Roses and Flame

Chapter 24

Turns out that opening the shop and working the morning shift alone wasn't so bad. Of course, it has a lot of responsibility but at the same time, you don't have to worry about someone watching over your shoulder and making you even more nervous. By the time my colleague came to work, I'd had only a few customers to serve.

When I was walking home from work I noticed my dad was calling so I picked up.

"Hey, Rosie!" my dad said happily.

"Hey, dad. Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes, it's just me...no WE have good news to share with you."

"What do you mean - we?"

"Your dad is moving back home," said my mother. I was speechless. I guess the therapy did wonders.

"Aren't you at least a little bit happy about it?" asked my dad.

"Yea...I mean, yes, of course, I am. It's just that you took me by surprise, that's all."

"Does that mean you'll move back too?" asked my mother.

"Well..no. I know that living with Daniela was supposed to be only temporary, but I have a part-time job now and eventually want to find my own place," then quickly added, "that doesn't mean I won't be coming to visit you both. I'm honestly glad that you guys made up."

"Well just because I'll be moving back that doesn't necessarily mean we can go back to the way things were before. We still have issues that we will need to work on to stay married," said my dad.

"I guess the therapy helped you guys," I said while wasn't sure what to add next.

"Can you come to a family dinner with us tonight?" asked my mother. I could tell she wasn't happy about the fact that I wasn't moving back too but wanted to keep the conversation light.

"Well, I had plans with my boyfriend but maybe some other night?" I asked.

"Well, why don't the both of you come tonight? We want to meet your boyfriend, don't we?" asked my mother.

"Yeah...why don't you two come?" asked my dad. I could tell that he wasn't sure about this idea as much me. I mean I would probably one day introduce them to Tyson but wasn't sure if tonight was that night.

"Rosanna?" asked my mother, "will you two be coming tonight?"

"I need to ask Tyson, but I will text you if we decide to come."

"Of course, honey. Talk through with him and then get back to us," said dad. I could tell he knew that I wasn't sure about mom meeting Tyson and I could tell that he wasn't sure about that idea too.

After I agreed to text them for like the tenth time, I texted Tyson about this. Not that I wanted to persuade him in any way, just wanted to inform him about this whole idea.

When I walked into my and Daniela's apartment Tyson called.

"Hello," I said answering the call.

"I got your text so I wanted to call back. Are they back together and want to meet us?"

"Apparently, but don't worry. We can just go some other time and meet up like we planned to," I said.

"Okay, so why don't you open the door?"