Tom tensed even though Rosie was trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal. Nobody was allowed to be that careless with his Rosie, but it was his own damn fault for letting her leave without him.
“Do you need me to take you to the hospital?” he gritted out.
“No, I think the Benadryl’s going to stay down,” she said, pressing her palms against her eyes. “I’m fine. Really.”
“We’ll discuss this later,” he promised, eyes narrowed.
Future family meals would not be potluck. They would not behere, where Rosie’s asthma had to be acting up. He didn’t care if they ate scrambled eggs and toast in his building common room or if they all flew to Boca to eat his mother’s cabbage rolls. The days of Max and Rosie carrying the entire Kelly clan on their backs ended now.
Back to the original plan. He took a few short breaths to hype himself up. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d say. It had felt wrong to practice for this—this wasn’t a performance; this was his life and Rosie’s.
“Tom, I’m—I’m really glad to see you. But what are you doing here?” she asked before he could find the words.
“I came to get you,” he blurted out.
“Get me?”
“Back to New York, I mean,” he clarified.
“Baby, I’m sorry, I know, I want to. But—look, I’m sure you saw. Max can’t even get to the bathroom by herself right now. Medicare’s fighting with me on aides…I can’t leave her.”
“Both of you,” Tom said. “Let’s go home. I’ve got Caroline’s SUV—it can fit all Max’s stuff. Adrian’s going to help us get everything packed. We can go right now, be back in New York tonight. You know that anything your dad could do for Max,Ican.”
He’d been more eloquent in his life, but for a moment Rosie’s eyes went soft and wondering, and her breath caught.
“I thought about it,” he reassured her. “As soon as performances start, I’ll have every day to get Max to physical therapy, or the senior center, or wherever. You can get back to your job. We’ll take it in shifts. Max can’t stay here in your dad’s living room—”
Rosie had recovered, and she started shaking her head.
“Youcan’t stay. Tech week starts tomorrow. This is your first Broadway opening in a decade! Did you even tell your stage manager you were coming up here?”
“I did,” he said, wounded, because he wasn’tthatunprofessional. He just knew where his priorities were. He locked eyes with her. “I can miss a day of rehearsal when my girlfriend hasa family emergency.” He took another deep breath. “I can for sure miss a day of rehearsal whenmy wifehas a family emergency.”
There was the gauntlet, thrown down.
“Tom…” Rosie’s voice trailed off, expression going fragile and worried. “We can talk about that when I get back.”
“Are you sure you’re not staying up here because you’re scared of what happens next?” he asked, and she flinched, because he had her all figured out now.
He put his hands on her upper arms and chafed them, aching again to just lift her up and carry her to safety.
“Just give me a real chance, okay?” he begged. “Don’t sell the inn just because your dad’s bullying you into it. Give it a chance to work out. Give it a chance to be a huge success. We’ve got time. And givemea chance to be everything I promised you I’d be. Okay? I’ll bring both of you back to New York with me, and I’ll take care of you there. Come home with me.”
He swallowed hard, because Rosie’s tiny body had gone very still. She was listening.
“If you don’t think Max can live alone anymore, she can live with us. We can go to city hall if you want to get married again. We can just tell everyone it’s back on if you don’t. And as soon as the show wraps, we’ll all go back out to the inn. Do you still want kids? We can go ahead and have the kids! Though if you want six of them, we probably need to get started, like,tonight.”
This finally got a reaction out of her, a startled laugh.
“Six? We live in New York. We can afford one, maybe,” shesaid, wiping at her eyes with her hands until Tom ducked into the bathroom to get her a fresh towel.
“Here,” he said, brushing wisps of her hair away from her eyes until he cupped her face in his hands, fingertips careful. “Did I get it right? Is that what you want?”
“Of course I want that,” she whispered, big blue eyes swimming between hope and hurt as she looked up at him.
“Then please just have it. Have me. That’s all I’m asking. Please accept it from me. I wish I didn’t have to rush you, and I know I don’t have the right to show up after ten years and tell you right now is the right moment, but if you’re ever going to settle for me, please do it now, because you shouldn’t have to be alone in all this either.”
Rosie pulled back against his hands, back going rigid. “Nobody would be settling for you,” she said fiercely. “Stop thinking that about yourself. That’s not what I’m doing. Iloveyou. I havealwaysloved you. And I wanted you to have whatyouwanted even when I didn’t think that was me. I’m just being careful with us. There’s nothing more important than getting this right.” She fiddled with the hem of his shirt as though trying to fix the lines of it, face conflicted. “I just want you to be sure this is what you want.”
