Chapter 27
One hour later Rose ended her shift and exited the hospital. Jack was waiting for her in the entrance.
“Here I am…” she said smiling
“Let’s go…” he said
They entered his car. Jack turned it on and Rose put her seatbelt.
“Do you want to go drink a coffee before I leave you home?” Jack asked
“I promised Mia I would arrive early today…you can drink the coffee in my house…I’m sure she’ll love to see you…” Rose said
“Okay…I talked to her one of these days…” Jack said
“I know…she told me…”
“She’s grown up…I didn’t recognize her…if it wasn’t for her coming talk to me I would never notice her…”
“She did…I kinda feel old now looking at her so grown…” Rose said with a laugh
“Old? You look the same as the last time I saw you…you look like her sister and not her mother…” Jack said
“Good…but the years start now to make their job…” Rose said laughing
“Do you have other kids?” Jack asked
“No…it’s not that I don’t want is just that…I wanted another father for them…” she said
“I read about the accident in the newspapers…I’m sorry…though he wasn’t a good person he didn’t deserve to die like that…” Jack said about Cal
“He was turning himself in a good person…you know some things we can’t change but he changed a lot…he always respected me and gave Mia all she needed…I think he was regretted for what he did in the past…”
“Did you love him?” Jack asked
“No…I never really loved him…but I learned to live with him and like him…but not love him…” she said
They arrived her house. Jack stopped the car and Rose searched for her keys. The lights were on, Mia was waiting for her. Rose opened the door and entered with Jack.
“Mia!” she called
Mia was upstairs brushing her teeth.
“I’m coming mom…” she yelled
“I have a surprise for you…” Rose yelled back
Mia finished brushing her teeth and run downstairs.
“What is it?” she asked “Jack…!” she said happily
“Hello…how are you?” Jack asked hugging her
“Fine! I would never imagine you were the surprise…where did you found him mom?” she asked Rose
“Long story…you can go telling her that I’m going to take a shower because I smell like a hospital but I won’t take too long…” Rose said walking to the stairs
“Okay…” Jack said smiling
Rose took her shower and changed herself in about half an hour. When she returned they were in the kitchen, and Mia was making a coffee for Jack.
“At last…” Mia said when she was entering
“What? I needed to relax a little bit…I had a hard day…” Rose said
“Me too…so I think I’m going to bed…” Mia said
“I thought you were hungry…” Rose said
“I already ate something…good night Jack…good night mom…” Mia said and exited the kitchen
“Good night Mia…” Jack said
“These kids…I’m starving…” Rose said opening the fridge
“Me too…” Jack said
“I have some slices of pizza here…do you want?” Rose asked him
“Sure…” Jack said
She took the pizza from the fridge and put it in the microwave.
“Oh god I’m really tired…the day today was terrible…” Rose complained
“And my family gave you more work even…you had to take care of my wife and my daughter and now you have to stand me…” Jack said in a playful tone
“Of course not! I’m doing what I love to do…otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen this job…” Rose said with a laugh
“I can’t thank you enough for what you did for Stella today…” he said now more serious
“It’s my duty…I’ve chosen this job because I want to save people’s life…do you know what could have cause the accident?”
“I don’t know…I had a fight with Alicia and she was very nervous…maybe it was that…but I don’t know…I still have to ask her about that…she has no right of doing that…if she did it just to caught my attention she better do it when she’s alone…she could have killed Stella…”
“Don’t worry about that now…they’ll both be fine…”
“Thanks to you…”
“I just did what I had to do…”
“I’m getting a divorce…that’s why Alicia has been nervous these days…”
“Oh I’m sorry…I never imagined…”
“Is that I just can’t hold this wedding anymore…it shouldn’t have happened…I should have married you…not her…”
“You did it for your daughter…as I kept my marriage with Cal because of Mia…”
“Stella is not a baby anymore…she’ll understand…”
“Any girl will understand her father leaving her mother…any…”
“I’m leaving Alicia, not Stella…she knows I’ll keep visiting her and giving her all my love and support as her father…but I can’t pass a day without arguing with Alicia…”
“You know…after your marriage, I thought I wouldn’t survive…live with Cal and keep a marriage with him but I was wrong…he turned out to be a good person…never forced me to do anything I didn’t wanted…we were going to divorce too…not because we were fighting or something like that…he had decided to set me free…you know there’s something I learned with him…when you love someone you should let it go…that’s what he was going to do…he knew I never loved him…” she said with tears in her eyes
“Are you trying to tell me something?” Jack asked
“No…I’m just telling you to think very well what you’re gonna do…don’t do anything crazy…” Rose said
“Can we talk about other more pleasant things?” he asked
“What do you wanna talk about?” she replied
“Us…now that we’ve found each other….” he begun
“Look…Jack…I’m very happy for seeing you again but nothing is going to change…we had our story and it didn’t worked so we just better leave it that way…” she finished
“Have you forgotten me?” he asked coming closed to her
“Yes…” she said hesitating
“I don’t believe it…” he said more closely to her
“Jack…stop it…Mia can show up in any minute…” Rose said trying to avoid him
“You’re afraid for the fact that she can see us or for what you might feel?” he asked almost kissing her
“This is not right…” she said pulling him back “Your wife is in the hospital and you’re here trying to seduce me…”
“She’s not my wife…anymore…we’re separated…” he said
“Anyway…it’s not right…”
“Rose…it’s been 10 years…”
“You’re right…10 years is a lot of time…many things happened…many things changed…many things came and some walked away…”
“I’m just asking you for one more chance…then if it doesn’t work I promise I’ll go and leave you alone…but now all I want is one more try…let me make you happy…” he said approaching her again
“I don’t know…I don’t wanna get hurt again…I’ve been hurt a lot in this life…because I only choose the hardest way to learn things…” she said breathless because of his touch
“I only know one way to see if it can work or not…” he said kissing her
Rose wanted and didn’t want to be kissed. She knew it wasn’t right but at the same time she wasn’t giving a damn about it. Anyway, they were separated, or so he said.
It was like the old good song says if you wanna know if he loves you so it’s in his kiss and it really was. In a minute they were in her room, in her bed.
They’re clothes were spread all over the room. On the bed, two bodies were resting after an exhausting love moment. Jack quickly fell asleep but Rose stayed awake. She looked at him sleeping and smiled to herself. For a moment she just had seen that young boy in her arms again, full of love, passion, hope, desire, but things weren’t the same anymore.