‘Yeah, we got on okay when I saw them. We didn’t go to Rozzie’s all that much.’
‘In all the years you knew her?’
He shrugged. ‘She preferred to be out.’
‘Were they close?’
Again with the shrug. ‘Seemed okay. They didn’t beat her or anything.’
Was that the current yardstick on good parenting? Kim wondered.
If there was anything amiss between Rozzie and her family, he hadn’t seen it. She could only focus on the relationship between the two of them.
‘So were you two together?’
‘At times.’
‘And was now one of those times?’
There was a slight hesitation before he shook his head.
She filed that away for later.
‘I’ve moved on,’ he clarified, wiping a piece of lint from one of the heating vents.
‘You have a new girlfriend?’
‘Yeah, about six months.’
Either he felt no emotion or he was holding it in.
‘Why the split?’
‘Rozzie didn’t really know what she wanted. Sometimes she wanted to be in a relationship and other times she wanted to be free to do whatever she wanted, and she didn’t seem able to understand that she couldn’t have both.’
Kim waited a few seconds to see if he would continue. It was the most words he’d offered in one go.
He didn’t.
‘She wanted to be with you but mess around with other guys?’
‘Yeah, and I ain’t into that kind of shit. If I wanted to be a fuckboy, I wouldn’t have a girlfriend.’
‘Did her work stuff get in the way?’ Kim asked. Stacey had updated her on Rozzie’s growing social-media presence.
‘Sometimes. It was good when it started. It gave her a lot of confidence, but it turned into an addiction. Everywhere we went, everything we did, she photographed and posted. I remember once asking if she wanted to go for a walk up Clent. She told me she’d already posted from up there. Everything became about likes and hearts, followers, and contacts.’
‘She became obsessed?’
‘Yeah, it was all the time. I’m just not into it on that level. If I needed to know what my mates were having for tea, I’d text them and ask them or bum an invite.’
Kim hid her smile. She didn’t spend much time on social media, and this was one of the reasons why.
‘I mean, she tried to calm it down. A few months ago, she backed away from it a bit, but I was already over it.’
‘Did she do that because you asked her to?’
‘I doubt it. I’d asked so many times. She’d gone a bit quiet, a bit moody, but like I said, I’d moved on. I’d already met Sasha.’