Chapter 11: Chapter Ten.
"The fries are ready." Rose announced in a singsong as she brought out the now fried potatoes from the oil into the colander. "Can you bring out the ketchup from the cupboard, top shelf?"
"Sure." Rick stood up and went to the cupboard.
She carried the fries off the kitchen table to the nook where the rest of their lunch were.
"I can't find the ketchup." Rick told her when she walked back into the kitchen, his head half buried in the cupboard. "It is not here."
"Really? I thought I placed it there. Check the lower shelf." Absentminded and her eyes still on Rick, she carried the hot pan off the gas stove. "Ahhhhh!!!" She screamed, dropping the pan in reflex.
Rick hurried to her side, turned on the tap, cupped the now scalded palm and placed it under the running water. "Why did you not use a napkin, Rose?"
"It did not cross my mind..." She shut her eyes against the sting. "My mind was preoccupied with the ketchup."
"I was looking for it already."
"My mind forgot." She groaned at the pain.
"You have to stop being careless, Rose."
She cocked a brow. "Stop being careless? How many times have I done something like this?"
"Last week, you forgot to wear a mitten before bringing out the cookies from the oven."
"It was not intentional."
"You almost chopped off your fingers, two days ago."
If irritation and anger weren't fast rising with her, she would have actually found his accusations hilarious. "Exactly, almost, by mistake! None of them were intentional." She pulled her away from his. "It is not like I intentionally set out to hurt myself!!"
"Then be more mindful!"
She stared at him, her mouth agape. "You are unbelievable!"
"I am not, Rosie."
At that moment, that pet name only irked her the more.
"I am not going to keep arguing with you because it won't change anything. You are always quick to point out my faults and make it look like it is my fault that I have them. It is not like you are perfect either yet I never pull out your faults and make it the highlight of the day."
"Rosie..."
"No." She shut her eyes, raised her hand and shook her head. "No, you have said quite enough and quite too much if you ask me. So if you please, leave."
Hurt filled his eyes, but she was too hurt to care.
"Please."
He nodded, turned and walked out.
******
Bonnie paused, furrowed her brows, opened her mouth and closed it. "So you guys actually fought over a scalded palm? Like, when the both of you were supposed to be tending a scalded palm, you were busy fighting?"
"He called me careless!" She knew she was whining like a five year old, but she wanted desperately for someone to see her side. "Not just that, he has been acting way too protective of me lately, almost like he is nannying me."
"Fine, agreed. He was farfetched by calling you careless but that argument could have been avoided if you both hadn't drawn it out like you did." Bonnie cupped her hand. "Rose, Rick has always been over - emphasis on the over - protective of you since ever. And when he is in that overprotective mode, he always tend to act irrational. Remember that time when Jason broke your heart? Remember how he came to school the next day?"
She nodded and chuckled. "With a broken nose and black eyes."
"And when he was asked what happened, what did he say?"
She snickered. "Ask your boyfriend."
"Rick is overprotective of you, so much that he doesn't care to attack you to save you." Bonnie paused and tilted her head. "If that makes sense."
"Actually, it does."
"Saying you are careless might have been a bit overboard."
"A bit?"
"Okay, maybe a little but more than a bit."
She laughed and nodded. "Thank you."
"But he cares for you and he loves you."
She nodded.
"So when are you going to get to him?"
"When he calls me."
Bonnie chuckled and tapped her nose. "Pride never leads us anywhere."
Oh, she knew but still she would wait till he called.
Bonnie stood up and went to a shelf. "While you wait for the call, you can keep busy by looking at this." Bonnie placed their highschool year book on her lap.
"You have it in the shop?"
"It keeps me from boredom."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
******
"Hello, Rick." Bonnie spread her arms wide. "You here for your first therapy?"
He hugged her back. "Uh huh. Rose has been here?"
"Yeah, she left not too long ago. She told me of your woes."
"I was stupid."
"Not totally."
"I called her careless."
"Because you think she is."
"Not exactly. What I meant was she tends to act careless alot."
"Just a little difference. And she thinks you are being too nannyish to her."
"I..." He started.
She cocked a brow.
"I guess I have been a bit overprotective."
"And she thinks it is because you are scared of losing her..."
Just like I lost my parents and buds.
Though she did not say it, he heard it.
"I didn't know she thinks that way."
"That is why you have to prove her wrong, emphasis on prove. When you proposed to her, you were still grieving your buds, the loss was still fresh. Everything screamed that you were using that silly contract to hold on to her in desperate fear."
"Not anymore."
Bonnie smiled. "I see that. Rose may see it too but she is not yet convinced of it. You have to make her know that without a doubt that you love her, because you do, and that you want," she stressed the 'want', "her in your life." Bonnie took his hand and squeezed it. "Make her see, Rick and make her understand."
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. "Thank you so much, Bonnie. I have great hope that Kelvin is seeing what is right in front of him."
"Oh, posh." She waved the compliment away but still smiled, pleased. "Go get your girl, Rick."
"Right away."
******
Rose's head jerked up at the sound of the door bell. "I will be right there." She closed the photo album she had been looking at since she came back from Bonnie's shop, and stood up. She pulled the door opened and there he was, handsome as ever in his rugged jeans and T shirt.
"Hey." He greeted, his eyes boring into hers.
"Hey." She replied.
They stayed, staring at each other, into each other's eyes.
"I'm sorry." He finally said. He reached out to touch her face but dropped it. "I am sorry for always pointing out your faults. I am sorry for calling you careless instead of tending your palm. I am sorry always acting like your nanny, treating you like you don't know what you are doing. I just..." He paused. "I just don't want to lose you."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"But I have long deceived myself that I can keep you by hovering over you and breathing down your neck. It has only achieved the opposite, hasn't it?"
She smiled, her shoulders softening.
"The ferocity of how much I love you frightens me everyday because the possibility of losing is stark before my eyes. What if you died before I could spend the rest of my life with you? And everyday, I keep deceiving myself that I can keep you, but you are not mine to keep, that is God's job description. My job description is to love you for as long as we have, loving you so much you never have a reason to doubt that I love you. I have not been fulfilling it and for that I am sorry."
Her cheeks wet, a smile on her face, her heart full, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He hugged her tight and rained kisses on her hair and her face and her neck. "I love you, Rosie Ann Hokins. You have won my heart and it is yours forever."
She looked into his eyes. "I love you too, Rick David Walton." She smiled and stroked his face. "You are so special to me. I am sorry for calling you unbelievable."
"I was quite unbelievable at that moment."
"I'm sorry for screaming at you and asking you to get out."
"I actually deserved that."
"I am sorry for..."
"Stop looking for what to apologize for." He smiled. "It's okay."
"Wanna come inside?"
He nodded. "I would love to."
Tucking herself under his arm, she opened the door.
"Something smells nice." Rick sniffed the air as they stepped into her house.
"Spaghetti and French Sauce. You hungry?"
"Uh huh, extremely hungry."
"Well, dear Rick, it is your lucky day."
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