Rogue Hearts

by Tamsen Parker

  Realizing she was hating on a kid who probably had little to no idea of who she was, she stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, counting back from twenty. When she felt more in control, she continued on her way to the pharmacy counter.

  Mr. Antonelli smiled from behind the island where he was pouring pills into a plastic bottle. “Rosa. You here for your mom’s prescriptions?”

  “Hey, Mr. Antonelli. Yeah. Are they ready?”

  “Not quite yet. We had to call the insurance company and we’re still waiting to get a call back.”

  Rosa fought the urge to grind her teeth. Of course they had to call the insurance company. Part of why she’d come home was to help her mom handle the challenge of dealing with them. “Any idea when?”

  “Hopefully soon. If they don’t call in the next ten minutes, Maria’s calling back.”

  She guessed from the broad smile he gave her that Maria calling insurance companies might be his big entertainment for the day. God knew the people of Denning took their entertainment where they could.

  “I’ll stick around.”

  “Good. Good. We’ve got a fresh shipment of nutrition supplements if you want to check them out. Your mom likes experimenting.”

  “Great.”

  Not wanting to get into a deeper discussion of her mom’s experiments with alternative therapies, she headed off to the middle of the store. Mom’s prognosis had not been positive, and Rosa did not need to be reminded of that. Maybe she could get lost in the aisles and not have to talk with anyone else. Not that the Antonellis let anyone hide in their aisles. They had their eagle eyes on all of Denning’s teens so that things like condoms didn’t go mysteriously walking into the night.

  She heard the tinkle of the bell as another customer came in. Giving thanks she was short enough not to be seen over the shelves, she hunkered down amid the boxes of nutrition bars. Unfortunately, nutrition bars were what the customer wanted and she came face-to-face with Mrs. Elaine Stroman, née Denning. Descendant of town founders, married into the largest employer in a twenty-mile radius, and her mom’s best friend.

  “Rosa! Your mom said you’d be home.” Mrs. Stroman’s perfectly set hair barely bobbed as she bent down to give Rosa a well-perfumed hug. Rosa tried not to choke on the cloud of flowery scent. Not even her mom could convince Mrs. Stroman to tone it down.

  “Hi, Mrs. Stroman.”

  “What’s with this ‘Mrs. Stroman’? How many times do I have to tell you to call me Elaine?”

  Before Rosa could come up with a response, she continued on. Rosa tuned her out until a name caught her attention.

  “It’s such a pity you and Ian never got together. Maybe then we would have seen you more these last few years.”

  Thoughts of Ian Stroman, Elaine’s only son, had blood rushing to her face and Rosa hoped she didn’t resemble a stop light. “Uhhhh…” Memories of a young Ian—shirtless in summer at the lake, hauling in firewood for the traditional Christmas fire, the look on his face when she’d suggested dating—had lust and mortification fighting for supremacy.

  “But I hear that you’ve got your masters now. Engineering, isn’t it? It’s so wonderful to see young women like yourself in the sciences. We need more. By the way, have you heard that the city is hiring? You should come home.”

  Unsure how to handle the sheer onslaught of information and the amount of words, Rosa looked for a way out. When she heard Mr. Antonelli calling for her, she sent up a silent word of thanks to any deities who were listening. “I’ve got to go.”

  “Oh, that’s what I was here for as well.” Elaine tapped her head. “Got to keep the meds going, you know.”

  Refusing to even engage on what that might mean, Rosa turned and headed back to the pharmacy counter. Mr. Antonelli had a hangdog look on his face, though he waved at Elaine. “Hi, Elaine. Do you mind if I have a few private words with Rosa?”

  “Sure.”

