An Unforgotten Bet: (A Contemporary Romance) (5 page)

Tom sits in his recliner, staring at the television but not processing any of it. He wants to call Rose back again, to sit and talk to her and catch up after all those years, but she seemed in such a hurry to end his phone call that he’s almost scared to contact her again. It was almost a little hurtful, the way she said goodbye to him like that. They haven’t spoken in over ten years, and as soon as they get the chance, she passes it up?
Obviously she isn’t into him as much as he had thought she was.
Now he almost feels foolish of acting so casually with Lauryn, who has now blocked him on the dating site they used to chat on.

His phone suddenly bursts out into song, and he dives across the carpet to the coffee table to reach it, his heart pounding as his fingers scrabble across the screen to answer it. But his stomach drops when he sees the caller ID: ‘Mom.’

“Hey,” he breathes into the receiver, running his fingers through his hair as he tries to relax.

“Hey, sweetie, you seem a little flustered. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he mutters, shaking his head and glancing at the clock. “It’s after elven. Why are you calling me?”

“Our guests have just left and I wanted to check up on you,” she says. “A few of your dad’s friends brought their daughters with them — lovely girls, Lorraine and Elsa. They were looking forward to meeting you. I said you’d be there another time, so next time you’ll have to rearrange your date.”

“Well, I’m fine,” he says. “I don’t think there’ll be another date to rearrange, though.”

“Oh? Why is that?” she asks, sounding disappointed.

“It just…it wasn’t right.”

There’s a long pause, and he can almost predict her next words before she says them. “So what did you do?”

“We just sat in a coffee shop and…drank coffee. And y’know, we talked.”

“What did you talk about? Didn’t you have anything in common? Did you meet her at work? Was she an accountant?”

He rolls his eyes at his inquisitive mother, then hesitates, wondering whether or not to tell her about Rose. He knows it will just lead to a thousand more questions, but at least his Mom had known

Rose when they were younger. He was so excited about seeing her again that he wanted to tell someone, and his friends just wouldn’t understand.

“You’ll never guess who I ran into today at the coffee shop,” he says, brushing off her previous question taking a deep breath. She doesn’t reply, so he carries on. “Remember Rose Evans?”

“
Rose Evans
?” says his mother, gasping in disbelief. “Didn’t she move to New York with her family? What’s she doing back here in Texas?”

I guess she must have moved back. We were talking for a while,” he says.

“That girl was so sweet. Where are her family?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”

“It would be so great to meet up with them all again, just like old times,” she says, her voice dreamy.

“I’ll ask her about it the next time I see her.”

“You’re seeing her again?”

“Of course. She was my best friend when I was a kid.”

“Aw, I know, sweetie,” she chuckles. “When you were younger, we all said you two would end up together. It must be destiny. Is she single?”

He laughs half-heartedly, but his stomach somersaults at the thought. “Really? But yes, I think she is. She hasn’t said anything about a man, anyway, and I’d assume she’d have told me by now.”

“Yes, you were both so close. It’s such a shame they moved away.”

“I know,” he says, sighing. “Anyway, I’m going to head off to bed now, I’ve been driving a lot today and I’m pretty tired.”

“Okay, sweetie, you take care. Love you.”

“Love you,” he mumbles, ending the call.

It felt good to talk to someone about Rose, even if it was just his Mom. It’s good to know that someone remembered her as fondly as he did, and to know that others saw the evidence of their strong bond.

Ever since he laid eyes on her earlier in the evening, not a moment went by without her crossing his mind at least once, and she is all he can think about when he lies down to go to sleep — the way the corners of her eyes crinkle when she laughs, the way one corner of her mouth lifts a little higher than the other when she smiles, and the sweet floral perfume that seems to radiate from her skin.

Even Tom’s dreams are filled with Rose Evans that night, and he wakes up in a cold sweat. He hasn’t seen or heard from the girl in over ten years, and all of a sudden she is just impossible to escape from.

Danny is still fast asleep when Rose slides out of bed and tiptoes out to work the next morning.
He looks so innocent lying there,
she thinks to herself as she leaves, closing the door gently behind her. She almost feels guilty for talking to Tom. Almost, but not quite.

Gina is grinning at her as she walks through the door to work, but the restaurant is busy so she’ll have to wait. She changes into her uniform and trots out into the front, bracing herself for another day of waiting on rude customers. But not even the usual perverts sitting in the corner can bring her down today as she waltzes over to them, armed with a pen and paper and ready to take their order.

“What can I get for you gentlemen?” she asks, her smile wide.

One of them begins to make a joke, but she deflects it before he manages to reach the punchline.

“We have some great specials on today. I’d recommend the apple pie.”

The men stare at her blankly.

“I can come back later if you need more time,” she says cheerfully, turning and beginning to walk away. But she’s called back immediately.

“Four of those, then,” says one of the men.

“Apple pies?”

“Er, yes,” he says, his eyes fixed to the table.

“Coming right up.”

Gina winks at her as she passes, and Rose smiles triumphantly.

The rest of the shift passes pretty quickly. The restaurant is busy, just how she likes it, and she doesn’t have time to think until lunch rolls around. The first thing she does when she gets back to the staff room is check her phone.
Two missed calls
— one from Danny, and one from Tom. She twists her face as she sees their names alongside each other on the screen, and at first she wonders if she should just confess herself to them both. But before she has a chance to really think about what she’s doing, she’s already calling Tom. He picks up on the third ring.

