Billy followed her mother's gaze back to Rosa and smiled.She's beautiful. Billy swallowed those words away. "Yeah, well, Imogen is here now, so…all is good with Rosa's world."
"Don't forget to stir the milk," Meredith warned as they both turned back to the stove and the liquid just starting to bubble. "Nobody wants a sour, burnt hot chocolate and we don't have enough milk to do another one, not if we want coffee and tea in the morning." Meredith nudged Billy gently.
"Yeah, and so Janka almost went head over heels, but at the last minute, she managed to maintain her balance and sailed past us both." Robbie laughed as she told the story.
"Honestly, it was so funny. We were just cruising, and then, ‘boom’ Janka sped past us like an Olympian," Imogen jumped in, while Janka grinned and blushed, all at once.
"Sounds very dramatic," Rosa said, smiling at their enthusiasm.
"Just a little…" Imogen's smile faded until she bit her bottom lip, before asking, "So, you and Billy get on alright while you were snowed in together?"
"Uh…yes…" Rosa stuttered, glancing quickly towards Billy and Meredith, both with their backs to her as they made the drinks. "It was fine…we played cards a lot."
"Cards?" Imogen said.
Robbie winked at Imogen as she spoke to Rosa, "Wasn't strip poker was it, Mrs C.?"
Rosa's neck flushed, luckily concealed by her rollneck jumper.
"I'm not sure either of us wants to play that." She smiled. The edge of something nudged at her nerve endings—desire wrapped up in images of Billy Fisk. "Snap, mostly."
"Is that all you did for two days?" Imogen poked a little more.
Rosa considered what to say. ‘Your mother and I fucked on the sofa, in the bath, and pretty much everywhere we wanted to,’probably wasn't the right answer, or the right time.
"Yes, pretty much. Monopoly was a bit boring in the dark. Although we did have a lot of candles, it’s still hard to focus on something as important as thrashing your mother at Monopoly."
"Okay, who's for a drink? Raise your hands," Billy said, her voice warm, as she placed two mugs down onto the coffee table.
All three girls shot up an arm, as did Schultz, but it was Rosa she gazed at.
Meredith set down a tray with the other five mugs. "Never fear, we've all got one."
Rosa smiled as she reached for one of the mugs Billy had placed down. "Thank you. This is exactly what we all need to help celebrate Imogen's birthday." She turned to Imogen. "Happy Birthday, darling girl."
Chapter thirty-three
The night gradually drew to a close. Meredith and Schultz took themselves off to bed not long after ten, with the girls left yawning on the sofa.
"It's been a lovely evening," Rosa said. "Not quite what you were envisaging I suppose, Immy, but…you've had a nice time?"
Imogen grinned. "The best."
From the other end of the couch, Billy said, "Sometimes it's the unplanned things that make the best memories."
"That's true." Robbie yawned. "Once, Georgie picked us all up from school just to go to the beach and play on the pier."
"We should totally do that," Imogen said. She looked at Rosa. "I'm sixteen now, right…we can go to Brighton on the train."
Rosa's brow raised and she glanced along the sofa at Billy. "I don't know—"
"Oh, Mum, come on, we go into town all the time…it's like thirty minutes further."
"Let's talk about it when we get home." Rosa smiled hoping to end the discussion and avoid a negotiation.
"I was thinking, when we get home, maybe we can all go out for dinner. Celebrate a little more…normally?"
"Somewhere like Joie?" Imogen's eyes lit up.
