Rosalinda was starting to cheer up. Something about her brother could always make her happier; talking to him had worked so many times in the past. He knew the right buttons to push to make her mad or to make her laugh. He was using his powers for good this time. “Not really,” she replied. “What makes you think that?”
“Because it’s the truth, little sis. Everyone has their own little secret book.”
“Do they?”
“Didn’t you get the mom one, too?”
She laughed. “I guess I did.”
“See. And I got one when I became a dad.” She could picture her brother nodding with pride and the mental image made her laugh. “Standard issue whenever you pick up a new role in a family.”
She giggled loudly. “Oscar!”
“What?”
“I should get going. Are you gonna make that call?”
“I promise that as soon as I know something, I’ll let you know.”
“Ok.” She nodded and hung up the phone with a heavy sigh. There was nothing but waiting to do now. She hated this kind of waiting; to find out what the truth was, and whether she could trust her feelings or not.
20
Guardian Brother
Nick was surprised when Oscar Carlisle’s name appeared on the screen of his phone. He sighed heavily. “This isn’t gonna go well.” He stared at the phone screen for a moment before unlocking the screen.
It was a text. Got a moment?
He paused and considered how to answer that. He didn’t know what to say to Rosalinda’s brother. There didn’t seem to be any delicate way to handle this. And he didn’t know how much her brother knew about the strange relationship that Nick had found himself in with Rosalinda. It was such a weird situation, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. He was hoping to get to know his son and rekindle a romance that they had both run away from when they were younger people. But so far, it wasn’t turning out that way.
Another text showed up while he was thinking about it. He hadn’t even responded yet. Just let me know when you’re available. We need to talk about something.
Nick sighed. He was going to have to respond. He typed in a few words, then erased them. Then put in a few more. Nothing seemed right. That draft got tossed too. He stared at his phone, trying to will the right words to say. Then, he tapped in a long explanation of everything that had happened, but erased that too. It wasn’t going to do anyone any good if he spilled one of Rosalinda’s secrets to her brother.
It took some time for him to decide what he was going to say. After a few failed attempts at messages that came out all wrong, he finally found a good response. “Keep it simple, stupid,” he muttered to himself before he finally typed the text and hit send. What’s up?
Rosa asked me to talk to you.
I guessed that this was going to happen. He rested his forehead on the wall near him, eyes closed and tried to breathe out the sheer frustration that he was feeling.
It’s not so bad, is it?
What does she want to know? He figured it was time to just cut to the chase and hope that he still had a chance. If she had sent her brother to ask these questions it probably meant she either still wanted to give it a chance, or wanted nothing to do with him at all. He hoped it was the first one.
She wants to know what you’re up to with your ex-wife, Oscar sent.
I tried to explain to her.
Just explain it to me so I can get her to stop panicking, man. So casual. Oscar probably believed that it wasn’t his fault. At least Nick had that going for him.
I didn’t mean for this to turn into a big mess.
It’s fine. She’s just my sister. I’ve got to look out for her.
I get that.
Good. Work with me then.
Is she freaking out that badly? I’m worried about her. Is she okay? He paused before he hit send on that one. He knew that he was bringing the conversation back around just so that he could check on Rosalinda. She hadn’t answered a single call or a text since he had been kicked out of her house.
She’s pretty upset by everything.
She won’t answer my calls or messages.
I know. She told me that. That’s why she asked me to contact you.
Is she that afraid?
She’s scared of getting hurt again, man. Again. That word stuck in his head. He had hurt her, even if he didn’t know it. Janice was a threat to her and would probably always be.
Is there any way to fix this at all?
It depends on what happened.
Can I explain it to you?
The response was almost immediate. That’s what she asked me to do, do you mind?
I don’t mind. I just want to make this right and I have no idea how.
What happened?
I don’t know. Janice had left me for someone else. Then that guy left her, and now she wants me back. I can’t explain it at all. I don’t know why she’s bugging me so much.
Does Janice know about Rosalinda? The question hit him right in the gut.
Not exactly. I didn’t want to encourage her to pry more into my life, but we’re completely split up at this point.
Does Janice contact you a lot?
Not until recently, and now it won’t stop. She’s even sent me actual letters, which I threw away.
Oscar must have been taking his time formulating his next question, because the line stayed silent for a long while.
Eventually, Nick got up and started to finish some chores in his apartment, cleaning and reheating leftover pizza from a couple nights before. A bachelor’s life was kind of pathetic in moments like this. He considered tossing the heated-up pizza away and actually cooking something, but it didn’t make sense to cook just for one. So, he was going to settle with what he had on hand.
Checking his phone again, he found that there was still no response, and decided to say something. I don’t want Janice back at all, he said. I don’t want anything to do with her. She keeps contacting me, but the paperwork is all done and it’s definitely over between us.