  Rosa didn’t have to turn to know Elaine had her usual million-watt smile aimed at Mr. Antonelli. Being Elaine Stroman had to be exhausting. Mr. Antonelli gestured for Rosa to head to the private consultation area. Once there, he handed her a printed piece of paper. Mom’s name and date of birth were at the top, but beyond that, it was a jumble of words and numbers. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was supposed to take from it.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

  “I’m afraid that your mother’s prescriptions have exhausted certain benefits so they’re going up in price. The insurance company only approved this amount of coverage, so this is what we will have to charge her.” He pointed to the final line.

  She may as well have been looking at her tuition bill. She swallowed. “Uh…I have to check with my mom. I…I don’t know if she has this available.”

  “I know. We can wait.”

  Rosa called her mom on her cell and ran down what the bill would be. Before she could finish, Elaine was standing in front of her, a concerned look on her face. “Rosa? Let me talk with Lottie.”

  When her mom said the same thing in her ear, Rosa handed over the phone. Humiliation burned through her. Mom’s employment hadn’t exactly been steady through the years, but she was insured. How could she have already run through benefits to the point where she was having to pay close to a thousand dollars for medication? Note to self, never get an uncommon brain disorder in America.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll just add it to the fundraising goal.” Elaine paused and looked at Rosa. “I love you, too, Lottie. Here’s Rosa.”

  She took the phone and heard Mom tell her not to worry and that she’d see her at home. In a haze, she hung up and watched as Elaine paid for her mom’s medications. Once again, the Donnellys were at the mercy of the town’s good will.

  “Mom?”

  Rosa closed her eyes. No, no, no. She didn’t need this. Not him. When she opened them, she saw the body she’d fantasized about as a teen had matured into that of a man in the prime of his life. He’d been a head taller than her when she was in high school and it looked like he’d added a few inches more. His chest had broadened a bit, and there was definition to the muscles in his forearms. She dragged her gaze up and met the light hazel eyes that had haunted her dreams for way too long.

  “Rosa?”

  She swallowed. “Hey, Ian.”

  Ian looked down into soft brown eyes that had been at turns innocent, mischievous, and then hurt through the years he’d known them. Now they had a hard edge to them. Her dark hair was shorter, and her body lean beneath the rock band t-shirt and ragged shorts she wore. The girl he’d remembered had turned into a woman. Interest tickled the edge of his consciousness, but he pushed it back because this was Rosa. “Rosa. I didn’t know you were back.”

  She lifted one shoulder, displacing the neckline of her shirt so a black bra strap showed for a moment. “Just helping my mom out for a bit now that I’m done with school.”

  “Ah. Yeah. Congratulations?”

  Her nod of acknowledgement was short, but not unexpected considering the last time he’d seen her, he’d been turning her down when she’d suggested they date. What had she expected though? She may have just turned eighteen, but she was still a kid. And not even done with high school at that point. He probably could have been gentler, but there were a lot of things he could have been when he’d been younger.

  His mom joined them at that moment, and she handed a large white paper bag to Rosa. “Here you go, honey. Tell Lottie I’ll call her later. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  She gave Rosa a kiss on the cheek and then took his arm and led him out of the store. He looked back over his shoulder and caught Rosa’s gaze once again. He waved, but she didn’t wave back.

  He held the door open for his mother and slipped his sunglasses back on, constantly aware of the weight of Rosa’s gaze. It added to the feeling of having missed out on something. He wasn’t able to shake it until they were in his car.

  Checking for traffic coming around the square, he backed out and
headed to the family business campus. “Are you sure you don’t mind coming to the office? I can take you home.”

  “I’m fine, Ian. Your father can take me home if I get tired. Besides, it’ll be good for him to leave before five. You’d think he hadn’t retired.”

  Ian grunted. His father had retired and turned the management of the company over to him two years ago, but still ended up coming in a few days a week to work on product development special projects. As Roger Stroman was legendary to their customers for the more popular toy and garden decoration lines, it was hard to tell him no. They needed all of the good will they could muster these days, and considering his mother had threatened divorce after three months of retirement, Ian knew she wouldn’t want Dad home the entire time anyway.

