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Cliff did seem older than Rosa, so it made sense that he’d been married before.
“Cliff liked my catering skills and started ordering special deliveries, especially when Barb had gone off and left him for her charity projects.”
“Charity projects? That sounds noble.”
“Barb was a frigid shrew. Not good enough for a man like Cliff. When I came along, hiking up Mr. Hathaway’s blood pressure, he became enamored with me, if you know what I mean.”
“You banged Barb’s husband.”
“I beg your pardon.” She acted offended. “I made sure the ink was dry on the divorce papers before we did the deed.” Then she smirked. “He wasn’t disappointed.”
“Well, looks like you’ve done something right. This ocean-side mansion, this plush life, and you even have a hot pool boy.”
“Yuck!” Rosa looked with disdain at the man cleaning her pool. “Tito is my cousin.”
Ava became filled with mirth, grinning at this small world. “Is every Dominican in Oldport related to you and Jorge?”
“You have no idea. We are a network in this town. You can’t get away from us.” She laughed.
Ava busted out laughing too.
Rosa stood, cupping her palms around her mouth, and yelled in the direction of the pool. “Hey, Tito, you missed a spot.”
When Tito, who skimmed the pool, looked up, she gave him the finger. He held his hands wide before dismissing her with a wave of his arm.
She dropped back into the chair, hysterically laughing.
“You are crazy.” Ava wiped the tears at the corners of her eyes. “But I like you.”
“Good.” Rosa flashed her bright-white teeth. “Now I have someone to hang with during the day. And someone for Miguel as well.”
“Well, I am working.”
“I don’t see you doing anything right now. How often do you fly Wesley around?”
“Only two or three times a week.” Ava sighed, agreeing with her new friend. “I have too much free time on my hands. But at least I get to spend time with Jack.”
“Yeah, but all day?”
At that statement, their friendship clicked on a deeper level.She gets how I feel. And she’s not sorry about feeling that way.Sometimes entertaining a ten-year-old became tedious.
“You should enroll him in summer camp. He’ll love it. They have sports, crafts, swimming… all kinds of activities. Miguel goes four days a week. I’ll text you the camp link.”
They exchanged contacts and her phone dinged a couple of seconds later. “That way, you can find other hobbies, learn what you like when you’re not toting Wesley around.”
“Good point. Plus, I think Jack might be getting sick of me.”
“There’s spending time with your kid and there’s running yourself ragged keeping him busy.”
Yep, well said.
“Besides, camp is a blast.” Rosa prattled on about what to expect from the camp until she spoke about her free time. “I’m the kind of gal who needs time with good friends. I have a group who love to shop, and I belong to some clubs. And there’s my family, who I purposely keep to myself since Cliff gets overwhelmed by our boisterous gatherings.”
Hmm.She could sort of relate. Despite being an only child, every summer and over the holidays, they visited her dad’s family outside of Boston. Being the only girl cousin among fourteen Irish boys hadn’t stopped her from tadpole hunting in the creek or racing those hooligans in sleds over the snow-covered hills. Those were some of the best times of her childhood.
“Tell me, what do you do for fun?”
Fun?Ava didn’t have time for that. Fun stopped when she got pregnant and her dad marched her down to the army recruiting office. “I, ah…” She had to think of something or risk sounding lame. Normally she didn’t care to impress other people, but Rosa seemed different. They clicked. “I like to take long runs.”
