And all I can think about is how I don’t want to go back to my old life if it doesn’t include Rosie.
Chapter 19: Rosie
“Will you please hand me one of those diapers?” Rhiannon asks, her voice patient as she tackles Piper’s latest poop explosion.
How do babies even manage to poop that much when they’re so tiny?
I reach over to the caddy in their living room and toss one in her direction.
“Thanks,” she says, expertly wrangling my adorable, nine-month-old baby niece.
Piper rolls her head to the side to look at me and smile. Her dark blonde curls are matted to her face the same way that mine were when I woke this morning, and her green eyes match her mom’s.
She babbles something that sounds a lot like “Rosie,”and I clap.
“Her first words,” I tease.
Rhiannon laughs. “Those are not her first words. I’m pretty sure ‘apple’ and ‘dada’ were. She’s obsessed with your brother. Aren’t you baby girl?” She stands freshly diapered Piper on her wobbly legs. “Do you want your daddy?” she coos.
Piper squeals and tries to clap while Rhiannon sighs and then winks at me. “I want your daddy too, Pipes.”
I choke on the tea I’m sipping. “Um, gross.”
She laughs easily before rocking Piper in her arms tenderly. The warmth of their home seeps into my bones as I glance out the window that’s overlooking the opposite side of the lake from my house. Across the grey and white landscape, covered in ice and a dusting of snow, I can barely make out the roofline where I slept last night with Boone.
Eden was right; the storm hadn’t been as bad as predicted, but it left just enough snow to blanket everything in a glistening coat of shiny crystals. We could’ve kept Boone with us for the weekend without any trouble, but now that he’s back in the city with Cain, it doesn’t matter anymore.
I fidget with the hem of my oversized t-shirt. It’s Boone’s from last night. I hadn’t bothered to change when I finally woke up at ten, two hours after he’d already left. And now, as I sit here, spiraling in a fog of nerves and confusion over everything that happened, this shirt feels like some kind of security blanket connecting me to a different version of myself. The Rosie who was bold enough to go for something she wanted.
And the one who held Boone’s attention even if just for an hour.
Without sisters or close girlfriends to lean on, I found myself stumbling here this morning, spilling my guts to the one woman who’s always felt like a friend.
Meanwhile Eden’s in the kitchen pouring us mimosas I don’t think she’s old enough to drink and I don’t plan to touch.
“Yay!” Rhiannon cheers, clapping her hands as Piper attempts to bounce on her chubby legs while holding onto the coffee table.“Okay, it’s naptime baby,” she adds, zipping Piper into one of those cozy sleep sacks before lifting her up in the air.
She sways back and forth, rocking Piper in her arms with an ease that makes it look like she was born to be a mother. My ovaries practically do a backflip watching her. It’s all come so natural to Rosie. I wonder if it’d feel this natural for me.
I’m so happy for my brother and her. He found his match in a woman who’s chaotic enough to keep him on his toes but grounded to make him want to be home in Brookhaven more than the city.
I wonder if I’ll ever find someone like that. Someone who feels like home and makes me want to work less. And then Boone’s words come rushing back to me.
He wants a family.
Not someday, not down the line—he wants kids.
Plural.Now.
And he’d be willing to walk away from his successful career for the right person. For the sake of the family that he so clearly wants.
And despite everything he's currently doing to fight for his reputation, and potentially re-up his contract with theMayhem, I know that he’s being honest. He’d leave it all behind for love.
I take another sip of my tea, lost in thought as Rhiannon hands Piper off to Eden, who takes her niece upstairs with a grin to put her down for her nap. Rhiannon exhales as she plops onto the couch beside me, swiping one of the untouched mimosas Eden poured.
“Nothing like the hair of the dog,” she says with a grin, kicking her socked feet up onto the coffee table and settling in like we’ve got all the time in the world to chat.
It's Saturday and Cain will be in the city until Monday night, working on whatever crisis has come up now with Boone and preparing for his Monday court appearance.
