What Rosie Found Next by Helen J. Rolfe

obediently, and even he had to concede that the setting was beautiful.
    ‘You’re smitten with this place, aren’t you?’ he said.
    ‘I suppose I am a bit.’
    ‘Holidays and weekend getaways are one thing …’ Here we go, thought Rosie. ‘… but the commute every day would be hard.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘And, can you honestly say you’d be happy living in a bushfire area?’
    ‘There hasn’t been an incident for years.’ A bumble bee wiggled its bum and dived into the centre of a flower as pink as Rosie’s Volkswagen.
    Adam took Rosie’s hands in his. ‘I want us to get a place together too, but we may have to be realistic, start with an apartment nearer the city. In years to come we might decide we’ve had enough of all that, but for now it’s not practical to be as far out as this.’
    ‘You said that.’ She looked at the dried earth beneath her feet. Adam said plenty of sentences with the word ‘we’, but Rosie sometimes wondered whether ‘I’ would be a better fit.
    ‘Rosie, it’ll happen one day. It nearly happened before. We’d be in our own place by now if we hadn’t been outbid. But perhaps it was meant to be.’
    ‘So you’re happy we lost the apartment in St Kilda?’ She stood back, arms folded.
    ‘Of course not.’ He scooped her hair behind her ears. ‘What I’m trying to say is that we lost out on the apartment and soon after I got the overseas posting. But the good thing is that you’re not at our place alone, we’re both saving money and eventually we’ll be able to get a place together.’
    He kissed her lightly on the lips. ‘Show me some more of the town.’
    They made their way to Finnegan’s café, where the little bell above the door chimed as they left the warm street for a cooler yet no less welcoming interior. Rosie waved over to Jackie, one of the kitchen staff at Magnolia House, who was sitting with her young daughter busy colouring the disposable tablecloth as her mum sipped on tea.
    Bella didn’t waste any time coming over to their table to investigate the boyfriend.
    ‘Well, it’s a delight to meet you, Adam,’ said Bella after Rosie had introduced them to one another. She wiped down their table and swiftly laid out two sets of cutlery and napkins folded into triangles.
    Rosie began to realise it mattered to her what Bella thought. Since she’d started going to Finnegan’s after work each day, Rosie had told the other woman all about her boyfriend. And now, the more she felt settled and at home as part of the community, the more she wondered how she’d feel in January when her time here would be up.
    Adam’s crisp, beige chinos left him at odds with the other clientele – a man in the corner wore shorts and sandals, Jackie had on a floaty summer dress and Rosie wore a navy cotton shift dress.
    Rosie ordered the scones with jam and cream and a pot of Earl Grey tea for them both to share, and when Bella went to fill the order, Adam said, ‘You didn’t even ask what I wanted.’
    She looked at him. His top button was undone to show golden-tanned skin beneath, a five o’clock shadow creeping across his chin and up the sides of his face. It was different to his usual corporate image, and ordering for him was certainly something new. But Owen’s comment the other day kept cropping up in her mind at the oddest of times. He was right. She needed to step out of her comfort zone, and maybe this was all part of it.
    ‘You’ll love the scones,’ she said, grinning at Adam, ‘and I knew you’d say you wanted something healthier if I let you order.’
    ‘I need to watch what I eat after all these hotels and the flight,’ he said, patting his belly and smiling at her.
    ‘Time to take a risk.’ Uttering similar words to Owen’s made her feel alive, in control.
    Adam’s hand found Rosie’s across the table. ‘You look happy. More relaxed than I’ve seen you in ages.’
    She felt her insides flicker. ‘I am.’
    The food and tea arrived, and Rosie