana pulled her out of Louisa’s arms and held her out for inspection. “She looks too thin.” She looked over at Esther. “Doesn’t she look too thin?”

“Leave her alone. She’s fine.” Esther pulled her into a hug.

Rosie couldn’t remember the last time they’d hugged her. How could she never have noticed that they worried about her? They loved her and they cared for her. They wanted nothing in return. How could she not have seen that before?

“Are you okay?” Justus waited her turn for a hug and then pulled her in. She whispered, “Spoke with Lucy, we’ll talk about Dallas later.”

“I’m fine. Thanks.” Rosie was grateful that she didn’t have to tell Justus or CanDee what had happened.

“Okay, it’s my turn.” CanDee pulled her in. “We were so worried about you.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.” It was terrible that she’d worried so many people.

“You’re fine and that’s all that matters.” CanDee kept her arm around Rosie as they all headed toward the house.

“Louisa has been cooking all day. She made arroz con pollo and green chili tamales.” Justus stepped on the other side of Rosie and put her arm around her friend. “Everyone’s staying at our house. Your sisters are spoiling Hugh and AG. It’s going to take weeks to beat the Gomez out of them.”

“Children should be spoiled.” Louisa nodded like it was a law of nature. “I’m teaching Hugh how to make my chocolate flan.”

“Hugh said something about food trucks coming in to Roseville to hand out food.” Her sisters had helped people out before, but Rosie didn’t think she’d ever seen them do anything on this large of a scale.

“Yes, we called several vendors we do business with and everyone was happy to help.” Louisa held the door to the kitchen open for everyone. She shook her head. “The devastation is terrible.”

“So many people have lost their homes.” Ariana hung her head. “Whole families are now homeless.”

“We have two families staying with us.” CanDee followed Rosie into the kitchen.

“There’s a family staying in your cottage, Rosie.” Justus followed close behind. “We moved your things into a bedroom here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t mind. It was the right thing to do.” Rosie found herself being led to the kitchen table by her two best friends.

Louisa went to the stove. “Do you want arroz con pollo or tamales first?”

“I’d love a shower and a change of clothes and then some arroz con pollo.” Rosie didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but she needed to get to the hospital. Dallas would be having surgery, and she needed to make sure he was okay.

“I’ll get the food ready while you take a shower.” Louisa pulled out plates and utensils.

“Let me show you to your room.” As Justus pointed in the direction of the hallway, she shot CanDee a look that said, “Follow us.”

With CanDee on her right and Justus on her left, Rosie made her way down the hallway to the very last door on the left. Justus opened the door for her, waited for CanDee and Rosie to walk inside, and then followed and closed the door.

“Dallas told you he’s in love with you.” Justus leaned against the closed door. “Spill.”

“I don’t know what else to say. Lucy gave him an injection for the pain and he told everyone not to tell me that he’s in love with me.” Rosie set her work tote down on the bed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to do anything.” CanDee plopped down on the bed. “Please tell me you had sex with him.”

“A lady never kisses and tells.” Rosie grinned.

“Since when? Talking about sex is what distinguishes us from the other animals. Well, that and really great shoes.” CanDee grabbed Rosie’s hand and tugged on it until she sat next to her.

“We did and it was amazing.” Rosie couldn’t help the smile on her face. She’d really enjoyed her alone time with Dallas.

“So you found the condoms I packed?” Justus sat on the other side of CanDee.

“Yes, and thank you for the yoga pants and T-shirt.” Rosie didn’t know what she would do without her friends.

“You’re welcome. I snuck those in at the last minute. Men are so stupid, all they wanted to pack was the sat phone, some beef jerky, a compass, and a waterproof flashlight. I lost the battle for clean underwear.” Justus shot Rosie a cheeky grin. “I packed a dozen condoms, how many are left?”

“A dozen?” CanDee looked at Justus. “That’s wishful thinking.”

Rosie held up four fingers. “Only four left.”

“How do you feel about Dallas professing his love?” CanDee watched her very carefully.

“I don’t know. I have feelings for him, but they’re new. I think love is a possibility… one day. I’m not sure I’m there quite yet.” Rosie didn’t want to call it quits with him, but she wasn’t ready to jump into anything serious. “I like him. I enjoy spending time with him. I’d like to get to know him better, but for now, that’s all I have to offer.”

“That’s enough for now.” CanDee patted Rosie’s knee. “Just keep an open mind.”

Justus shook her head. “Not sure how you’re going to bring up the subject with Dallas, but I know you will. If there’s anyone in the world who faces challenges head-on, it’s you.” She bent forward to look around CanDee. “Now that you’re back, I can’t wait to see how you organize the rebuilding of our B&B and also the benefit concert we’d like to put on to help the victims of the flood.” She shot Rosie a sugary sweet and totally fake smile. “See how I threw that last bit in there? We were hoping you’d volunteer to organize the concert… will you?”

“Of course.” Organizing was her middle name. She would put together the best damn benefit concert ever.

“Good, because we already told everyone you’d do it.” CanDee grinned at Rosie. “Your sisters are organizing the food. I knew your sisters were a force to be reckoned with, but now I see where you get your organization skills and your work ethic. Those three women could run the world with one hand tied behind their backs.”

It was Rosie’s turn to smile. “I know. I’m thankful they’ve taught me so much.”

“You should have seen Louisa.” Justus shook her head. “I thought Lucy was going to have to sedate your sister to keep her from trying to swim across the river. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I called them as soon as we got your call on Tuesday night. They were here an hour and a half later.” CanDee’s eyebrows bounced off her hairline. “Just thought you should know that.”

