WITH HER PHONE in hand, Annie closed her bedroom door and settled into one of the two ivory wingback chairs that had been a splurge when she had redecorated five years ago. She had imagined herself and Eric sitting here in the evening, sharing some quiet time, perhaps reading or sharing details about their day. Or spending some intimate time over coffee on a Sunday morning, planning the week ahead.
Why hadn’t those things ever happened?
Instead, she had come to bed dog-tired after a long day in the kitchen, the garden, the laundry room, and the hours spent taking care of her husband and her son, her extended family, her bed-and-breakfast guests. Eric had loved teaching and he’d been up and out the door early every morning, staying late after school to coach various sports teams, and would then come home with an armload of lesson plans and papers to grade.
And so the chairs had languished, mostly unused, except for when Eric had sat to lace up his shoes or had turned one of them into a catchall for a jacket or a gym bag.
Annie chased away the ghostly regrets as she kicked off her shoes and swung her feet onto the single ottoman shared by the two chairs. Before she chickened out, she sent Paul a text.
Would love to spend Saturday in the city. Thanks for suggesting it. Annie
Next she sent a message to CJ.
Hey, sis. I have a date on Saturday. Can you look after Isaac for me? We’ll be back by dinner time. Please? Pretty please? A.
PS: Yes, it’s a real date. Not a big deal.
Not a big deal. Who was she kidding? It was a huge deal. After she hit Send, her phone promptly played a tone to indicate she had an incoming message. It was from Paul.
You’ve made me one happy man. Pick you up Saturday at 9:30. FYI, now that you’ve said yes, there’s no changing your mind. Paul
He must have been on a break or at least between patients to have responded so quickly. His quip about not changing her mind made her laugh. She was in the process of formulating a witty response about a woman’s prerogative when her phone jingled with another incoming message. This one was from CJ.
No can do, big sis. I teach therapeutic riding on Saturday morning and I’ve been asked to give a 4H workshop on halter and bridle training in the afternoon. CJ
Well, this was not working out as she had hoped. Her father and CJ both had plans. Emily had another commitment. Unless…
She tapped out a message to Emily.
Dad says you’re spending Saturday with Libby’s mom. Any chance you can keep an eye on Isaac, too? A.
As always, Emily responded right away.
Promised to take Mable to a whist tournament at the seniors’ center. Good times! But no fun for a little boy. Sorry! E.
Okay, this was not going well at all. Annie had never expected, let alone asked, her family to put their lives on hold so she could live hers, and there was the problem. Until now, she hadn’t asked. Ever. But now that she had agreed to spend the day with Paul, she wanted to do it and she didn’t want to disappoint either of them by changing her mind.
Who else could she ask? If Isaac had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon, she could have CJ drop him off on her way to the 4H thing. But this weekend was remarkably commitment-free. Maybe Stacey McGregor? Isaac was friends with her daughter, Melissa, at school. No, that wouldn’t work, either. They had chatted at the PTA meeting a few evenings ago and Stacey had said they were going to Madison for the weekend to celebrate her husband’s parents’ fortieth anniversary.
Annie scrolled through the list of contacts on her phone—her very short list of contacts—and stopped when she reached Rose’s name. Rose! Of course. Rose worked the breakfast and lunch shifts on weekdays at the café. Isaac didn’t know her very well, and to be honest, Rose hadn’t exactly warmed up to him. For some reason, Annie felt a tad uneasy about asking her half sister to child-sit on her day off. But after all she had done for Rose, helping her settle into Riverton, get a job, find a place to live—not to mention going to bat for her with the rest of the family—she shouldn’t feel guilty about asking. But was she feeling guilty, or was it something else?
The memory of Rose at Emily and Jack’s wedding flashed across her mind: completely intoxicated, having to be carried upstairs; the young woman’s bleary-eyed hangover the morning after. She remembered Jack and Emily cautioning her about putting too much faith in Rose because they thought she was covering up a substance-abuse problem. Even her father and CJ had reservations about her. All Annie saw was a scared and insecure kid—even though she was technically an adult—who had grown up in desperate circumstances and with none of the advantages the rest of them had enjoyed.
Come to think of it, Paul was the only person who hadn’t offered any warnings about Rose. He had seen her at the wedding. He was a doctor and Rose herself had told Annie that she had seen him when she went to the clinic with that terrible bronchitis. If anyone would know about or even suspect a drinking problem, it would be Paul. And yet he hadn’t said anything.
Annie brushed aside everyone else’s concerns. She considered calling Rose, realized there was no point because she would still be at work, so she sent another text message.
