Page 49 of Rosie
“Rosie-girl!” Grandad swept her up into a hug.
“Hi, Grandad.” She couldn’t help the smile stretched across her face. Rosie smiled so much lately her face was sore. “This is Matt, my boyfriend.” She suppressed a giggle. It was still unbelievable that she got to call him that. “Matt, this is my grandfather, Michael McGann.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir.”
“Oh, none o’that now. ‘Mike’ is fine, or ‘Grandad.’ Her friends all call me that.” Grandad led them inside, closing the door behind them against the cold air. “Rose! They’re here, love.”
Gram came around from the kitchen, her arms outstretched. “Hello Rosie, dear. And this must be Matt.” She released Rosie from her hug only to pull Matt into one as well, yanking his tall frame down to her much shorter height. He looked at her, confused.
“I was named for my grandmother, Rosemary. But I’m Rosemarie, to make it a little different.”
He nodded as Gram released him. “You can call me ‘Gram;’ I realize anything else might be a little confusing.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Now dinner is almost ready. What can I get you to drink?”
Dinner passed quickly, and it was clear Gram and Grandad liked Matt. He talked about his plans after graduation, about looking for a manager job at a restaurant to get experience before he hopefully opened his own. Grandad, of course, suggested an Irish pub, and Matt laughed good-naturedly and pointed out he was Swedish, so he wasn’t sure he could pull that off. It was almost time to leave, so she had time to drop him off at the bar he was meeting the guys at. And Rosie had to get home, so she didn’t miss game night. But her grandparents didn’t want to let them go.
“Gram, we’ll come back another time. Matt and I are meeting friends.”
“Oh, dear me, I didn’t realize the time! You kids have fun now. And we’ll see you soon!”
They ran into traffic and Rosie dropped him at the bar later than they expected. But he still took time for a kiss before hopping out of the car.
“I’ll text you when I get home if I’m not too tired.”
“Okay, be safe. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
She blew him another kiss through the window and watched him wink. Then she drove away as he entered Fabled.
Rosie raced against the clock on her dashboard to get back home before the squad showed up with their men. They’d made the game night later tonight, since Rosie had dinner plans with her grandparents.
Racing up the stairs, she saw Olivia, Jake, Nadia, and Caleb waiting outside her door. “Sorry I’m late.” She hurried to unlock it.
“No worries,” Olivia smiled at her. “We were just talking.”
She smiled back, but she knew it was strained. Olivia still didn’t know! How could she keep lying to her best friends?
Mia and Jade came strolling in as the rest filed inside. Then they sat down, and Nadia spun the rest of their tale as the Dungeon Mistress. They had been killing cultists left and right as they searched for a missing child, and now they finally had the child in their sights outside a cave. But then the child waved her hand and her appearance changed. She was instead, a fey hag! A witch of fairy blood that had been hunting adventurers and even locals for decades.
After the initial outrage at Nadia allowing them to kill innocent people, she pointed out that had they done any investigating at all they would have seen the illusion spell surrounding the child.
“But those people all had the same type of cloak!” Caleb pointed out.
“Do you have any idea how expensive fabric was before industrial times? There’s one seamstress in town, and that’s all she could get.”
Rosie held her head in her hands. Her character would have so much penance to do for her patron deity once they fought off the evil fairy. Because now they were being attacked.
She took on her role as healer and cast her buffs and healing spells as the others fought. They barely made it out by the skin of their teeth, but they had the hag’s head. Jake wanted to nail it to the entrance to her cave as a warning, but everyone else was thoroughly grossed out by the idea.
Rosie’s phone chose that moment to vibrate on the table, catching everyone’s attention. She snatched it up and checked the time while she opened the text. How was it eleven already?
Matt: I’m home. I’d ask you to come up, but I have to work in the morning and I’m exhausted. I won’t be much fun.
Rosie: No worries, the squad is still here anyway. Sweet dreams!
Matt: Always ;)
Her smile must have given her away. “Rosie, who are you texting?” Olivia teased, raising her eyebrows. Rosie gulped and dropped the phone into her lap, heat rising to her cheeks.
