Rosemarie's Revenge

McKenna wasn’t sure what shocked her the most—how great Raul looked, or the fact that she was in Rosemarie’s car at that very moment, being driven to see her home. She was probably most shocked by the latter. She glanced over at the serious-looking Italian woman, who was focused intently on the road ahead. “So, are you sure you’re okay with this?” “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” “I don’t know. I’m just surprised, you know? You weren’t exactly very fond of me way back when, so I just didn’t expect you to offer to rent to me.” “Well, times change. That was then and this is now. Like you said, you’re harmless.” “And believe it or not, there’s a guy I’m actually interested in that I knew many years ago and recently met with.” “Oh, yeah?” Rosemarie asked, smiling with curious interest. “Who’s that?” “ADA Ernoza.” “Who?” “He’s the ADA. I dated and lived with his mother for less than a year, about twenty-one years ago.” “Oh?” “Then she died in a car accident.” “Aw, that’s too bad.” “Her son Raul was eighteen at the time, and I was aware that he had a crush on me,” she laughed. “It was quite cute, actually, but I really believed that at eighteen, he was simply too young to get serious with someone fourteen years his senior. Actually, I thought he was too young to get serious with anyone, for that matter. I felt he needed the chance to experiment, to grow, and to really experience life. So, while I really appreciated him letting me stay at his apartment—which was usually alive and well with his wild friends—when the house went up for sale, I believed I was doing right by him by moving out and moving on.” “So, you weren’t with him long?” “No, not too long. I was working as an airplane marshaler and ended up getting some cheap little nothing studio for a while. We kept in touch for a bit. It was around that time I got an offer as a freelance writer up in Nevada, anyway, so I took off and that was it. We didn’t speak for decades. Then I eventually won the lottery—though it wasn’t much—and headed back for Phoenix. Been staying with some friends that go way back to our native state, and now here I am.” “You won the lottery?” Rosemarie asked. McKenna figured that might interest her. “Yes, but it’s barely enough to support me, even in the cheapest of dumps. Besides, I like to keep active, so I decided I’d work just part-time.” “Makes sense.” “To be honest, Rosemarie, as kind and generous as your offer is, I’m not sure there would be much difference between staying with Dan and Elsa and staying with you. I don’t know if I should just get my own place or what, though I do appreciate the savings that come with living with someone.” “Well, if you decide you don’t like it after you see it, you can get a place that you can have all to yourself.” “Okay, it’s a deal,” I said with a smile. Just then, Rosemarie maneuvered the red sports car—which went well with her appearance—onto a side street, just as the one she’d had Kara egged had gone well with her. They were both just the kind of cars McKenna would picture her driving. Had Rosemarie ever suspected she was behind the egging of her car anyway? She’d always wonder. A few minutes later, they pulled into the driveway of a house on the corner of a couple of side streets. “Wow, this looks peaceful,” said McKenna. Rosemarie turned off the car and exited silently. McKenna followed. The sky-blue house sat on a well-manicured lot and looked to be about twenty years old, if that. “You do your own landscaping?” “Nope,” said Rosemarie with a shake of her head as she inserted a key into the front door. “A couple of guys come out every Friday morning.” McKenna followed her inside and slowly let her eyes sweep the interior. “This is really nice. I can see it’s been updated.” “Yeah, my parents had the whole place remodeled not long before they died.” McKenna looked at Rosemarie as she placed her handbag on a small table between the living room and kitchen. “That’s so sad about your parents.” Saying nothing, Rosemarie went into the kitchen and took a can of diet soda from the refrigerator. McKenna thought it a bit rude that she didn’t offer her anything to drink or say anything about making herself comfortable, but figured she was momentarily missing her parents. Can of soda in one hand, Rosemarie said, “Come on.” McKenna followed her as she gave a quick tour of the house. “It’s beautiful.” “The master bedroom has its own bathroom, as you can see, so you would have your own bathroom. My visitors may use it at times, though I don’t have much company.” “Any other family?” McKenna asked. Rosemarie shook her head. “I’m an only child.” McKenna wondered if that was part of why she seemed so selfish. “Not many friends either. I prefer my own company most of the time. Less drama that way,” said Rosemarie. “Now that’s something I can truly relate to.” “And your family?” Rosemarie asked. “I haven’t talked to my parents or my brother in many years.” “Oh?” Rosemarie’s eyebrows shot up. For the first time, she seemed genuinely interested. “Why is that?” Wow, this woman sure is direct, isn’t she? McKenna thought. Aloud, she said, “We just never saw eye to eye.” “Any of it have to do with you liking women?” “No. They never had a problem with the idea of two consenting adults. If I was happy, they were happy.” “Until?” Rosemarie pressed on, beginning to make McKenna feel pressured and rethink the idea of moving in with her. “Until I’d had enough of their bullshit.” But for reasons McKenna couldn’t fathom, Rosemarie wasn’t giving up that easily. “What bullshit?” “Oh, just the bullshit where they always made me feel like I wasn’t good enough, and they always had to challenge and argue about just about everything and anything. The part where only their way was correct and mine was bullshit, if not completely insane.” Rosemarie, now sitting on her living room couch, gave a slight laugh and said, “But you said they accepted your sexuality.” “They did, along with a few other things. But I think most of me was just too eccentric and downright weird for them to possibly comprehend, let alone accept.” McKenna studied Rosemarie as she took a sip from her can of soda. Speaking of weird, Rosemarie had one foot in that department. She was hard to figure, and McKenna wasn’t sure what she had on her mind. She wondered if this was more than just her renting a room in her house, so she decided to get down to business. “So, what do you want?” Rosemarie looked confused. “What do I want?” “Yeah, remember? The room. Do you want to be paid weekly or monthly? And how much do you want?” “Oh,” Rosemarie said, as if she were hearing this for the first time. “Well, I don’t know. What do you think is fair?” “I have no idea, to be completely honest with you. I’ve never looked into renting rooms in people’s homes and therefore have no idea what they usually ask.” “Oh. Well, can you clean?” “Sure.” “Do laundry?” “Of course.” “Cook?” “I’m just so-so. I’ve been learning a lot from Elsa, so yeah, I do all right.” “Well, why don’t you just cook, clean, do the laundry, buy your own food and whatever else you need, and let that earn you a nice, comfortable stay in my spare, luxurious room.” “Wow, that really is generous of you.” McKenna took a moment or two to reflect on the offer, but something wasn’t quite right. She still felt like something was off, though she wasn’t sure what it was. She just didn’t want to turn Rosemarie and her wonderful offer down completely in case she was wrong. “What about the mortgage, utilities, and things like the internet?” Rosemarie waved a hand and said, “The house is paid for, and I can handle the utilities.” “This is quite a deal in quite a house in quite a neighborhood, but can we take it slow?” “Take it slow?” Rosemarie asked, as if she’d never heard of such a thing. “How about we start with me spending the weekend, just to make sure it’s going to work out?” “Well, why wouldn’t it?” Was that a hint of annoyance or impatience in Rosemarie’s tone? “I think it’ll be fine, but you never do know, Rosemarie. You might get sick of me in less than a day. So why don’t I just move my stuff in a little at a time? I’ll still cook, clean, and do whatever laundry you want done during whatever length of time I’m around. All I’d need to know is what you like to eat so I can know what to make.” Rosemarie eyed her with a serious expression for a minute, and McKenna thought she might change her mind. Instead, she gave a quick nod, smiled, and said, “Deal.”