Hi, Rose. I have plans with Paul on Saturday. Could you come out to the farm and stay with Isaac? Everyone else is busy. You’d be doing me a huge favor! Annie
There. It was done. If Rose was busy and couldn’t make it, then Annie would have to cancel. What other choice did she have?
She set her phone on the narrow side table tucked between the two chairs, leaned back and flexed her ankles. She had forgotten how comfortable these chairs were. This would be a good place to sit while she worked on her weekly Ask Annie column. She quickly retrieved her laptop from the desk beneath the window and returned to the chair. She had started with two articles—or photo essays as Emily described them—on chickens and eggs. With the second one she had included her recipes for French toast and her asparagus-and-bacon frittata with photographs to illustrate the step-by-step instructions.
After those, she had switched things up with a series of articles about the wedding. The first had been about the decorations and table settings, which had been elegant and understated in spite of it being an outdoor country wedding. Her second article had focused on the bride who was, after all, the reason people read the blog in the first place. Even Annie had to admit that her close-ups of the flowers woven into Emily’s stunning dark hair, their grandmother’s vintage cameo pendant around her neck and the classic solitaire in her engagement ring were quite remarkable.
Her third and final wedding column had been about family gathered for the occasion. Emily and Jack gazing into each other’s eyes during their first dance as husband and wife was a portrait of a match made in heaven.
The photograph she had taken of her father dancing with Libby had stolen the show. In addition to illustrating the joyfulness of the dance, Paul said she had captured the love blossoming between her father and this wonderful new woman in his life. If Annie had to make one prediction, it was that the Finnegan family would soon be celebrating another wedding.
She could practically hear CJ’s and Isaac’s laughter every time she looked at the picture of the two of them doing an offbeat hybrid of jive and line dancing. Isaac’s curls, which had been tamed for the ceremony, were wildly tousled and his tie askew. CJ had kicked off her shoes and was dancing barefoot, her long blond hair flying around her.
Someone in the family—although no one would confess to having done it—had used her camera to take a photograph of her dancing with Paul. Annie had spent more time than she would ever admit studying that picture, examining the way her hand fit so well into his, how he was exactly the right height for her to rest her cheek against his shoulder, how his lips had brushed her hair at the exact moment the camera had captured their moment.
The only person missing from the family shots was Rose. Annie had poured over the photographs she and others had taken. In every single one of them, Rose had a wineglass in her hand, a wineglass to her lips, or she was at the bar getting another glass of wine. If her half sister had noticed she had been left out, she hadn’t said anything. Annie felt beyond guilty—and even a little shocked to discover she had a self-righteous streak—but Emily had agreed it was her column and should reflect her values. Their readership expected no less.
Her phone jingled, announcing an incoming text message, pulling her back to the present. She picked it up and snapped her laptop shut.
Sure I can babysit. What time? RD
Annie considered responding, and then decided to call Rose instead. She must be on a break or maybe even finished for the day.
“Hey,” Rose said when she picked up.
“Hi, Rose. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you doing this for us.”
“Yah, well, I didn’t have any plans so no probs.”
No probs? Annie momentarily closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath. Her initial thought was to question whether this was the kind of influence she wanted for her son. Her second thought was to chastise herself for the first thought and to remind herself she needed to be more charitable, to give Rose a break. The poor kid’s had a tough go of things, she told herself.
“Oh. Thank you, Rose. Do you need a ride out here in the morning? I can ask Paul to pick you up and give you a lift. Or would you like to come out on Friday and spend the night?”
“Nah. Thanks, though. I have, you know, plans in town on Friday. My car’s running okay, though, so I can drive myself out in the morning. What time?”
“Nine thirty,” Annie said. “I hope that’s not too early.”
“Nah, that should be fine.”
“All right, then. I’ll see you on Saturday. I’ll be sure to leave lunch for you and Isaac.”
“Sure. Whatevs. Oh, gotta run. Break’s over.”
Yah. Nah. No probs. Whatevs.
Annie sighed. While she understood Rose’s life had been a tough one, she wasn’t a kid anymore. She was a young woman in her early twenties with a family willing to support her. But before that could happen, she had to lose the attitude and then she had some serious growing up to do.
“Would you listen to yourself? ‘Serious growing up to do.’ When did you turn into an old lady?”
Isaac would be fine with Rose. She and Paul would be away only for the day. Just a few hours, really. He was taking her into the city, they were going for lunch and then he had a surprise for her. He had also promised to have her back here in time for dinner. What could go wrong in a few hours?