Page 97 of In This Together

‘Okay.’

* * *

‘Come in,’ Rosalie said, holding open the door to the brightness of her park view apartment.

Placing her purse on the sideboard and swapping her heels for the spa slippers she kept by the entrance, Rosalie glanced up to Seth, watching him scrutinise her home. For some reason, she cared what he thought of her favourite interior project to date.

‘You can leave your boots on if you like, or I have guest slippers in the velour seat there.’

As if he had just remembered Rosalie was in the room, Seth looked to her, then to the small blue seat that was hidden storage by the door. He slipped off his loosely tied scruffy boots and popped his feet into a pair of spa slippers that were a match for Rosalie’s.

Phew,she thought, not wanting her recently revarnished hardwood floor to be at risk of damage.

‘Would you like a drink? Tea? Coffee? Something cold? I have fresh juices or champagne. I’m afraid I don’t stock beer.’

Seth offered her the half-smile she now considered deadly, making her knees wobbly. It reminded her of Mr Darcy inPride and Prejudice, when he finally sees Elizabeth and her ‘fine eyes’. Mr Seth Young’s smile was alsoquitefine on further acquaintance.

‘Coffee would be good, thanks. Would you like me to make it? You’ve had a pretty rough day already.’

For the first time in days, Rosalie smiled. ‘You have no idea how particular I am about my coffee.’

And when Seth told her, ‘Oh, I can imagine, Ros, believe me,’ Rosalie chuckled for the first time in days too.

‘I’ll make coffee. Feel free to look around. Make yourself at home. I usually take coffee in the window, overlooking the park. Oh, and put some music on if you like. I’m not sure we’ll have the same taste; I mostly have soundtracks and jazz, but there’s some country in the collection too.’

Seth nodded and she watched him move about her home before she remembered she was supposed to be making drinks.

‘Ah, a compromise,’ Rosalie said, coming into her lounge with a bronze tray set with coffee and its components. ‘I love theWalk the Linesoundtrack. I generally prefer instrumentals but who doesn’t love Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix as June Carter and Johnny Cash?’

She set down the tray in her window table where Seth had obligingly taken a seat, overlooking Central Park. ‘You know, Joaquin gets some bad press but he’s actually a very nice man.’

Seth gave a short laugh. ‘Why am I not surprised that you know Joaquin Phoenix, Ros?’

She wasn’t entirely sure of his point but as she took a seat, she told him, ‘I know a lot of people from the music industry. As it happens, when he and Reese were recording the soundtrack toWalk the Line,that’s when I met him. He’s just a person, Seth, just like you and me. Just like Randy is your brother first and a rock star second. And in a few months’ time, when young girls are screaming your name and throwing their panties at you on stage, you’ll tell me you still just feel like Seth. The guy who lost a bet one night and ended up on the stage of an open mic night, where Sofia found you. You’ll tell me you’re just a soldier, a son, a brother’ – she handed him a full cup of coffee on a saucer – ‘and a friend, first.’

As he met her gaze, his fingers resting gently against hers as he took the saucer from her, Rosalie said, ‘Thank you. For today. And for things you said to me in Nashville. You probably didn’t realise at the time but you’ve given me a few things to think about, maybe just at the right time, too, as things have worked out.’

In typical Seth fashion, he silently sipped his coffee and they sat in what felt like companiable silence for minutes. It was odd to Rosalie, and she found herself wondering when she ever simply shared silence with anyone. Suddenly, birds were singing outside. The trees of the park seemed greener. She could hear car horns tooting as far away as 59th and Fifth. And she could feel Seth’s presence next to her. How nice it was to have someone sharing her home.

‘I’m sorry about your dad and Andrea, Rosalie,’ Seth said, taking it upon himself to top up his own coffee and Rosalie’s. ‘I know what it’s like to have the image of a parent shattered, no matter whether you’re young or older.’

Rosalie tried to smile but she knew it was sheathed in weariness. ‘Thank you for saying that. I think people probably think it’s just typical Rosalie, over the top and as dramatic as ever, but it’s not just my dad, it’s Andi.’ Her eyes began to feel heavy and clouded over.

She thought about Hannah and Andrea and how much she already missed them, no matter how mad she was with them. ‘I have other friends, women I grew up with. Kaitlin, Clarissa, Madeleine. But they aren’t like Hannah and Andrea. Recently, I’ve realised the sad truth that they aren’t my real friends at all. They’re part of a fake life that I couldn’t let go.

‘I challenged Daddy about his affair with Andrea and found out some other things about my parents in the process. Things I’ve just… overlooked, somehow. And it made me see that I’ve been striving for something false for a very long time. My ideals and values have been based on a lie.’

She turned the cup on her saucer with her fingertips.

‘Would you like to talk about it?’ Seth asked.

Rosalie smiled because it was such a small offer but one that she hadn’t received since everything with Andrea blew up. She realised that that was what she had really been missing – someone to talk to. Someone to spend her days and lonely nights with. The concern in Seth’s expression told her without doubt that his question was genuine.

‘I would really like that, thank you. But not today. Today, I only want to say that you were also right when you said I need to figure out what I really want from life, for me. Whether I really do want a baby or just something or someonemeaningful in my life to… love. Whether a music label is truly the right thing for me. Or, you know, words to that effect.’

He chuckled. It was a warm and lovely sound. ‘You make me sound like the Dalai Lama. I’m not sure I said those things exactly.’

‘Meh, maybe my interpretation was a little philosophical.’ They laughed together, something Rosalie had been missing recently.

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