Rosa was flustered, picking up the menu and putting it down again and pushing it away.
“Can we get a few more minutes?” Billy said, giving him one of her best smiles.
“Of course,” he replied, glancing around the busy room. “No rush.”
As he walked away, Rosa leaned in. “Was he being sarcastic?”
“I think he might have been.” Billy chuckled. “Forget him. What’s happened to get you all rattled?”
“It’s Imogen,” Rosa said bluntly.
“Okay, what about her?”
“She’s angry with us,” Rosa said, sitting back and letting that hit.
“About what?” Billy’s eyes narrowed as she tried to fathom a reason for their daughter’s ire.
“She’s angry that we didn’t fight harder to stay together and give her the proper family all her friends had.”
Billy’s eyebrow rose, then fell into a frown. “Alright, I can get that.”
“Can you? I was shocked—she’s never shown any sign of this before.”
“Emotions can surface at any time. Something must have triggered it for her recently, and now she’s expressing it—whichis good—it’s healthy. The fact that she felt comfortable telling you means she trusts you deeply.”
“Really? Because I felt absolutely horrid last night, watching her speak and seeing how we’ve caused that.”
“And we can fix it.”
“We can’t guarantee that.”
“So, what do you want to do, Rosa?”
“I just need to make sure we get it right this time. We can’t get her hopes up only to bring her world down again.”
“So…what do you want to do?” Billy asked again, just as the waiter sauntered back over. She looked up at him. “An Americano and a latte. Two bowls of chips, please.”
“Did you just order for me?” Rosa said, as he turned and walked back towards the till.
“I ordered for us—to get rid of him and save you from having to stare at the menu and pick something you probably didn’t want, just to appease his impatience. So yes, I ordered something I know you’ll eat enough of to call it lunch.”
Rosa pushed the menu away across the table again.
“Look, I think it’s a good thing that Immy has said what she’s said. It doesn’t change how I feel about you—about us. I want us to worknow. The past is done. We can’t change it withwhat-ifs, and feeling shitty about it won’t make it any better.”
“It’s notdonefor Imogen.”
“Yes, it is. She just has to work through that now and make her peace with it. We can’t change it, and we can’t magically give her the childhood she wanted.”
“We’ve traumatised our child,” Rosa whispered. “And I don’t want her to end up like—” She stopped suddenly, closed her eyes, and turned her head away.
“Like me.” Billy smiled. “I don’t want that for her either, but she’s not me. She’s talking to you—I didn’t have that safety net.”
“I’m sorry, that was mean of me…I just don’t want her to have to go through what we did…what you did.”
“Neither do I, and she won’t…because she has two parents who love her, and who love each other.”
Billy kissed Rosa on the cheek, her hand lingering at Rosa’s elbow as they said their goodbyes and promised to talk more later.
