“Where’s Ronnie?” she asked.


“Out helping John with the bicycle,” the redhead said as she sat down on the cushion previously occupied by her son. “So your legs are getting better?”


“Doctor Barnes says my right leg is healing beautifully.” She looked down at the bright white of her new casts, the left leg still encased up to the hip but the other one stopping just below the knee.


“What about the left one?”


Rose sighed, remembering the X-ray of her ankle that resembled a road map. “That one will take longer. I broke it pretty good.”


“Oh, that’s too bad.” There was an awkward silence before Susan spoke again. “That pen and pencil set you gave Ronnie is very nice.”


“Thank you,” the blonde replied. “She was complaining she could never find a pen when she needed one and I thought she’d like it.”


“She loves it. I never see her use anything else now, and I never thought I’d see her stop biting her pencils.” Susan looked at the graphics flashing on the television, begging them to press the start button and enter another round of video wrestling. “You know I love my sister very much. I don’t like to see her hurt.”


“She’s a very special person,” Rose agreed, uncertain where the conversation was going.


“I hope you understand just how much she’s putting on the line having you here.” Susan’s voice held no reproach, just concern for her sister. She turned sideways on the couch, looking carefully at the young woman across from her. “She was hurt very badly by Chris. I just hope that doesn’t happen again.”


“What did he do?” Rose asked. Susan’s eyebrow raised. Remembering her sister’s repeated denials of a relationship, she now questioned her previous assumptions.


“Um…oh…well, I think maybe you should ask Ronnie about that. I need to check on the steaks. Excuse me.” She stood up quickly and left, leaving a confused Rose to watch her retreating form.


With no boy to keep occupied with video games, the young woman decided to venture out and look for Ronnie. With one leg in a short cast, it was much easier for her to maneuver herself in and out of the wheelchair. The temporary ramp made of plywood allowed her to get in and out of the sunken part of the living room on her own. She found the dark-haired beauty on the sun porch, talking to her sister.


“Hi there,” Ronnie said with a smile when she saw Rose wheel her way onto the porch. “You want a jacket? It’s warm but not that warm.”


“No, this sweater is plenty warm,” she assured. “Ricky is playing pool with his father so I thought I’d come out and see how everything was going.” She sniffed the air appreciatively.

“Smells great.”


“Mmm, yes it does.” Ronnie lifted the cover and gazed hungrily at the steaks.


“Don’t even think about it,” Susan admonished. “I thought you were going to do the mushrooms and peppers?”


The executive laughed and nodded. “All right. Come on, Rose. You can help me cut up the peppers.” She opened the sliding glass door and motioned for her companion to go first. “Susan, remember we want ours done medium well, not burnt.”


“Keep it up and you’ll get hockey pucks,” Susan said, reaching for the flame control in a mock threat.


“Well then, I’d know you were the one that cooked it, for sure,” Ronnie replied with a teasing grin, feeling far more relaxed around her sister than she had in weeks. There was a familiarity about having her family around that was nice but it was Rose’s presence that truly made her enjoy the day.



* * *

After dinner the two older boys joined Ronnie and Jack in the game room for pool while Rose volunteered to play a video game with John. To her surprise, he had no interest in the wrestling game, instead putting in a race car game where they competed against each other. Unlike his aggressive oldest brother, John was content to stay in his own lane and not try to run Rose off the road, despite the bonus points allowed for doing so. Of course the she let him win, letting up on the speed button at the last minute to allow him to take the lead.


As Susan puttered about, she glanced in at them from time to time, surprised when she saw John sitting on Rose’s lap as they engaged in another race. She watched for several minutes unobserved, noting how gentle the young woman was with her son, showing him how to make his car go faster and not crash while moving around the corners. She never heard her older sister come up from behind. “Is there anything else that has to go in the dishwasher?”


Susan jumped. “Oh God, Ronnie, I didn’t know you were there,” she said. “I was just checking to see what John was doing,” Together they watched the pair for a few minutes. “She seems like a nice person.”


“She is a nice person,” Ronnie corrected. “I don’t think Rose has a mean bone in her body.”


“Well, they’re fine. Let’s go see what Jack and the boys are doing.”


“They’re still playing pool. I just came out to make sure everything was picked up and in the dishwasher.” She followed her younger sister into the game room, turning at the last moment to take one last quick glance at Rose.



* * *

It was just after six when Susan’s car pulled out of the driveway. Ronnie set the dishwasher, then joined Rose in the living room. “So, movies or television tonight?” she asked as she sank into the couch cushion.


“Oh, either one is fine with me, but haven’t we seen all your movies already?”


“Well, there’s always HBO or pay per view. I think that new Whoopi Goldberg movie is on tonight.” Ronnie looked around but didn’t see what she was looking for. “Where’s the TV

Guide?”


“Oh, over here.” Rose picked it up off the end table and passed it over. As she handed it over, she noticed the light beige polish on Ronnie’s perfectly manicured nails. “Oh, that’s a pretty color.” She took the larger hand in her own to get a better look.


“You know, I bet this color would look nice on you too.” She ran her thumb over the ridges on Rose’s nails and an idea came to her. “Looks like you could use an emery board.”


