Every Rose

3

Her apartment was cozy; two bedrooms, one for her and one for Sofia, a cute little porch right by the kitchen, and a decent sized living room. Sofia's bathroom was at the end of the hall, while Arizona's was an en-suite.

It was nice, it was warm and it was welcoming, but most of all, it felt like homey.

Whether it was from the shoes scattered in the porch, the blanket strewn across the couch casually, or the fact that everything smelled like her, I'd never know.

"Who's dropping Sofia off?" I ask, looking around the kitchen aimlessly; there were pictures of Sofia on the fridge, a couple of colouring sheets, and a drawing.

Of course, the counter was spotless, but the array of drawers and cabinets that surrounded us gave me the impression that she might be a bit of a cook. After all, if it were my kitchen, it would be an absolute disaster.

"Mark is; we have a whole custody rotation worked out" she replied easily, getting some pots and pans out for dinner. My suspicions are confirmed when she opens several cabinets, exposing every kind of pot, pan, dish or tray you could imagine.

It was quite an impressive collection.

"Mark gets her on weekends; Saturday morning to Sunday night" she continues on, placing a large pot, a strainer, and a sauce pan on the stove. "I get her from Sunday night to Wednesday afternoon, and Callie gets her from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday morning. Mark lives the furthest away from the hospital, and he lives too far away from her school according to zoning laws, so she stays with us during the week. He gets her for more of school breaks" she tacks on, and I nod in understanding.

It was definitely hectic, but it worked for them and that's what was important.

"That sounds fair; he gets two whole days to spend with her, you get three days but she's in school for half of the day" I say, noticing how the pattern worked so that everybody got Sofia for a crucial part of the week.

"When she's older, she might want to go week by week, or she might want to go night by night, we're not going to tell her what to do when she's old enough to tell us what she wants" Arizona shrugs casually "or she might tell us to go fuck ourselves and move out with a weird ass boyfriend" she jokes, turning around to look for something for dinner in the cabinets, and I can't help but laugh.

"You're awful" I manage to get out, and she shrugs again. "But you're realistic. I hope to god Sofia doesn't end up like that; because I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt" I nearly gave my poor mother many different strokes on many different occasions.

"I love my daughter no matter what. But I know no boy will ever be good enough for her" she says point-blank "or girl. Or person"

"Any partner she chooses" I add in, and she points at me with a nod.

"That's the word. No partner she brings home will ever be good enough" she repeats, and I nod in agreement.

"Addison's got a son, Henry, back in Los Angeles with her new boyfriend, Jake. She's already decided that no girl will ever be good enough for him, and I'm willing to bet money she'll be a monster in law" I chuckle, remembering Addie fondly. She was the one person I missed from LA.

"That's sweet. Did you call her when Derek passed?" Arizona asks with a concerned look, wondering if his ex-wife knew he'd been killed in a car accident.

"I did. She was devastated" she hadn't taken the news well at all, especially when she couldn't make the funeral. It was hard for her to really grasp, because Derek wasn't her husband anymore, but he was. For fifteen years, they were them and he loved her.