“Honestly, I don’t know that it will be, but she wants me to come over at noon to talk.”
“That’s good, but what if what she says isn’t something you want to hear?”
“I don’t know, Rock. I haven’t had enough time to give it any thought. What I do know is that, for years, Rose has been carrying something heavy. I’ve tried to get her to open up about it, but she’d always pull away.”
“You think whatever she’s carrying is what keeps her from fully committing to you?”
“I know it is. Has Rue ever mentioned anything?”
He shook his head. “Me and Rue don’t pillow talk, especially about our siblings. You think this emergency meeting is like the meeting before the meeting?”
“Maybe. You know they talk about everything, but I hope they don’t talk her out of telling me.”
“Nah, I don’t think they’d do that. We may not pillow talk, but I’ve overheard enough conversations between Rose and Rue to know that Rue wants to see y’all together.”
Our conversation eventually shifted to our thoughts about the gala. We had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with the planning committee to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly. Rocky’s phone rang, and he answered it quickly.
“What’s up, baby?” Rocky asked.
“Rose is gone!” I heard Rue shout frantically through the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“Her apartment door was wide open, but she’s not here.”
I was already on my feet with my keys and phone in hand, heading toward the door.
“We’re on our way,” Rocky said behind me.
We rushed toward my truck, and when Rocky appeared on the driver’s side, I went to the passenger side without argument. He drove like a maniac to Rose’s apartment. Luckily, no policecars were in sight, but they would’ve had to chase us down had one tried to pull us over.
I opened the app for the tracker I had inside a bracelet I’d given Rose over two years ago. She typically wore it all the time, but I couldn’t remember if she had it on last night.
“Shit!” I spat.
“What did you find?”
“Rose isn’t wearing the bracelet with the tracker inside.”
“You put a tracker in her bracelet after all that shit you talked about me doing the same with Rue’s necklace?”
“It sounded crazy at the time, but that shit don’t matter now, because she ain’t got the muthafucka on.”
“Did you tell her to never leave the house without it?”
“Yeah, nigga, but have you met Rose? She’s hardheaded as fuck.”
He came to a screeching stop when we arrived in front of her apartment. I barely let him put the car in park before I was out and headed toward the building. Someone was leaving as we approached the door, so we rushed inside and took the stairs to the fourth floor.
Although Rose had never invited me to her apartment, I’d been there numerous times. Before she moved in, the apartment manager, with a little convincing, was nice enough to let me check it out.
I also paid her rent for the full year, giving him a little extra each month after he gave me a key. The money she paid, he gave to me, and I put it in an account for her. I wasn’t proud of the things I’d done without Rose’s knowledge, but I also didn’t give a fuck, because, in my opinion, it had to be done.
When I barged into her apartment, I found three of her sisters pacing and crying. Rocky was right behind me, and when Rue saw him, she ran straight into his arms. I went to Daisy and Blossom, embracing them before asking them what they knew.
“Start from the beginning,” I said.
“Rose texted us to come to an emergency meeting at ten. We got here at nine thirty, and she was gone. Her door was wide open, her purse was on the floor by the door, and her phone was on the floor by the couch.”
