In everyday life, Rose was not afraid of anything. But in her personal life, there was nothing that terrified her more than the thought of disappointing her mother. Which was why, three days after she had caught Rex cheating on her, she was behind the counter at her little shop. Stealing glances at her phone in between serving customers.
A smiling old man buying roses for his wife. A neatly dressed woman holding some daisies and a very talkative seven year old who was all over the magnolias, her harried mother all but tossing the money at Rose as they dashed out the door. A few more came after that, and when the lull came. Rose could no longer delay any further. Steeling herself she picked up her phone and dialed her mother before she could lose her nerve.
Of course, her mother picked up on the first ring. The one day when Rose needed the woman who was always forgetting her phone to have forgotten it, and she had it on hand.
"Hello, sweetheart," Her mom greeted, and the sound of her voice instantly made Rose's eyes water, wishing she could hug her mom. Her silence clearly carried on too long because her mother spoke up again.
"Rosie, is something wrong?" There was as good an opening as she would ever get.
"Rex cheated on me mom, I broke up with him," There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then her mom's voice came through "Good," Before the shock of her mom being glad she was single could turn to hurt, the older woman continued.
"It's not good that he hurt you, but it is good that you left that scumbag," Her mother had never really liked Rex. She had only accepted the engagement because it had been something Rose wanted.
"I raised you to be strong and go where you are loved,"
"That man did not love you. And when you realized it, you had the strength to leave,"
"I am proud of you sweetheart, and I love you very much,"
"Love you too, mom, oh, there's a customer coming, I have to go," She hung up, feeling guilty for lying. But she was scared that if the call had carried on she would have burst into tears at the amount of love her mom could show even from a distance. She had known she was doing the right thing in leaving Rex, but having her mother's support still meant everything to her. Composing herself she went about her day. When closing time came, she sent a message to her best friend, Lili, asking if she was free that night so that they could catch up.
"Men are trash! That jerk Rex is the worst of them," Lili was on the bed next to Rose, diligently cutting up the pieces of every photo that had Rex in it. She was more expressive in her dislike for the man than Rose's mother had been.
The pictures were overkill, but Lili Andino did not do things in moderation.
"The girl he cheated with isn't that good looking either, she's got the face of a pug," It was a lie, both of them knew it. They'd looked her up, and not only was she a successful model who'd walked runways in France , Italy and China. The company she'd founded was also doing pretty well.
But Lili was nothing if not loyal, and they'd spent several hours down voting the woman's pictures online. It had all the effect of an ant trying to squash an elephant, but it did make Rose feel better.
"I should have slapped both of them some more," Rose sniffed, wiping away a few stray tears. She and Lili were currently in Rose's tiny apartment, side by side on the bed as they used the five things essential to getting over any man.
Wine.Ice cream, more ice cream and even more ice cream.
Abandoning the diet she'd been on so she could fit into her wedding dress, Rose had immediately started stuffing her face. She'd always had a healthy appetite. And she was glad that losing Rex had not robbed her of that. With last of the ice cream eaten and the wine nothing more than a distant memory, Rose's head lolled, ending up on her friend's shoulder.
"Lili?" She called, voice soft "Am I ugly? Am I really stupid and controlling? Do I lack ambition?"
Ugly, stupid, lacking ambition. Those were the things Rex had texted her when he had realized that she had been serious at the cafe. She had blocked him after reading the message, but each word had been a fresh wound on her battered heart. The man who used to look at her with love in his eyes talking about her like she was the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen.
Before answering, Lili shifted bringing Rose's head down to her lap, gentle fingers running through Rose's hair.
"You are beautiful, how can anyone as gorgeous as you be ugly," The fingers continued to move, never stopping. Clutching a pillow to her chest, Rose rubbed her cheek against her friend's thigh a small smile on her face.
"You run your own business, a florist in a big city and you are thriving. You started Eden all on your own, with your own money and no backing from anyone, or powerful connections,"
"Don't ever take the awful things that bad man said to heart. You're my best friend, and Lili is too awesome to be friends with a loser," The last bit made Rose giggle, Lili's gigantic ego always made itself known.
As a lawyer, Lili had to be confident in every way, and in that moment Rose was grateful for that. Drawing on her friend's natural self belief to replenish her own. Wiping her tears, Rose let go of the pillow and rose up, pulling her friend into a hug. Lili was right, Rose had been someone before Rex, and she'd continue to be someone even after him. Now all she had to do was get her heart to believe her.