See you tomorrow.
I smiled. I knew James would never do such a thing. Rose grabbed my phone out of my hand, her eyes narrowing as she read it and gave me my phone back.
“Bullshit.”
I sighed. “Rose, look, we can ask him tomorrow when he - what are you doing?” I asked as she grabbed my hand and pressed the buzzer to get off at the next stop. She tugged my hand to the door, pushing me out as the doors opened.
“We are going to knock some sense into you,” she snapped. I looked around curiously realizing what tram she made us catch and where we got off. This was only a ten-minute walk from his house.
“Rose,” I said, sighing, “There is no one there. He’s in Sydney right now.”
She didn’t listen to me. She pulled me as she dragged me along the footpath. I pulled out of her grip, rubbing my wrist as I followed her. I can walk by myself.
I looked around at the big mansion in the area. James’s house wasn’t anything like these. His was a small humble old house he can afford and he bought it. I admired how he built up his life as an orphan. He was a determined man.
But that’s what scared me: his determination. I wiped my hands on my jeans, not realizing that I was sweating. Maybe it was just from holding the pole for too long in the tram, I told myself. Yes, not because I was nervous.
All couples had their problems. That doesn’t mean he cheated on me, and not just once but for the whole time I knew him? No, that was impossible.
I saw his driveway and I could feel my heart beating faster. Why? There was no way James would do this to me. He would never marry me for my money, that wasn’t him. And there was no one in the house. He was interstate for god’s sake!
Instead of going up the driveway, Rose stepped onto the green fake grass leading to the side. Where was she going? She made a motion and I followed her carefully, trying not to ruin his front yard. She was leading me to the side, where the kitchen window was.
“Rose, this is stupid,” I said, navigating my way through the thin gap between the house and the fence.
“Shut up, you are too trusting and na?ve.”
“Am not,” I whispered softly but by the look she gave me, she heard me. I had never seen her so angry before, especially at me.
“Says the girl who nearly donated a hundred dollars to the charity on the street when they claimed pigs were endangered animals.”
I bit my lip. Okay, that was not my finest moment, and one can never know for sure. That was nearly two years ago and maybe in some isolated country, pigs were endangered.
She walked over to the window and looked at me. “Come,” she demanded.
I walked the last two steps and looked at her and then slowly turned to the window.
The kitchen, it looked exactly like I remembered it, with simple appliance. James was never one for colour. I looked through the gap between the wall and the fridge where you can just make out the lounge room.
“See, noth –" I froze. I blinked; surely I was seeing things.
“See, I told you.”
I felt an arm around my shoulder. I shook my head. That wasn’t James. James would not be sitting on a couch with another girl.
“Maybe it’s a business thing?” I said. But no business partners would kiss.
Present Time
The door flew open and I sat up quickly trying to hold back my yawn. After I realised it was just Rose, I leaned back stretching my legs.
“I thought you were the stupid French lady,” I said sleepily as she raised her eyebrows at me. She gave me a disapproving shake of the head as she sat down in front of me, her hands placed on her lap and her back straight. I raised my eyebrows; clearly she was getting more out of my “how to be a lady” lessons than I was. Of course, the lessons were courtesy of my mother.
I watched Rose as she pulled out her knitting kit and smiled to myself. She was getting a hang of this life while I have no idea how I survived the past dreary six months. Not to mention I was getting real tired of the weekly tea parties.
“Are you excited?” asked Rose, looking up at me between stitches. I wrinkled my nose in distaste at the pink cushion she was knitting, just watching her made me feel like I was transported back into the ancient days when it was very much the 21st century.
Apparently, according to my know-it-all mother, it was meant to give me patience. Clearly that didn’t work out as Rose was doing my knitting for me. There was no way I could sit there for hours just knitting. It would drive me insane, more than I was now.
“For what?”
My back ached and I couldn’t remember why. It wasn’t like there was any strenuous activity in my life, apart from making conversation with some of the women at the tea parties. I looked at the clock. Can I sleep yet?
The clicking of her knitting needles stopped and I looked at her to see she was glaring at me, glaring, and I sat up straightened feeling like my mother was about to give me a lecture.