Rosa checked into the hall to make sure Imogen wasn’t in earshot, then she closed the kitchen door and pressed her lips together as she considered her words.
“Rosa? What happened?”
Taking a deep breath, Rosa said, “Billy and I… might have slept together.”
“Get the fuck out,” Tanya said. “Seriously?”
“Several times,” Rosa added just to compound the information. “And we’re investigating getting back together.”
Tanya’s mouth fell open. She didn’t say anything for a moment, just blinked.
“Okay, sod the tea, I need wine for this.”
Rosa nodded. There was a bottle of chardonnay in the fridge, left over from the last time they’d gotten together for a night in.
“So…” Tanya opened the cupboard and took two glasses from the shelf. “Billy and you…your ex-wife, just to clarify?”
“I don’t know any other Billys.” Rosa chuckled and twisted the cap. “Lounge?”
Tanya followed Rosa through. She took a seat while Rosa made sure the door was closed and Imogen was nowhere in sight, before she sat at the opposite end of the couch and turned towards her friend.
She relayed the story of how she’d ended up in the cabin and then found out she was sharing with Billy.
“I wasn’t too happy about it, I can tell you that much,” Rosa said. “But actually, I think it was what we both needed.”
“In what way? I’m trying to work out how you went from being unhappy about it to jumping her bones.”
“She admitted that she still loved me, that she’d never not loved me, and then she asked if we could maybe try again.” Rosa sipped her drink. “You can imagine my reaction to that.”
“And so…” Tanya left it hanging.
“We talked. A lot. Billy was right, there were things we’d ignored and brushed aside for far too long, and then the more we talked, the more the hurt lifted and I started to see her…who she is now, and not the woman who abandoned us.”
“I have to admit this is not what I was prepared for this afternoon.” Tanya laughed. “I am also…not against it.”
“Really? You don’t think it’s even a little bit crazy?”
“Oh, it’s completely crazy.” Tanya laughed again, then she became more serious. “But not as crazy as a beautiful woman like you still single a decade after and not showing any signs of interest in changing that.” She put her glass down. “And that tells me that maybe, Billy has always been, and will always be, the one for you.”
“You might be right, as ridiculous as that sounds. If I’m honest, I don’t think I ever got over her.”
“And I take it you haven’t said anything to Imogen?”
“God, no, she can’t know…not until we’ve worked it all out. It might not happen. We might find we’ve changed too much and we’re best off being friends, and I’m okay with that if that’s how it was to pan out.”
“I can understand that.” Tanya picked up her glass again and sipped as she considered her next question. “So, slept together?”
Rosa laughed and covered her face with her hand. “Yes.”
“And was it the same as those years ago?”
Rosa shook her head and watched as Tanya’s smile dropped.
“Actually, it was better,” Rosa admitted. “That side of things was never an issue until…well, towards the end when Billy lost interest, but now—” Rosa glanced up, eyes unfocused as shesearched for the words. “I feel like something lifted in Billy that’s altered her presence.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s like…” Rosa shuffled closer and lowered her voice. “Sex was always fun, and we enjoyed it, a lot, but this was… It’s hard to describe how something that’s already such an intimate act can be more intimate, but it was. She’s attentive in a way she wasn’t back then. Something in the way she uses words and looks at me while her hands are all over me—but not in a… It’s hard to explain.” She pointed to her head. “It’s like she’s in here more—like she can read my thoughts and act on them before I even notice I’d thought anything.”