  “I’m sorry things with the family have gotten crazy. I hadn’t expected the newsletters to take off like they did.”

  She reached over and gripped his wrist. “Don’t you ever apologize for doing what’s right. Your father and I are so proud of what you’re doing. We can handle the aunts and uncles. Your father grew up managing their nitpicking and I’ve been ignoring them for years. I know, no matter what happens, you’ll make the right decision for both the good of the company and yourself.”

  The weight he’d felt earlier from Rosa’s gaze was nothing compared to the weight of his family’s expectations. His mom had never been the activist that Lottie was, but she’d never held back her views or her support of her best friend.

  And her best friend’s daughter was Rosa. Rosa who he’d never quite thought of as a little sister the way Mackenzie was, but she may as well have been. Rosa who was now all grown up and had him very interested in learning more about what she’d been up to beyond what Mom had passed on in the normal course of conversation.

  He let out a breath. Before, he’d always enjoyed small town life—even when it got in the way of typical teenage shit. But now, he wished he had a longer drive to the plant rather than the fifteen minutes it took from the center of town. He parked in his assigned spot near the office area and waited for his mom to climb out of the SUV.

  “You know, we should have you do some work with Rosa for the fundraiser.”

  “What?”

  “Not that I want her to do a whole lot since she’s here to look after her mom, but we could use it as a way to welcome her back into the community. She’s visited so little, and who knows what Lottie’s told her to keep her up to date.”

  He held the office door open for her. “Is she planning on staying?”

  “Whether she is or not, she is a part of this community and needs to be made feel welcome.”

  His mom may have been a bit flighty, but he knew if he let out the sigh he was feeling, she’d turn around and smack him upside the head just as she had when he’d acted up as a kid. He may have been thirty-one, but a mom was a mom no matter the age.

  His assistant, Jimmy, waved. “Hey, Ian. The mail just arrived and there’s something you need to look at, and I’ve got Larry waiting for you on the phone.”

  Shit. What the hell did Larry want now? He headed over. “Have you seen my dad?”

  “Last I heard, he was in the plant. Amrit said he’d call if your dad was getting into anything.”

  Ian snorted. Amrit wouldn’t bother calling. His plant manager would just kick Dad back to the office. He took the envelope Jimmy held out. His chest seized as he caught sight of the logo on the return address corner.

  He felt Mom’s comforting hand at the small of his back. “You okay, honey?”

  “Uh, fine. I have to take care of this. Why don’t you go find Dad and kidnap him for the rest of the day? I’m sure Amrit will be glad to have him out of his hair.”

  She narrowed her eyes, but all she said was, “Tell Larry we’ll see him and his parents at Sunday dinner.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  She kissed him on the cheek and headed to the factory floor.

  He sat down at his desk. The same one his dad had sat at, and the one his grandfather had brought over with him from Germany before the war. Carved wood had darkened to a deep brown with age and untold layers of varnish. They’d once had a decorator in to update the office and he’d suggested getting rid of the desk as it didn’t go with the modernized scheme they’d chosen for the rest of the office. Dad had refused, and Ian had backed him up. For as long as a Stroman runs Stroman Industries, they will sit behind this desk.

  His dad’s words echoing in his mind, he picked up the phone to talk with his cousin.

  “Hey, Larry. How long have you been waiting?”

  “Not too long. Listen, we’ve talked about this, and I’ve come to a decision. I know the business has lost money since you started this newsletter thing. I’m implementing the business loss clause in the trust. The paperwork will be filed in the next few days.”

  Ian clenched his fist even as he tried to keep the tone of his voice reasonable. “Larry, that’s extreme. Yes, we’ve lost some business if the letters are anything to go by, but that’s been made up by others who’ve found us because of the newsletters. Stroman Industries is just as strong as it was the day my dad stepped down.”

  “Ian, the writing is on the wall. Partisan politics in a business’s customer newsletter doesn’t do anyone any favors. Just stop doing them already.”

