Rosa shook herself from her thoughts. “Sorry, what?” She felt a little dazed at her own realisation—so out of it she hadn’t noticed anyone was speaking to her.
“Gran asked if you wanted to go and get lunch with Ma and we’ll stay with Grandpa?”
“Oh.” Rosa looked up and found every pair of eyes on her. Meredith’s held mischief, Schultz’s looked tired, and Billy’s looked concerned. Imogen gave her that teenage stare that said, “You’re embarrassing.”“I’m…yes, sure, we can…” She looked at Billy again. “Yes, let’s do that.”
“Okay.” Billy turned and smiled at the others. “I guess we’ll get lunch. Want anything brought back?”
Three heads shook.
“Alright, then, see you in a bit.” Billy kept smiling until they were out of the room. “Are you alright?” she asked Rosa.
Rosa stopped walking. “Yes.” She nodded then blurted, “I want to marry you.”
Chapter seventy-eight
Billy walked off in silence, but waited at the end of the corridor, away from listening ears and prying eyes. When Rosa joined her, there was a moment where they just stared at one another, and doubt slid under Rosa’s skin.
“I just—” she managed to get out before Billy’s finger landed on her lips.
“Don’t ruin it.” She half-smiled but remained quiet for a moment longer. The finger didn’t move, and neither did Rosa. “I’m trying to process everything. Okay? Just give me a second.”
Rosa nodded and the finger moved away. It hit her suddenly how much she liked that side of Billy. There was something ridiculously attractive about the way Billy took charge of her own emotions.
Billy’s mouth opened as though she was going to speak, then closed again as she thought better of it.
Eventually, she said, “I need to ask questions, but I’m worried that will take the element of romance out of it, so…I’m going to answer first, but then—”
“Then you have questions?” Rosa finished for her.
“Yes,” Billy said.
Rosa waited a beat. “Is that ‘yes’ to ‘then you’ll have questions’, or ‘yes’ is the answer?”
Billy grinned. “Both.”
They took a seat in the cafeteria at a table by the window. The smell of cabbage and coffee wafted in the air around them, but it wasn’t intrusive enough to bother them.
Rosa stirred her tea. Billy stared out into the small garden—empty now, but in summer it’d be full of tables and people.
“I guess I’m trying to work out where this has come from,” Billy said. “Last time we kind of talked about the future, you weren’t sure you wanted to live with anyone again, and now…to be honest, I thought I’d be the one getting down on one knee again.”
Rosa lifted her mug and blew across the top.
“I’m still not sure I want to live with anyone again,” Rosa answered honestly. “But if nothing else, watching Meredith and Schultz, and imagining you and me like that, I know I can’t go back to a life without you.”
Billy looked at Rosa, smiled, but shook her head. Curls bouncing, she laughed. “God, we’re a pair, aren’t we?” She leaned forward and held out her hand. Rosa took it—without the slightest hesitation. “I don’t want a big wedding. We’ve done that. This time, I want it to be just about us. Family.”
“Alright.” Rosa smiled. “But we’re having a proper honeymoon this time.” The first had been a last-minute, long weekend in Bilbao. Hardly the stuff of romance novels.
Billy pulled Rosa’s hand towards her lips and kissed the back of it. “Oh, we’re having a honeymoon, and Imogen isn’t coming with us.”
“I’m pretty sure she won’t want to.” Rosa took her hand back. “Eat your sandwich.”
Picking it up, Billy’s eyes stayed on Rosa. “You really want to get married?”
“Yes. If we’re going to do this again, then I think we should do it properly. And when we get older, I want to be like them.” She thumbed over her shoulder, indicating the direction of Billy’s parents. “I want that. I want you by my side. I want to know someone in this world will be there with me if I should become unwell, and I want to be the one who comforts you should that be the case.”
“So, you’re marrying me for the rights to decide my medical treatment?” Billy smirked before taking another bite.
