“How?”
“There was no point involving you at all, if all it was—” Rosa jumped in, glancing at Billy.
“If it was?” Imogen asked.
Rosa had to think hard how to tell her child—their daughter. “If it had just been because we’d found ourselves stuck together in the cabin—”
“Eww, don’t you dare say ‘just sex’.” Imogen scrunched up her face.
“There’s no point being angry with us, Immy,” Billy said. “We were trying to protect you. We didn’t want to get your hopes up, or mess with your life, and then discover things weren’t going to work out between us.”
“Wait.” Imogen held her hand up, grinning. “You got together at the cabin? Over my birthday?”
Rosa nodded. “Yes. We had time to finally talk and—”
“So it worked,” Imogen said, turning to her Gran. “Our plan worked.”
Rosa went very still.
“What plan?” Rosa and Billy said in unison.
Meredith rolled her eyes. “It wasn’tour plan.”
“But you facilitated it,” Billy said. “Whatwasthe plan, exactly?”
Meredith turned to Imogen. “Snitch.”
Chapter eighty-two
Rosa made the hot chocolate—now for four. She needed to do something while her anger seethed in silence. The spoon clanked against the side of the mugs as she stirred each one. She kept stirring long after the powder had dissolved, the chocolate sloshing up the sides before she steadied her hand.
“Are you alright?” Billy asked, sidling up to her while Meredith and Imogen continued to bicker in the lounge.
“I don’t know why I’m shocked. It’s so very Imogen, isn’t it? But I’m also angry with her for playing with our feelings like that. It could have backfired completely.”
“Yes, it could have,” Billy said, nodding. “But it didn’t.”
“No, it didn’t. Which means we also have to be grateful for her meddling, which sends a message I really do not want to relay to her—that it’s something she can continue to do.”
“Totally get it. It’s an invasion of our privacy.”
“Exactly.”
“And had you known, you wouldn’t have come.”
“Absolutely,” Rosa said. Her shoulders loosened a fraction.
Billy remained silent, letting her process. She stayed close enough Rosa could feel her warmth at her side—not touching, just there.
It took a moment, then Rosa turned and looked at her. “And we wouldn’t have worked things out, would we?”
“No, we wouldn’t have,” Billy agreed. “And as frustrated with Imogen as I am…I can’t be angry.” She moved in closer. “Because I’ll forever be grateful that I got this chance to findusagain.”
Rosa smiled. “I’m not unhappy about that. I just…I don’t like that she toyed with us. I don’t like feeling like I had no say in how my life plays out.”
“To be fair, we still had a say. We could have just said no to the arrangement. We could have just ignored each other. We chose to talk and be honest with each other. We chose to take this path. All they did was put the path in front of us.”
Sagging, Rosa groaned. “God, I haven’t even considered your mother’s part in all of this.”