The blonde withdrew her hand and smiled. “Yeah, I guess I haven’t paid much attention to them lately.”


“Why don’t we do them tonight?” Ronnie offered. “I’ve got tons of polish in almost any shade you can imagine.” At Rose’s hesitation, she added “Come on, I’ve got to do mine anyway. It’s the quick drying kind. It’ll be fun, just like a slumber party.” Ronnie gave a little pout coupled with puppy dog eyes, and was immeasurably pleased when the young woman smiled and nodded.

“Great. I’ll get everything and you can head into the bedroom. The light’s better in there anyway.”


A short while later found them on the bed, Rose propped up against the headboard and her companion sitting cross-legged next to her. Surrounding them were cotton balls, emery boards, a bottle of polish remover, and several bottles of the quick drying nail polish. Ronnie took the smaller hand in hers and began to shape the flat ends of the neglected nails. “Okay, so lets do some girl talk.”


“Okay,” Rose said with a smile. “Let’s see, what haven’t we talked about yet.” She used her free hand to tap her finger against her chin. “We haven’t talked about sex.”


“Something you don’t know?” Ronnie quirked. “I understand there are books out there…”


“Oh, you…” Rose gave a playful swat. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” They exchanged friendly smiles while the file moved on to another nail. “I mean why does someone like you not have a husband and kids running around? You can’t tell me you don’t have offers.”


“Oh, I get offers all the time, I just ignore them. Other hand please.” Ronnie turned the emery board over and resumed her task. “Most of them are just opportunists looking for a boost up with my money.”


“And the others?”


“The others are just not what I’m interested in. Maybe I’ll settle down someday but not right now.” She released the hand she was holding and waved at the pile of bottles. “So which color?” She reached in and picked out a light pink. “I think this would look good. Bright red would be too dark with your skin tone.”


“Sure, go ahead.” Rose held her hand out dutifully. Ronnie scooted closer and handed her the open bottle to hold.


“So what about you?” Ronnie asked while drawing the small brush along the length of the nail.


“I haven’t dated much. Nowadays most men expect the woman to help pay when they go out and you know I couldn’t afford that.” She looked down at the half-finished nail. “Oh, that is pretty.”


“Told you you’d like it,” the older woman said. “And not all men expect the woman to help pay.”


“The ones I know do, or else they expect something else. I’ve had to wrestle my way out of cars more than once.”


Ronnie chuckled. “I think that’s a rite of passage. You’re not a woman unless you’ve had to beat off Horny Harry at least once. It’s really amazing how many of them think with the wrong head.” She turned Rose’s hand to get to the thumb. “It’s not worth my time to deal with it.”


“Did you ever get caught?”


“Caught what? Doing it?” The older woman shook her head. “Other hand. You?” The answering blush peaked her curiosity. “What happened?” She capped the polish and leaned forward expectantly.


“God, this is embarrassing. How did we get on this topic anyway?”


“You suggested it,” Ronnie replied, wiggling her eyebrows.


“Oh yeah.” Still smiling, Rose looked down at her lap. “I was sixteen and living with Delores. I went out on a date with this guy from school. He was dropping me off and we were in his car parked in her driveway.” She blushed at the memory. “I never heard her come out.”


“You were otherwise occupied?” Ronnie couldn’t help smiling at her friend’s discomfort. “That must have been awful.”


Rose nodded. “We weren’t exactly doingbut we were pretty close. And it was awful. She grounded me for the rest of the school year and I had extra chores from then on.”


“Jeez, I hope your next date went better.” Ronnie opened the bottle of polish and resumed her task.


“He wouldn’t go out with me again after the way she yelled at him. She called his parents too. I was humiliated. He wouldn’t even talk to me at school because he got into so much trouble too.”


“We all have our embarrassing moments,” Ronnie said gently, giving the hand within hers a squeeze.


“Your turn. Tell me about Chris.” The brush stopped mid-nail and the older woman’s face looked like she swallowed the wrong way.


“Um, Chris?” Her voice squeaked and she had to clear it. “Who told you about Chris?”


“Susan said Chris hurt you very badly. What did he do?”


Ronnie felt her heart pick up speed and licked her lips nervously. “What did Susan tell you?”


“Just that Chris hurt you badly. She didn’t say anything more. I’m sorry, if you don’t want to…”


“No, it’s all right,” she returned her attention to the hand she was holding.She looked up at the gentle face, trying to gauge her reaction. “Um…I met Chris while I was at Stanford.”


“How long did you two go out?”


“We were together for about three and half months. I was young and in love and I guess…Chris wasn’t.”


“What did he do?”


“Betrayed me.” There was a touch of the long ago hurt in her voice. “After I broke it off, Chris called my parents and asked for money.” She mentally cursed herself for letting Rose believe that her ex-lover was a man but still found she couldn’t bring herself to utter the hidden truth.

“Threatened to take our relationship public.”


“Oh that’s terrible!” Rose gasped. “No wonder you don’t date much.”


“Much?” Ronnie gave a short laugh. “I haven’t seriously dated anyone in years. I have an escort service I use for formal affairs.”


“Not worth the hassle, eh?”