AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, sausage rolls. Mum baked some for the party, I think.”
Slowly Rosie opened her eyes and exhaled a long breath, and I saw it: a flash of confusion before her gaze narrowed into a glare.
I immediately let her go.
“I need … I need Amanda. Or your mum.” She slipped away, hugging herself.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll get them now.” I ran a hand through my hair, frowning. “Or, what about your parents—”
“No! God, no, Tom. They are probably coming after me right now, and I can’t deal with them. Please …” Rosie pressed her hand against my chest.
It was my turn now to let out a ragged breath. Her hand flexed on the woollen knit of my jumper over my sternum, and Rosie watched her fingers hover over my pounding heart.
She whipped her hand away, as if she’d been stung. My skin under several warm layers of clothes felt like it had been branded.
Rosie stepped back, staring at her hand in disgust, appalled she’d touched me.
Her face shuttered as she hugged her hand close to her chest.
“Rosie! I just got your message.” Amanda flew in the back door, letting in a gust of chilly night air which snapped me out of whatever that was with her hand on my chest. How I’d been touching her face. Hugging her. Comforting her.
I took several steps back, allowing Amanda to pull Rosie in for a big embrace.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Amanda’s brow furrowed.
Rosie’s voice broke as she sunk into Amanda’s arms. “Oh, Mands. I’ve fucked up.”
The back door was right behind me, but I lingered, needing to know why she looked so utterly broken.
“I was ready to tell him, and then, he—” Rosie gulped back a sob. “At the awards night for work, he—I just … Amanda. I just had to leave.”
I was wrong; I’m not just an arsehole; I am the biggest arsehole on earth, and all the planets in this solar system, because in that moment, I allowed hope to bloom.
Tell her fiancé what?I wanted to scream.What had he done?
I am also the biggest idiot on earth and on all planets of the known and unknown galaxies. Here I am rejoicing she was in my family’s kitchen and not with her fiancé, yet she crushed me four years ago. She had crushed me oh-so-hard.Never forget that, you idiot!
I scrubbed my face.
“Oh hey, there you are, sweetness!” Ainslee bounded into the kitchen and flung herself at me. I flinched at her embrace.
Rosie had shown up, and I had forgotten all about Ainslee.
The biggest galactic arsehole of them all: Tom Turner.
But Ainslee didn’t notice my inner turmoil or Rosie’s outer one. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” She threw her arms around my neck, nuzzling her nose against mine, oblivious to Rosie’s distress.
I froze like a roo caught in the headlights of a ute and unwrapped her arms from my neck, my cheeks burning red hot. Rosie looked away.
Ainslee aimed her smile at Amanda and Rosie. “Don’t think we’ve met. I’m Ainslee, Tom’s girlfriend. We’resoooooin love.”
“Nice to meet you, Ainslee.” Amanda raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat. “Um, Tom, could you get Mum, please?”
“Yep, got it.” I grabbed Ainslee’s arm and led her out the back door. “Got an emergency right now. How about you enjoy the party while I find Mum, hey?”
Ainslee frowned, looking inside to Amanda and Rosie and back to me, then shrugged. “Okay, sure.”
I nodded once to Rosie and Amanda, and headed to the party in search of my mother, but also a stiff drink or three to drown old thoughts and feelings about the girl next door with the flyaway curls for good.