I can tell Rosa that, then?
Yeah.
Another pause before he got a response. She wants me to call you and hear it in your voice.
Sure. Anything to make this right.
Sorry. I know it’s kinda weird.
It’s fine. She’s scared. I guess she has a good reason to be.
Hey, it’s gonna be fine. Don’t get all worked up. She’s just nervous. She’s never ever let anyone in.
Really?
Hasn’t dated anyone. When she had a son, we had no idea what to make of it. Figured she had some secret boyfriend, but we never found out anything about the dad.
It was a one-night stand. We were both young and stupid. And kinda scared. It was a stupid thing to do. I’m so sorry. She must hate me for it.
She doesn’t hate you, Oscar assured.
What’s wrong with me then? Nick asked.
I don’t know. Probably nothing.
But you’re trying to help, aren’t you? And I’m probably making it harder.
I’m going to try. Lol. Just calm down. Everything is gonna be just fine. I have a good feeling about this.
Good, because I don’t want to have to go all big brother on you.
Is that a threat?
Yep.
Nick laughed. He knew Oscar well enough to know that the man was joking around with him. You’re a good big brother.
I try very hard to be.
Thanks for all of this. Go ahead and call.
His phone rang a few seconds later. He answered on the first chime of the ringtone. “Hey.”
“Sorry about that. I know it sucks.” Oscar didn’t sound happy. “It’s ridiculous, you know?”
“I don’t even know how to fix this.”
“You were telling the truth,” Oscar sighed. “And this bothers you a lot more than it should. It bothers both of you a lot more than it should.”
“What makes you say that?”
<
br /> “An ex getting all hung up? It happens. I don’t even know why most of the time. But if that’s the case, you should be able to just show her all the correspondence between you and Janice, and it’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be. Look, I can hear it in your voice. Everything is just fine. It’s going to be just fine.”
“I don’t know about that.” Nick plopped down onto his couch. “I can’t help but feel like I screwed everything up beyond belief. How do I even make her trust me again?”
“Just give her time. The girl’s a little skittish, that’s all.”
“I’m the reason for it.”
“She’s always been reserved when it comes to the affairs of the heart. Kind of awkward.” Oscar paused for a second. Nick almost said something, but didn’t have a chance before Rosalinda’s older brother continued. “She’s just scared. And it sounds like you are too.”
“I am, kinda.”
“Why are you all freaked out?”
Nick ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what to do about any of this?”
“Wait for a second here. It’ll be just fine.”
“Sorry. I just don’t want to push her into something she doesn’t want. Are you sure she even wants anything to do with me?”
“I think she wants you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I think she wouldn’t have asked me to do this if she didn’t want it figured out. She would just be ignoring you.” Oscar sounded like he was explaining a simple concept to a small child.
Nick drew in a shaky breath. He forced himself to calm down, then smiled weakly. “We’re both freaking out on you, aren’t we?”
“I’ve got my phone beeping every ten seconds with a new message from her. You have no idea.”
“While you’re on the phone with me?”
“Yep.” Nick could hear the smile in Oscar’s voice. “I’m about to call and vouch for you. You okay with that?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure you don’t want me to tell her that you’re the worst guy ever in existence?”
“Please don’t do that.” Nick didn’t know why Oscar had to tease.
“Why not? I think it would make my life a lot easier.”
“You’re just teasing me now.”
A laugh echoed from the other side of the line. “Come on, just relax. It’s going to be just fine.”
“I’m trying to.”
“Good. Keep doing that. I’ll talk to her. This will all be cleared up soon.”
“You don’t have to do this for us.”
“What can I say, I’m a sucker for happy endings.”
“In any other context that would sound terrible.”
“That’s only because you watch too many cop shows.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Are you starting on that now?”
“Maybe? Got a problem with that?”
“I can’t exactly say a lot against it, because you’re helping me out.” Nick’s laugh strengthened. He was feeling a lot better about this entire thing, now that Oscar was on his side. “I was afraid you would kick my ass for it.”
“Years of seeing my baby sister pine away for someone who she wouldn’t admit to loving affects an older brother. I just want to see her happy.”
“Wait, you knew something?”
“Well, when a girl is in mourning over a guy, even when she doesn’t say anything it’s not exactly easy to miss.”
“What?”
“She just kind of started to shy away from life. Didn’t get a lot of personal connections to people. I guess she was just afraid. Once bitten twice shy, and stuff like that.”
“Are you sure?”
“We discussed it; I even tried to ask her. But she never said a word about it. We figured it was a married man, or something. Or the guy hurt her and she didn’t want to worry us. We never guessed it was you.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Ok. You should get to talking to her.”
“I really should. It’s going to be fine.”
