Rose woke up, hearing her name called softly, then feeling a gentle touch on her back and a soft kiss on her cheek. She had fallen asleep in front of the laptop, on her folded arms. She lifted her head, blinking. “Leo?” she said, muzzy from sleep.
“Hi, honey.” Leo knelt beside her, so that they were eye level, and he put his arm around her. “I was worried about my best girl, so I snuck out.”
“Aw.” Rose let herself be hugged, their heads touching. Princess Google pressed between them, pawing for attention with moppet feet, her tail flopping back and forth. “That’s so sweet of you.”
“I can sleep here if you want to go back to the hospital. I’ll work from home tomorrow morning, then come by the hospital at noon and pick up you and Melly. Sound like a plan?” Leo kissed her again, and Rose felt the delicious scratchiness of a late-day beard.
“Yes, thanks. I’m sorry I was a jerk.”
“I’m sorry you were, too.” Leo smiled, and Rose smiled back.
“I don’t like when we fight.”
“Me, neither.” Leo kissed her again, more deeply. His mouth was warm, soft, and familiar. A best friend, and a best lover.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, which brings up an option I didn’t mention. We forget the kids and go upstairs and make love like people who have orange crates for furniture and read the liner notes on CDs.”
Rose smiled, then felt it disappear. “Amanda’s doing better, but still in a coma. Melly heard about her on TV.”
“Oh no.” Leo frowned, and Princess Google jumped up on his leg again. He scratched behind the ear, burying his knuckles in her fluffy coat. “You’d better get to the hospital. Unless you want me to.”
“Thanks, but I will.” Rose stretched, feeling stiff. “The Gigots have a lawyer in the family, and they’re suing to stop the school from opening and cleaning up the site. Think they’ll sue us, too?”
“Here we go.” Leo stood up, then steadied her to her feet, his lips pursed. He looked tired, his tie gone and his shirt unbuttoned, showing the collar of his undershirt. “The state and the school district have deeper pockets than we do, but as I said, I’d name us, too.”
“So what can we do? What does it mean, exactly? Can we really lose the house? Do they just take it, and sell it?” Rose couldn’t wrap her mind around it. “What about the mortgage? Do we owe the bank then, too?”
“Relax.” Leo held up a hand. “I have to look at the insurance policy and see if we’re covered. I refuse to worry about it now. It’s late, and we’re both beat.”
“Would you represent us?”
“Not now. Please.” Leo held up his hand, his expression tense. “I can’t deal. One thing at a time.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I said for better or worse, and I meant it.”
“Then I’m a lucky woman.” Rose hugged him tight, and Leo held her close for a second.
“Is this sex?” he asked.
Rose laughed.
Leo gave her a final squeeze, with his trademark grunt, like a punctuation mark. “Want some coffee before you go?”
“Good idea.”
“I’ll get it.” Leo made a beeline for the coffeemaker. He was a coffee fetishist, always on a quest for the perfect cup, trying out French Presses, Cuisinart brewers, and now a single-cup Keurig. He slid a mug under the spout and hit the blue button, and Rose leaned against the counter.
“How’s trial prep going?”
“Not bad. I have a ton to do, but I’m on it.”
“Melly gets discharged at noon. Can you really be there?”
“Yes, I planned on it. I don’t want you running that gauntlet of press alone.”
“Thanks.” Rose knew it wouldn’t be easy for him. His office was an hour’s drive away. “Also, I know you can’t swing it, but the wakes are tomorrow night for Marylou, Serena, and Ellen.”
“You’re not going, are you?” Leo turned, frowning. Behind him, coffee poured into the mug in a stream, releasing a rich aroma.
“Yes, I have to. I lined up a sitter.”
“You shouldn’t, babe.”
“What will it look like if I don’t?” Rose gestured at her computer. “You should see the email I’m getting. They think I’m heartless.”
“All the more reason you shouldn’t go. If we’re getting sued, we have to clam up and lay low.”
“But the whole town will be there. Everyone loved the teacher. You heard Mrs. Nuru.”
“My point exactly.”
“We’ll look disrespectful.”
“So send flowers, lots of flowers.” Leo handed her the coffee mug, and Rose set it down, letting it cool.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I do. Don’t go. Please. As a favor to me.”
“Come on. Don’t be that way.”
“What way?” A wounded look crossed Leo’s tired eyes. “You don’t know what can happen, or what they’ll do, what you’ll do.”
“What would I do? I won’t do anything wrong.”
“You could say the wrong thing.” Leo started to take a sip of coffee, then stopped. “Like how guilty you feel, or how sad that you couldn’t get them both out of the school. All the things you say to me.”
Rose blinked. “I might say that, but only to you or a friend.”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know. I guess Kristen, maybe. She’ll be there.”
“The gifted teacher? Who works for the district that’s about to be sued, who would testify against you or lose her job?” Leo’s eyed flared. “Babe, we don’t have any friends. Nobody knows us, and what they know, they don’t like.”
“We can’t just accept that. It could be our chance to show them that we’re not what they think.”
“No way.” Leo’s tone flattened. “It ain’t gonna happen.”
“It has to, Leo. You can go to the office every day, but this is my world. I have to make it work, for my sake and for the kids.”
“Not now, not tomorrow night. Stay home, will you? Haven’t you done enough?”
Ouch. Rose stood, stunned.
“Oh, jeez.” Leo rubbed his forehead, irritably. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry, really.”
Rose turned away, hurt, and headed for the living room. “I’m going to the hospital. See you tomorrow.”