‘Jess!’ she cried. ‘I’m pouring my heart out to you, and you’re laughing?’
‘I’m sorry, it’s just that you’re expecting too much,’ she said. ‘You’re talking about a man who works with horses all day and has probably never said anything so ridiculously romantic to anyone in his life before. Men don’t beg women to stay, not in real life, and when I told you to start looking for signs, I didn’t mean anything quite that dramatic.’
‘I bet Ryan would beg you to stay.’
Jessica snorted. ‘Of course he would, because he’d be terrified of being left alone with the girls.’ She smiled. ‘But seriously, Rose, it sounds very much like this man showed you how much he cared for you, in his own way, while you were there, and instead of seeing that, or just understanding that you’d hit a bump in the road, you wanted him to deliver lines like he’s in a romantic comedy.’
Rose looked up at her. Why was Jess always right? Now that she’d said it out loud, she could hear how ridiculous she sounded.
‘As far as I can tell, you told him that Argentina wasn’t your home, you left him the key and then you were gone.Youdidn’t give him a choice.’
She nodded. ‘That’s a very simplified version, but in a nutshell, yes.’
‘And despite pushing him away and telling him that you had no intention of relocating to Argentina, you’re waiting for him to make some big romantic gesture?’
Rose sighed. ‘You’re right. I know you’re right. I just…’
‘Wanted to know that your feelings were valid?’ Jessica asked, gently.
‘That he was prepared to fight for me,’ Rose said. ‘If I’m honest, that’s what I wanted. I wanted him to demand that I stay, to tell me not to leave. I wanted him to give me a reason to uproot my life, to believe that what we had was more than a holiday fling.’
‘And he probably wanted nothing more than for you towantto stay,’ Jessica said. ‘It sounds to me as if he let you go because that’s what he thought you wanted, because you told him that your life was somewhere else. He needed to believe that you could see yourself making a life in Argentina.’
‘You truly think so?’ Rose asked.
‘Think so?’ Jessica asked. ‘I know so!’
Rose finished her hot chocolate, staring into the bottom of the mug and trying to figure out if she felt better or worse for having poured her heart out.
‘Come on, let’s go to bed. Everything always feels better in the morning.’
When Jessica rose and leaned over to take her mug, Rose placed her hand over hers. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re very welcome,’ Jessica said. ‘That’s what I’m here for.’
‘You’re right about everything always feeling better in the morning. I just need a good night’s sleep.’
‘Rose?’
She turned back.
‘Did you solve the mystery of your great-grandmother in the end? You never did tell me if you’d figured everything out.’
‘I feel like I discovered the woman she was, but I still have as many questions as I have answers. She was a pretty special woman from what I could gather, though, and I feel like one day more of her story will unravel, or at least I hope so.’
Rose picked up her suitcase in one hand and her bag in the other, and she followed after Jessica, who was turning off the lights as she went. At the door to the guest room, she said goodnight and closed the door behind her, finding her pyjamas and quickly changing, before slipping back out into the hallway to the bathroom so she could clean her teeth.
The bathroom was as stylish as the rest of the house, with white subway tiles on the walls and black taps, but it was the brightly coloured bath toys scattered in the big oval tub that made Rose smile, and the Barbie toothbrushes displayed on the edge of the sink.
It was what scared her most about going back to London, to the quiet of her flat. This house was so clearly loved and lived-in; whereas hers was as empty as when she’d left it. Not to mention that she’d have to face all her mother’s things.
‘Rosie?’
The little voice took her by surprise, and Rose turned and found Jessica’s daughter, Serena, standing in the doorway, her blonde hair a tousled mess around her head, her eyes squinting as she rubbed them with her fist.
‘Hey, beautiful girl,’ she whispered, bending down to hug her. ‘I was supposed to be your surprise for the morning.’
Serena’s little arms were tight around her, and Rose kissed the top of her head, inhaling the coconut smell of her shampoo.