“Are you sure about it?”
“Would you stop asking that? You’re as bad as she is about this. Just take it easy, man. It’s all gonna turn out okay.”
“You sound so confident about that.”
“You would be surprised what I’m sure about,” Oscar joked. “I’m gonna let you go and get in touch with my sister. Time to get to vouch for you.”
“Okay.”
The phone line disconnected, and Nick started to pace. He knew that Oscar had assured him that it was all going to turn out, but there was no easy way to trust that.
Not after everything that they had been through together. It all just seemed like it was way too easy.
21
Truth
Rosalinda stared at her phone. The text response from her brother was perfectly clear. Nick had passed his little test of loyalty. And then she had been lectured by her brother for her lack of trust.
She knew that he understood what she was feeling, but Oscar seemed to feel that she was being childish. The lecture hadn’t lasted long and ended with her in tears. She wondered if she had been overreacting. “You definitely were freaking out over nothing. It was nothing,” she moaned to herself. “You screwed everything up.”
She groaned as she stared at her phone, still talking to herself. “You really should call him.”
She put her phone down, instead doing the opposite of what she was telling herself to do. “I can’t do it.” She shook her head and grabbed her gym bag, loading up her son in the back of the car. Dominick had a thousand questions, but she was vague about them all. He kept asking about Nick, but Rosalinda couldn’t find the words to respond. She didn’t know if there would even be anything between them after all of this, no matter what her brother had told her. “You wanna go to the gym?”
Dominick got excited. “Do you think Jenny is there?”
“I don’t know who they have working there today,” she said, laughing at her son’s mention of his favorite caregiver at the gym daycare center.
“I hope she’s there. She always gives me candy when she’s there.”
“Is that why you like going there so much?”
“Yeah!”
“You really like that gym, don’t you?”
“They have the most fun coloring table there.”
“Do they?”
“Yeah. They have all the colors.”
“All of them?”
“All of them. Two big boxes worth.”
Rosalinda grinned at him. “Maybe we should get you more crayons for the house.”
“Oh! Can we go to the crayon store?” he bounced with a grin. “I love the crayon store.”
“Is that where you really want to go?”
Dominick nodded. “Yeah!”
“I’ll see if I can make that work, Dom.”
“Thanks!” He grinned. “Jenny is super nice. And she’s pretty too. She’s just really great.”
“Is she?”
“Yeah!”
“You really like her?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Is she why you like the gym?”
“Uh-huh. She’s great.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” Rosalinda laughed, but it felt forced.
Dominick must have noticed that, because he grew quieter as they loaded up into the car. The trip to the gym involved dropping Dominick off at the small daycare center on-site. Jenny did happen to be at work that day, so the kid was soon pulled out of being worried about his mother.
The gym provided a pleasant moment of peace and quiet that allowed her to put her earbuds in and run on a treadmill, until everything became clear and her mind made sense again. So, she ran. And she ran. And then she went to the stationary bikes. Where she spun and spun, just trying to get her head back together. It took a long time to work. But she finally got her head together and stared down at he
r phone again. “Just call him, damn it,” she groaned as she walked to shower and change in the locker room.
When she finished her shower, Rosalinda finally tapped in Nick’s name to call him up.
“Hey,” Nick said, his voice quiet and subdued. “I didn’t think you’d call me.”
“I had to call you,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“You were scared.”
“I know.” She hugged herself as she spoke.
“How’s it going?”
“Could be better,” she sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I should have told you about her hassling me beforehand,” said Nick. “It didn’t have to come as a surprise.”
“You didn’t have to tell me. I snooped on your phone. I screwed up. I shouldn’t have looked at it.”
“Look, just let me show you the rest of the message history. It’ll be just fine, I promise. You’ll see it. I kept turning her down.”
“Ok. I would really appreciate that. Like, a lot.”
“Did you just say ‘like’ to me?” Nick laughed. “Are you a valley girl now?”
“Who references valley girls anymore?”
“Us old teacher people.”
“We’re not teachers. We’re cool college professors, young and hip.” Rosalinda put her hand on her hip, even though there was no one in the locker room to see it.
“Do you remember any hip college professors from when you were in school?” He shot back with an attitude.
“Uh, yeah. Lots of them.” Her spirits were already starting to improve.
“You so sure about that?” Nick was teasing her heavily. He seemed to be enjoying actually talking to her.
“Are you having fun over there?”
“Yeah. I was hoping that we could meet at some point soon?” He sounded hesitant about the entire request.
“Just right to it, huh?”
“Yeah. I guess.” Nick was starting to sound nervous about what he had asked. “Was it the wrong thing to say?”
“I don’t know what to say. I guess I kind of do want to meet.”
“Thank you for giving me another chance,” he said, voice sounding strange.
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