She leaned in to kiss him, laughing softly but laughed outright when she felt him squeeze her ass with both hands like he was kneading dough.

One of his hands finally left her behind but only to cover her mouth. “Shh! You’re gonna wake Sal, and he’s gonna come out here and break my other arm.”

Stifling her laughter, she got off him and hurried to the bathroom to clean up and brush her teeth then made a pit stop at her room to grab a certain teddy bear she’d become so accustomed to sleeping with. By the time she made it back to the family room, Vincent was dozing off. He woke when she climbed in under the blanket next to him.

“You’re gonna sleep with me?” he asked already adjusting himself and pulling her body even closer to him, so he could spoon her.

“Yes,” she said, making herself comfortable on his big arm with a grin. “I mean really, Vincent. What can they possible think we’d do on this crowded sofa?”

Slipping his hand between her legs, he kissed the side of her face. “I can’t imagine.”

As if they weren’t close enough, Rose snuggled into him even more, and he pulled his arm around her even tighter. “You know I really do own all this,” he said kissing her ear and neck.

“I know.”

“No, you think I’m kidding, but I plan on making it official.” Rose turned to look at him, not exactly sure what he was saying but feeling excited already. “Oh yeah,” he said tracing her lips with his fingers. “I’m getting the papers and everything. You and I have whole lot to talk about.”

Rose lay back down, and they assumed the snuggling position again. All that time she’d spent theorizing about his reasons for leaving, one of the them being that she’d scared him off with her moving-in talk, she dared not bring up that or any talk of marriage unless he specifically used those words himself. Even now those were not the words he was using, but she would say one thing. “You’ve owned me completely from that very first summer, Vincent, and I think you knew it even back then.”

“Not really, but I do now.” He kissed her neck again. “I still want it in writing.”

Rose laughed. “God, it’s good to have you back. I love you so much, Vincent.”

Squeezing her even tighter, he buried his face in her neck. “I love you too, Rosie.”

~*~

Rose held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as she waited to feel the needle on her lower back. “All done.”

She turned around thinking Vincent might be kidding, but he held an empty syringe and wore a big proud smile. “See I told you I could do this.”

“That was awesome! I didn’t feel a thing.” Vincent finished wiping the area with a cotton ball still smiling proudly. “Even with Ben I’d at least feel a tiny pinch.”

The instant frown on Vincent’s face had her immediately regretting bringing up Ben, but then she remembered. “He’ll be there today. You’ll be nice, right?”

Vincent’s frown morphed into an evil little grin. “You know me.”

She turned all the way around, and his arm came around her waist pulling her to him as if by habit now. Rose loved the way she felt in his big strong arms. It was exactly where she belonged. “Yes, I know you, Vincent. So promise me you’ll behave. He’s my friend, and he knows and respects that you are my boyfriend. But this is the final, and he wants to be there.”

Vincent didn’t respond to that; instead he just kissed her. Rose knew he’d never make any promises about this kind of stuff. But she trusted him now—completely—trusted that he’d never again do anything to jeopardize their relationship or their time together.

With the kiss getting a little too heavy and very much aware that they were still in her bedroom with her mother only a few doors down, she pulled away breathlessly.

Vincent leaned his forehead against hers. “I gotta go. But I’ll be right there front and center. You got this, babe.”

Rose kissed him one last time and walked him out, not mentioning that he completely ignored her request to behave around Ben. She went back inside and finished gathering her things then headed out of her bedroom.

With all the excitement of Vincent being back and her team making it all the way to the state final, Rose hadn’t put much thought into how often her mother wasn’t around lately.

She’d been so caught up with Vincent, but the finals and the extra practices for them were also taking up a lot of her time. She stopped at her mother’s bedroom door. Her mother was sitting on a chair staring out the window.

“You okay?” Rose asked.

Her mother turned to her with a smile and nodded. “You have a minute?”

Rose looked down at the phone in her hand. She had a few, so she walked in the room, and her mother motioned to the bed. Rose sat on it feeling a little nervous. Talks with her mom were so rare. “I’ve been a fool, Rose. I owe you not only an apology but an explanation. I wasted my entire life waiting to die, and here I am an old woman, alive and kicking. I should’ve enjoyed my life—my daughters. Instead I never allowed myself to get too close to anyone, to you,” she stopped looking down at her hands as she intertwined them nervously, “especially you, and it was so unfair.”

Rose didn’t understand. “What do you mean waiting to die?”

“My mother died when I was very young, and it tore me apart. Then my oldest sister, who like you and Grace I’d become so close to after my mother’s death, died also of the same thing—cervical cancer. I wanted to die, Rose. And I almost got my wish too. I was also diagnosed with cervical cancer at age twenty.”