“How’s that possible? Austin’s almost three hours from here.” Her sisters never broke the speed limit… ever. Rosie had always felt there was a wall between her and her sisters. She knew they loved her, but she’d thought it was out of obligation. She needed her friends’ take on it. “Do you think my sisters regret taking me in?”

“No,” they said unison.

“I’ve always felt that I owed them because they took me in.” Rosie traced the zipper of her work tote. “Dallas got me thinking that maybe the feeling of obligation I have toward them is all on my end. I mean, I know they love me, but I’ve always felt that I had to work harder than everyone else so they wouldn’t regret all they’ve given up for me.”

“First, you told Dallas about Izora?” CanDee gritted her teeth like the name left a bad taste in her mouth. She and Justus always called Rosie’s mother by her first name because they refused to refer to her as anyone’s mother.

“Yes.” Rosie had actually told him more than she’d ever shared with anyone.

“Second, your neurosis over love coming with big, thick, choking strings comes directly from Izora. From an early age, she made you believe that you were worthless and that the only thing that could make you worthwhile was hard work.” CanDee caught Justus’s eye. “What did she used to ask Rosie? It was something about justifying her existence.”

“It was, ‘What have you done today to justify living?’ That is evil and I hope she’s burning in hell.” Justus hated Rosie’s mother almost as much as CanDee hated her.

The bedroom door burst open and Louisa walked in. “I can’t believe that—that bitch said that to you.”

Rosie didn’t know what to do. She’d never heard Louisa this angry. She’d never even heard her curse.

“Girls,” Louisa looked at CanDee and then Justus, “I apologize for listening at the door, but I need a minute with my sister.”

“Okay.” CanDee stood, grabbed Justus’s hand, and pulled her into the hallway.

Louisa sat down beside Rosie. She took her hand. “First, I need to apologize to you for not taking you away from her sooner. I was young and stupid and turned a blind eye to what was going on.”

“We all did.” Ariana stepped into the room, followed by Esther.

Esther sat down on the other side of Rosie. “I think we were all so happy to have gotten out of the house that we didn’t think about what was happening to you.”

Ariana knelt in front of Rosie. “If you want to tell us how bad it was, we’re here to listen. If you’d rather not talk about her, that’s fine too. We’re so sorry for leaving you there for so long.”

“This may be a terrible thing to say, but our mother overdosing was the best thing that ever happened to you—” Louisa’s voice cracked, so she cleared her throat. “It’s the best thing that could have happened to us.”

“Wait a minute. Mom didn’t OD, she had a heart attack.” Rosie remembered the heart attack. It hadn’t been an overdose.

“She OD’d. The coroner put heart attack as the cause of death because Mom had a small insurance policy that wouldn’t pay out if she OD’d. He was being kind, and it wasn’t a lie. Not really. She did die of a heart attack, but it was caused by the overdose.” Ariana put both of her hands on Rosie’s knees. “We didn’t tell you the truth because we wanted to spare you. You had been through so much, and we didn’t want you to be hurt by her anymore.”

“We are so sorry that you had to live through hell with her. We really didn’t know how bad she’d gotten.” Esther’s voice was pleading. “We’ve never been anything but proud of you and happy you came to live with us. If it hadn’t been for you, I don’t know where we’d be today. You gave us the kick in the pants to make something of ourselves. It wasn’t easy, but look where we are now.”

“I’m so sorry if I ever made you feel like you owed me anything.” Louisa shook her head. “I never meant for that to happen.”

Tears burned Rosie’s eyes. “I always felt like I needed to work harder and longer to make you proud of me, but a friend pointed out to me that you probably didn’t feel that way, that it was me.”

Ariana pulled a wad of tissues out of her pocket and handed them to Rosie. “Even from the grave, our mother can still hurt you. Too bad she can’t die twice.” She sounded furious.

“Rosie, we have never been anything but proud of you.” Louisa pulled her in for a hug. “When you first came to live with us, you were so sad. We didn’t know what to do. I’m not much of a touchy-feely person, but I guess I should have tried harder. You needed that and I should have given it to you.”

“No, no,” Esther said. “It was me. I should have spent more time with you.” Now she was crying too. “When we got the call that you were trapped on the other side of a flooded river, we all lost it. We can’t lose you. You’re our finest accomplishment. The only thing our mother did right was have you.”

“Did you know that when she was pregnant with you, we used to play with your little feet?“ Ariana smiled at the memory. “You would kick out through her tummy and we’d push back. It made you kick harder. After you were born, we took turns watching you. You were so tiny and sweet.”

“I never knew that.” Rosie had had no idea that her sisters loved her so much. No, that wasn’t it. She’d never let herself see how much her sisters loved her because she’d been too caught up in the mental and physical scars left behind by her mother’s abuse. That ended today.

Rosie wiped at her eyes and stood. “I hate to run out so soon, but I’ve got a shower to take and then a hospital to visit.”

“Dallas Rose is a hottie.” Esther grinned. “His twin’s cute too.”

Louisa pushed Esther playfully. “Worth is a good ten years younger than you.”

“So, he’s still cute.” Esther grinned. “I haven’t had a date in so long, I can’t remember. How about you put in a good word for me.” She winked at Rosie.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Rosie hugged each of her sisters in turn.

Now that she looked back on her life with her sisters, she could see how much they loved her.

Knowing that they loved her and wanted her in their lives made her heart full.