  Ian rubbed his forehead. This was an argument he and his cousin, as well as the rest of the extended family, had been fighting over since he’d started his little crusade. “Larry. I’m done fighting with you about the newsletter. I’m doing what I think is right for the company and for our community. Filing suit isn’t going to win you anything.”

  “I hate doing this, Ian, but I’m doing what I feel is right for the company.” Larry hung up before Ian could say anything more.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, then hung up the phone. The letter Jimmy had given him may as well have been an elephant sitting on his desk. Knowing that ignoring it wouldn’t do him any good, he opened it.

  It was simple, and to the point. The Family Shopping Channel—aka FSC, the largest broadcast shopping channel in the country and their current second-largest distributor—was strongly requesting that he cease using company resources to push his political views or they would have to cut ties to Stroman Industries.

  “Goddammit.”

  He’d been hoping it wouldn’t come to this. Their business relationship was only a few years old, so it wasn’t like he had a strong base to push back with. He glanced at the last sentence. They expected to hear from him by the end of the month with his decision. Two weeks from now. “God. Damn. It.”

  2

  Excerpt from Stroman Industries’ customer newsletter:

  Many of you are fans of Lottie’s Lumber Toys. We named them after my mom’s best friend Lottie Donnelly. You may think me encouraging you all to be more active citizens in the world and do positive things for change is coming out of left field. I hope it’s not. I grew up with the example of Lottie, you see. Lottie believes in building bridges between communities. Whenever there was a cause that needed support, whether in the form of money or in-person activism, Lottie was there. Often with my mom in tow. Every time you watch the children in your lives build something with Lottie’s Lumber Toys, think about what you can do to build a happier future for them.

  Rosa shouldered open the side door to her mom’s house. She dropped the groceries she’d picked up from the superstore twenty minutes from town on the counter and placed the meds on the kitchen table. “Mom?”

  “I’m up. Do you need help?”

  “No. I’ve got it. I’ve got a couple more loads.”

  By the time she finished bringing in what was left in the car, her mom was bustling around the kitchen, putting away what had already been brought in. As she went to grab the personal items Mom had set to the side, she spotted the pile of books. Not just any books, but yearbooks. Hers and her mom’s from the size of the pile.

  Deciding she didn’t want to relive some of
the most embarrassing years of her life, she grabbed her stuff and put it away in her room before heading back to take care of the last groceries. Mom was sitting down at the table, the color of her skin heading toward pasty.

  She crouched down and held her mom’s wrist. The pulse of blood fluttered under her fingers. “Are you all right?”

  Mom waved a hand in front of her face. “I’ll be fine. Just a little winded. Maybe a little dizzy.”

  Rosa didn’t remember much about her dad, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t the parent she’d inherited her stubbornness from. “Let me get you some water.”

  Rosa grabbed a glass from the cabinet next to the sink and filled it. The afternoon light coming in from the kitchen window caught the cut pattern in the heavy glass. She remembered how proud Mom had been when she’d brought it and a couple others home from the flea market. She’d claimed it showed her nose for a great deal. Rosa chalked it up to the fact they could rarely afford new.

  Pushing away old hurts, she put the glass down within easy reach. “When I ran into Mrs. Stroman at the pharmacy, she mentioned that they’re doing a fundraiser for you.”

  “Oh, Elaine.” Mom shook her head, but instead of talking more about it, she took the water.

  “Mom. Why didn’t you tell me things had gotten so bad?”

  “Don’t take that tone with me, young lady. I’m still your mother.”

  Rosa bit back the instinctive, and juvenile, response. She hadn’t been a teenager for years, but bring her back to Denning and this house? She might as well have never graduated high school, let alone college and a graduate program.

  “Tell me about the fundraiser.”

  “It’s nothing. Just the usual they have when someone in the community is in need. We all help our neighbors, and it’s my turn right now.”