Chapter One
∞∞∞
Ros was barely in the door when her phone rang, and she dropped her heavy backpack to the ground with a curse as she dug in her pocket for the offending device. She had just gotten it turned the right way in her hand when the call dropped, but not before she saw the caller, Tabbie (THE COOL ONE).
“How many other Tabbies do you think I know?” Ros muttered.
It didn’t matter, because no matter how many Tabbies she knew, she suspected that only one of them would have set this up for her. As far as Ros was concerned, Tabbie had absolutely earned the title of THE COOL ONE.
The phone rang again as Ros opened the sliding glass door to the deck, letting the late afternoon sunshine. This time she got to it before Tabbie decided she didn’t want to leave a message, and she couldn’t help smiling at the sound of her best friend’s voice.
“So is it gorgeous or what?” Tabbie demanded. “Can you feel yourself relaxing as we speak?”
“I’ve only been here for five minutes, but yes, Tab, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Thank you again, you don’t know how much–”
“Seriously, don’t mention it. You’re doing us a favor, for real. None of us can get up there this year, and you know, old places start falling down if people don’t come in and live in them for a while.”
Ros looked around the modern kitchen that was much nicer than her own apartment’s kitchen, especially since the last time she’d seen her apartment’s kitchen, it was flooded with water up to her knees. She flinched from the thought, but Tabbie was already talking again, and who wanted to think about dumb things like their apartment flooding while Tabbie had things to say?
“–and the lake is probably fantastic this time of year, and it’ll be great for a swim. If you want to do some hiking, you can drive out to the Ice Age Trail that’s only like twenty minutes out, and–”
“Tabbie, hon, it’s good, you sold me on all of this already,” Ros said, laughing in spite of herself. “I promise. I’m not just going to mope around the place.”
There was a pause.
“You could if you wanted to,” Tabbie said finally. “Christ, you’ve earned it.”
“You don’t earn things by having bad luck fall on your head,” Ros said, refusing to get sentimental about it. “And besides, seeing as you’ve given me free reign over a gorgeous upstate cabin, all expenses paid, I think my luck is beginning to even out.”
She started stocking the fridge with the things she had bought from the grocery store twenty minutes down the road as Tabbie snorted.
“My family’s cabin is nice, I won’t deny it, but it’s not going to make up for all the stuff that’s been going on for you lately. I swear, when you told me about Richie–”
“Please, let’s not talk about Richie, all right? It’s fine. It’s a thing that happened. It’s over, and that’s all that matters.”
“Seriously, that freakingclown.”
Ros sighed. She knew that she should tell Tabbie to be nice, but honestly, it was sort of nice to have her best friend in full attack mode. Ros would be reasonable and fair-minded, and Tabbie would be swearing vengeance down to the tenth generation, and it was how things had worked since they were in seventh grade.
“I appreciate the vitriol, and – hey, Tabbie?”
“Yeah?”
“Why is there a slip of paper on your fridge with a phone number and the wordsin case of baby opossumson it? Are baby opossums a thing I have to worry about out here?”
“Oh, probably not. That’s something that happened to my mom last year. She showed up, and an opossum had gotten in and given birth in the guest room closet. Did you know opossums can have like fourteen babies at a time, and they also have more teeth than any other mammal?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Well, she called a guy who knew a guy who had to call in another guy, and that guy’s number is on the fridge. He takes care of baby opossums. So you know. You’re all set.”
“Great, I am prepared for all things.”
They both paused, and when she spoke again, Tabbie’s voice was gentler, soft like it almost never got.
“Take some time to really rest, okay, sweetie? You’ve had a tough few months. I’m sorry I can’t be there with you.”
Against Ros’s will, tears come to her eyes. Dammit, it felt as if she was always on the verge of crying lately, and if she hadn’t given over yet, damned if she was going to do it now over something like her best friend being nice.