Surprise: Outback Proposal. Sarah Mayberry

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СКАЧАТЬ sighed heavily and picked up a fork.

      “I guess all this chocolate is still very necessary, after all,” she said.

      “Chocolate is always necessary, whether it be for celebration or commiseration,” Rosie said.

      Her sister waited until Lucy was swallowing a chunk of sinfully rich frosting before speaking again.

      “And he was flirting with you. The Bianco was fully, blatantly, balls-out flirting with you.”

       CHAPTER FOUR

      “DID YOU EVEN consider discussing this with me first?” Andrew asked.

      Rosie put down her knife and fork and gave her husband her full attention.

      “I should have waited to talk to you, I know—”

      “You think?”

      Rosie blinked. Andrew didn’t often lose his temper but when he did it was usually well-earned. Like tonight. As soon as she’d given it some thought, she’d known she should have spoken to him before offering the money to Lucy. But she couldn’t undo what had already been done.

      “I’m sorry. I got carried away. All I was thinking about was Lucy and how I could help. I hate that she’s in such a difficult position.”

      “I hate it, too. But we’ve already given her a home. We can’t afford to give her our savings, too.”

      “I hear what you’re saying, but that money’s just sitting in the bank, collecting interest. Why not use it to help Lucy? She’ll pay us interest like the bank. It’s a win-win situation.”

      Andrew pushed his chair back from the table and stood.

      “What about our plans to renovate the practice? What about getting a junior partner? All that just goes by the wayside, does it?”

      “No, of course not. But it’s not like we were actually ready to do any of that. We haven’t even decided on an architect yet.”

      “Because you keep putting it off.”

      Rosie stood, hating being at a disadvantage. “I haven’t put anything off. Neither of us has pushed for the renovation. We’ve been too busy building the practice.”

      Andrew looked at her, his face tense.

      “Rosie, every time I suggest we start talking to architects you come up with a reason for why we can’t. First it was the Larson trial, then it was the Bigalows’ divorce. The time after that you strained your Achilles’ at the gym and you didn’t want me doing all the legwork on my own.” He stared at her, his jaw set. “If you’re not ready to have children, tell me and stop stringing me along.”

      Rosie took a step backward. She hadn’t been expecting such a direct confrontation, not after the way they’d both been sidestepping the issue for so long. It had become a game of sorts, the way they skirted around the all-consuming subject of when to start a family.

      “I’m not not ready,” Rosie said quickly, even though her stomach tensed with anxiety. “I’m not stringing you along. The time simply hasn’t been right before.”

      Andrew sighed heavily. His blue eyes were intent as he looked into her face. “So when will the time be right if we give all our savings to Lucy? Five years? Ten years? You’re thirty-one. How old do you plan on being when our kids are in college? You’re the one who insisted we needed to add a junior partner to the firm before we even considered starting a family. And we both agreed we couldn’t do that until we’d renovated the practice to create an extra office.”

      Again the tightness in her belly.

      “Lucy probably only needs the money for a year or two,” she said. “As soon as she’s paid us back, we’ll renovate and start trying.”

      “Rosie. Be serious. It will take longer than two years for Lucy to pay out a loan. She’ll be working part-time, she’ll have expenses for the baby. It could take her years to get on top of things. We’ve dealt with enough bankruptcies to know that most small businesses don’t survive the first few years.”

      “Lucy is not going to go bankrupt!”

      “I didn’t say she was. But she’s also not going to suddenly become Martha Stewart, either.”

      He watched her, waiting for her to acknowledge that he was speaking the truth.

      Finally she nodded. “Okay. You’re right. It probably won’t be two years.”

      He returned to the dining table and sat. His meal was only half-eaten, but he pushed it away.

      “So we need to make a decision. Do we invest in our dream or your sister’s?” he asked quietly.

      She sat, too. Suddenly she felt very heavy.

      “We could remortgage,” she suggested.

      “We’re already leveraged because of buying the office. And once you have a baby and we put a partner on, our income will be reduced. That was the whole point of socking away extra money to pay for the renovations rather than taking on more debt. You know I would have been happy if we were pregnant years ago. But I know financial security is important to you, so we did things your way. Now you’re telling me you want to put things off again while we lend our renovation fund to your sister?”

      Rosie picked up her fork and pushed it into the pile of cold peas on her plate.

      “Do we put off having a family or not, Rosie?” he asked.

      She raised her gaze to him. She knew exactly how much he wanted children. It was one of the first things they’d discussed when they got together all those years ago. He wanted at least three children, wanted to build a family that would make up for the lack in his own shitty childhood. Even though the thought had scared her even back then, she’d invested in his dream, built castles in the air with him. And for the past eight years she’d been burying her head in the sand, pretending this day would never come.

      “I shouldn’t have offered the money to Lucy,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

      Andrew waited patiently for her to answer properly.

      “We’re not putting off starting a family,” she confirmed. “I’ll tell Lucy that we can’t lend her the money after all.”

      Andrew’s shoulders relaxed. She saw for the first time that there was a sheen of tears in his eyes. This meant so much to him.

      “I’ll come with you. We’ll explain together,” he said.

      Rosie shook her head.

      “No. It was my mistake. I’ll do it.”

      She stood. She hated to think of how disappointed Lucy would be. Her sister had been so excited this afternoon.

      If only she hadn’t acted so impetuously. If only she’d stopped to think, waited to talk to Andrew tonight. СКАЧАТЬ