Chapter Six
The next time Luka and Rosetta met, it was over the untamed waters of Niagara Falls. The time after that it was an obscure lake in the northern peninsula of Michigan. So many places now had Luka's face, voice, and aura seared over them in Rosetta's memories that it was difficult to catalogue them all. Each time they met, it seemed as though they stood just a little closer to one another, delved just a little deeper into each other's thoughts, and became a bit more confident in asking if and when they would meet again. The answer to that inquiry, incidentally, was always yes, and the time agreed upon was almost always the very next night. Rosetta's calendar insisted that only two months had passed, but her heart felt years wiser.
She had learned that Luka sometimes gathered with his friends to sing Italian folk songs around a bonfire. That there was a room in his house with large, crystal-clear windows; it smelled like sunshine, and it was where he had grown up playing as a child. Now it was his preferred spot for reading romance novels. He did not care if they were cheesy, he said, so long as they were hopeful. He craved the simplistic style of love, all boiled down to an algorithm, a several-step process, a waltz that anyone could dance.
"Thanks so much for coming in today," Rachel said. The words pulled Rosetta back to the present, even though her mind was always pulling toward the past or the future. Relief was apparent in her tone, and Rosetta understood why: their little shop was buzzing with activity, and the noise level reverberating off the walls that usually felt so quiet was a dull roar, despite the fact that it was almost closing time. "I didn't mean to bother you on a school night, I was just getting so overwhelmed!"
"Don't worry about it," Rosetta replied briskly, inconspicuously changing the sign on the door from "We're Open!" to "Sorry...we're closed." and giving Rachel an understanding pat on the arm. "I'm glad you called. I funded this place, after all, and I should do just as much for it as you do," she reasoned.
Rachel tutted and furrowed her brow in disagreement. "I don't think of it like that," she said. "You work hard at school, and I'm grateful to have a job like this. Excuse me, everyone!" She raised her voice to attract the attention of all the customers milling around and turning various cosmetic products over in their palms. "We'll be closing shortly, so please bring your purchases up to the front and we'll get you checked out."
With both check-out desks open, getting the plethora of customers out the door proved to be a relatively simple task. Once the last few elderly women shuffled out the door, shopping bags clutched tightly between their age-weathered fingers, Rosetta sighed in satisfaction. "Go, Team Double R," she joked, raising her palm and inviting a high-five. Rachel obliged, and their palms smacked together. Both of them giggled a bit at the silliness of it all.
"What's gotten into you lately?" Rachel …" That's debatable, Rosetta's thoughts interjected. Really, I always managed to show you the best of life and pretend I thought it made everything better, too. Admittedly, though, once in a while, when the wind was right and adrenaline of childhood burned like magma in Rosetta's blood, Rachel had managed to make her truly believe in sunshine and miracles again. Those moments were very dear to her, and she committed them all to long-term memory. "…but lately...oh, I don't know, you just seem so energetic!" She paused for a moment, seeming to be pondering whether or not to add something else, and finally said, "It's nice. It suits you."
Rosetta smiled. Rachel spoke of cheer as if it were a color that could be worn, or a fabric that could be sewn into a gown, or a gemstone that could be hung from a pierced ear. It was a lovely thought in a shallow, noncommittal way.
"I'm not sure, exactly," Rosetta admitted. She was not so unseasoned in life that she believed her happiness was completely wrapped up in Luka now, and that he was to be credited entirely for the shift in her demeanor, but it was undeniable that he had shown her a side of life she had been too apprehensive to gaze at for too long before. He had helped her put faith in uncertain things and made her wonder if anything was really certain at all. "I guess I'm just learning to let myself enjoy the nicer things in life once in a while. Even if they aren't always what makes the most sense at the time, but could end up making more sense than anything in the end."
"Whatever that means, I'm happy for you," Rachel laughed, pulling Rosetta into a hug. Rosetta pulled the smaller woman against her and twirled a few strands of Rachel's pin-straight hair around her pointer finger, just as she had done when they were both children. A warmth that was pure and felt like kindness mixed with forgotten memories filled Rosetta. She closed her eyes and smiled, letting the freckles that had dotted their cheeks in younger, brighter years and the scent of sun-kissed afternoons fill her mind. All was perfect until Rosetta felt the slightest tremor quake through her younger sister and heard a small sniffle. "You were always the best big sister. I hope you'll keep taking care of yourself as well as you took care of me," she whispered. The strain of trying not to cry made her voice much tighter than usual.
Pride swelled in Rosetta's chest, and she found it very difficult to swallow the lump in her throat that had formed upon hearing those words. "I'll do my best," she promised. Her tone was hushed, like the voices of eager elementary students swapping secrets in the places that only they knew about.
"Thank you," Rachel said, pulling away and looking up to meet Rosetta's eyes. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Rachel."