“Rose,” he breathes. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” she says cheerfully. “How about you?”

“I’m better now that I’m talking to you,” he says. She laughs briefly at his cheesy comment, then brushes it off.

“Sorry I missed your call, I was working. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I didn’t mean to disturb you,” he says quickly. He almost sounds nervous.

“It’s alright, you’re not disturbing me at all,” she reassures him.

“Good. I just called to talk to you, actually. You know, I said I’d call you after our conversation yesterday.”

“Oh, of course,” she replies. “I didn’t forget.”

“Good,” he says. She can almost hear him smiling. There’s a short pause before he speaks again, and it almost sounds as if he’s struggling to get his words out. “Hey, I was wondering…would you like to go out to dinner with me tonight?”

Just like that, all of Rose’s thoughts and worries about Danny disappear.

“Of course, I’d love to,” she says, grinning. Every hair in her body seems to stand on end in anticipation of seeing him again.

Tom exhales into the receiver, evidently relieved at her response. “Phew, that’s good. I was almost scared in case I scared you away last night.”

“You could never scare me away, Tom Flynn,” laughs Rose. She can see Gina smiling at her in the corner of her eye, and turns away so she’s out of view.

“What time should I pick you up?”

“Uh,” Rose hesitates, immediately thinking of Danny. “How about I just meet you there? We live quite far away from one another, right? Maybe we could just meet half way.”

“Oh, okay,” says Tom. His voice reeks of disappointment.

“I hope that’s okay,” says Rose, unable to hide the guilt from her own voice.

“Oh, of course. Do you know where Sambrinos is?”

“The Italian restaurant?”

“Yes. You still like Italian food, right?” he says, suddenly sounding panicked.

“Oh, yes,” she laughs. “I’m impressed that you remember.”

“I have a good memory.”

“Of course you do,” she says with a smile. “Anyway, I only have a short break, so I’d better get back to work now. I’ll see you later, right?”

“Sounds good.”

She’s almost about to end the call, when suddenly he speaks up again.

“Wait, what time are we meeting?”

“Oh, uhh…” she wracks her brain, trying to think about what time would be best to get away from Danny. “How about six? I’ll come right from work.”

“That’s good with me,” he says. The happiness in his voice sends another shiver of excitement up her spine.

“I’ll see you then,” she says cheerfully, and then hangs up.

Gina is looking at her expectantly when she turns around. “So you broke up with Danny?”

“Not quite…”

“Why not, Rose?” she says, pouting. “Does Tom even know about him?”

“Of course not,” says Rose, unable to meet her gaze. “Do you really think I’d tell him?”

“Well you need to do something. You can’t keep dating them both and expect them never to find out about one another.”

“I’m not dating Tom,” Rose snaps. “We’re just going out for a friendly dinner.”

“Oh, sure. Have you confirmed that with him?”

Rose shakes her head, and Gina just sighs and walks back into the kitchen.

“I am in the
process
of breaking up with Danny, though,” she says, following Gina like a lost puppy.

Gina turns and rolls her eyes. “You’re in the
process
? There is no process, Rose. You’re either dating him or you’re not. Which is it?”

“I told him I’m moving out,” she says desperately. “I’m breaking up with him, Gina, honest.”

“Well you’d better make your mind up quickly,” she says. “Don’t put Tom through the same shit Danny put you through.”

Rose hangs her head. “I know. You’re right.”

The rest of the day passes much more slowly than it did before, and Rose finds herself staring at the clock every few minutes. Eventually, five o’clock rolls around, and she immediately heads into the back to take off her uniform and change into her own clothes. Gina’s shift ends at the same time, and they pass each other on the way out.

“Remember, my door is always open when you decide to break up with him,” she sighs as she walks by.

“Thanks,” Rose mumbles, forcing a smile.
 

The black ripped jeans and baggy tartan shirt she brought to change into are less than appropriate for dining out, but she decides she’d rather avoid going home and facing Danny.

She should have just ended things once and for all last night.

This same thought buzzes around her head for the fiftieth time today as she pulls on her clothes. She tries hard to brush it off as she strides back out of the bathroom, through the double doors, through the maze of tables in the restaurant, and out to her car, but it’s more difficult than she imagined it would be.

She’ll break up with him tomorrow. All she needs to do right now is make sure that Tom doesn’t find out about him.

Tom trembles as he sits behind the traffic lights and patiently waits for them to turn green.
Why is he so nervous? It’s only Rose. He used to run around in her back garden with no pants on when they were younger. Surely nothing he does today can possibly be more scarring than the memory of that, no matter what it is.

Even before his date with Lauryn whom he’d never met before, he wasn’t quite this nervous. He revs his engine as the lights begin to change colour, and turns on the radio to try and drown out his thoughts.
Ah, Bruce Springsteen
. If this doesn’t cheer him up, nothing else will.

His phone lights up as he pulls away, and Tom swallows hard.
Shit, it’s got to be Rose. Maybe something’s come up and she wants to cancel.

His heart is in his mouth as he slows right down and pulls up by the side of the road. His hands are shaking as he picks up his phone and unlocks it to read the message, praying for the first time ever that it’s not from Rose. His heart only begins to stop pounding when he realises that it’s his friend who is texting him.