working girl » tommy shelby.

chapter twenty-two

Tommy had promised Rosie that he would be at the rented house for three in the afternoon, but he didn't turn up until gone six. For most of the afternoon, Rosie was panicking and thought that something awful had happened down at Alfie's or that Tommy was somewhere else and keeping secrets from her. The minute he walked into the household, nearly three hours later, greeting her as if nothing had happened, Rosie had flipped out. Rosie was not a senseless woman and even though Tommy believed that he was being calculated and clever, she could see right through him. The lie that he had given almost offended her - no way would it have taken six hours to sort out some men at Alfie's bakery. She could see that he was noticeably irritated by something that had happened but like always, he remained silent and did not speak a word to Rosie about what was going on in that God forsaken mind of his.

"Are you going to tell me the truth about where you have been for the last six hours?" Rosie questioned, breaking the thick tension that was loitering around in the air. Tommy turned his head to look at Rosie before returning his gaze to the main road in front of them. She was fighting back the tears as she did not want to show weakness in front of Tommy. Not one part of her wanted his sympathy, she just wanted honesty.

"I was at Alfie's bakery like I said. I don't know what you want from me, Rosie." His voice was full of shame which indicated to Rosie that there was most definitely more to the situation than Tommy was letting on.

"I want the fucking truth but I'm not going to get that out of you, am I?"

Rosie wanted to storm down to Alfie's bakery to see if he could confirm Tommy's alibi, but she would be returning back to Birmingham with Tommy in less than forty-eight hours and she prayed that the awkwardness would not follow them up North.

"I just wanted to enjoy tonight with you, Rosie. Why are you ruining it?"

"I'm not, you are."

Rosie's stubbornness infuriated Tommy but he couldn't be angry with her with her for long, not really. His anger was focused on other things, other people and of course, the business. So much was going on in Tommy's life and he did not want to drag Rosie into the chaos. Arguing was the last thing that he wanted to do - mainly because he knew that he would never win against such a powerful and fierce woman - but he also couldn't admit the truth as it would possibly mean the end of their bittersweet relationship. All Tommy could do was stare ahead at the road in front of him and try not to crash. There were too many thoughts on his mind and slowly but surely, they were eating him up until all he could think about was the problems that he was facing every single day.

"No, Rosie, you are making it tough. Just drop the subject and let's enjoy this weekend while we have the chance. I haven't seen you in two fucking weeks and all I wanted was to spend some time with the woman that I love. Is it really too much to fucking ask for?" One of his hands were making wild hand gestures as he spoke, alarming Rosie until she realised that he would never, ever, hurt her. "Fuck." Tommy pulled over on the side of the road. By the time the two of them had finished arguing, they had made it onto a quiet back lane on route to Notting Hill.

"I don't want to be angry with you and I don't want you to be angry with me. I just want the truth, Tommy. I'm not stupid, no matter how much you think I am. You are lying to me about something and even if you do not tell me right now, I will find out eventually."

Tommy looked down at his lap and fiddled with his fingers, not bothering to look at Rosie after her surprising outburst. He knew that Rosie had an argumentative streak, she just needed something to anger her so that it would shine, and Tommy did not particularly like it. Rosie had always been calm whenever Tommy had a violent outburst and knew exactly what to do in order to calm him down but when the boot was on the other shoe, all he could do was listen to her rants and try not to be affected by them. Like any Shelby family member, he found himself arguing back most of the time, but he didn't even know what he was saying when he did argue with her. Tommy just let the words fall from his mouth and before he could stop himself.