Page 36 of Rescuing Rosie
Dale must have had sex with Madison yesterday.While Ant was helping me break in my boots, they were …
Tears filled her eyes. She wasn’t sure if they were tears of self-pity, or rage. Or quite possibly shame.
Starting to shiver, she pulled out the jacket and busied herself putting it on, fumbling with the blurry zip, then did up the catches on the backpack. She couldn’t bring herself to look in the men’s direction.
Oh Rosie – how could you be so dumb?
And poor Madison, too. The star’s voracious appetite for glamorous men was well known, and she wasn’t shy when it came to talking to the media about owning her sexuality, and how empowering that was.
But she’d asked,Where are all the nice men, Rosie?
Madison’s dark mood was surely the result of Dale’s hurtful behaviour. How must she have felt? Rosie pictured the star getting ready for dinner, basking in the afterglow of her hot hook-up, organising a place for him at her table, looking forward to being the famous hostess with her gorgeous date at her side. Fantasising about returning to her suite with him later, just as Rosie had been doing this morning.
But he’d ignored her, and moved on to the next clueless idiot.
His words to Jono:I mean, look at the state of Madison.
But that body he was quick to disparage had clearly been worth the bother –would recommend. Perhaps he figured that because she was mostly fake, it was okay to treat her like a non-person. And a shag with a star was something to brag about, as Rosie had just witnessed.
She finally steeled herself to look at Dale, who was watching Jono assemble his drone.
You horrible, cold-hearted fuckboy.
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and made her way over, trying to keep a lid on her emotions.
‘Is there anything you’d like me to do, Jono?’
‘You’re all right, Rosie,’ he said. ‘Dale’s going to explain to Madison where she needs to stand, then we’ll launch the drone.’
‘Look at this kit,’ said Dale to Rosie, holding the drone while Jono fiddled with the controls. ‘I want one.’
‘Okay, well if you don’t need me, Jono, I’m going to walk up to the top,’ said Rosie. ‘Mostly so I can tell Ashley I made it.’
‘What?’ said Dale. ‘You don’t want to watch the drone in action?’
She looked him in the eye. ‘Madison on Dale’s Knob? I’ll pass, thanks. And I’ll take the main path down, then you won’t have to worry about the slow, clueless southerner.’
Dale frowned. ‘Stay, babe,’ he said, taking her hand.
She pulled it free. ‘I’ll get Ashley to pick me up. See you at the hotel,’ she said to Jono.
‘In the bar?’ said Dale. ‘A Xanadu?’
‘No. I don’t like what that did to me,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘Line me up a half of cider would you, Jono?’ She raised a hand and left.
If she were the savvy, strong female character in her novel, she would now be smiling to herself at Dale’s confused expression, as she strode off towards the rocky summit without a backward glance. Instead she was taking small, careful steps, because her eyes were blinded by tears.
Once she’d put some distance between herself and the others, she looked back at the scene below. The dronewas hovering way up high above Madison, then it zoomed downwards, and the star held out her arms and spun round, her face raised to the sky as it whizzed past, before gaining height again. The distant whoops of the men reached her, and Rosie carried on towards the summit, happy for Jono and Madison that it was going well.
It was hellishly windy when she reached the top, and she found a spot in the lee of the rocks and snacked on another energy bar. The climb had eased her anger, and now that she was thinking more logically, she began to reason with herself.
Why was she so upset? She’d met a hot guy who,let’s be honest, Rosie, was never going to be up for more than a fling, and who’d turned out to be a bit more of a shit than she’d expected. Someone who didn’t greatly concern himself with the feelings of others, who was probably all about himself.
Sounds familiar.
She replayed the past year – her relationship with Reuben, her rollercoaster writing journey, her career, her family … Dad would love it up here, she thought. How about a fishing weekend for him, as a birthday treat? These lakes were probably full of trout. She could come with him, walk the fells while he fished the lakes.
She decided to message him a selfie and took out her phone. As she did, she properly registered what had been happening to the view while she’d been zoned out, chewing over her problems. How the scene below was coming and going, hidden in the mist one moment, visible the next. That bank of cloud had moved in, obscuring the summits of the higher fells, trailing wispy grey fingers along their slopes, valleys and crags.
