Just Rosalie

Love Isn't Always Enough

Rosalie stood in front of the restaurant and looked over its name-Lee's Fine and Dine. It made her wonder-how many lies had she been told under that roof?
"Rosalie? I thought that's you."
Pennelope stepped out of the restaurant's door. She'd noticed Rosalie from where she was standing behind the bar, and though she never allowed herself to overstep, she had to make sure that Rosalie was okay.
"Pen... I need to ask you something."
Pennelope let out a breath and nodded. It was an extremely warm day in May. The sun was shining brightly, and the clouds brought warmth to the blueness of the sky.
"What is it?"
Rosalie pulled her jacket tighter around her body. Pennelope could see that she'd been crying-red eyes and pink, puffy cheeks.
"Does everyone think I'm a slut?"
Pennelope's eyes widened and she furrowed her brows. She didn't expect that question, out of all things.
"Of course not. Why would you..."
"I was Lee's mistress. You, of all people, never considered telling me?"
Pennelope was confused. Why would she tell Rosalie that when it wasn't true? Then, as if it was timed, it all made sense.
"Rosalie, I didn't know. And if I did, I'd think Lee's the one to tell you, not me." Rosalie frowned and inhaled a breath. So no one knew then? How was that possible when they'd been working at the restaurant for years? "It's too hot to stay out here." Pennelope ushered her inside of the restaurant and to the bar. Rosalie took a seat and Pennelope grabbed a bottle of wine. "Rosalie, Lee's always been private with her life. So, you can't blame anyone for not knowing what was going on."
"How couldn't they? Beth had to come around. Didn't you suspect something when I started coming around too?"
Rosalie asked as she took a sip of the wine that Pennelope had poured for her.
"Beth and Lee were a private couple. They didn't express much in front of anyone. So, when she stopped coming around, we didn't take it for anything. And when you showed up, we just figured that they called it quits without us knowing."
Pennelope shrugged. She'd never suspected anything out of the ordinary. To be honest, it always seemed that Lee's relationship with Elizabeth was always on the verge of ending.
"That doesn't make much sense."
"It does. As time went by, and Beth's career started off good, she sometimes didn't get a chance to stop in. Caring for a kid and work life, you know. We don't get paid to snoop. And I can tell you for sure, that I've never thought of you as Lee's mistress."
Rosalie sighed. She should have felt relieved, right? But yet, she still thought that she was a horrible person.
"So, no one thinks that I broke their relationship apart?"
Pennelope shook her head. If anything, Rosalie had done Elizabeth a favor. Anyone could have seen that Lee and Elizabeth were miserable together. Pennelope had heard rumors of Lee's affairs, and after she'd met Rosalie, it seemed as though she was finally content.
"Doubt it. We did think that Lee robbed the cradle, but that's about it."
Rosalie forced a smile. She was, of course, not a saint. There were a lot of bad things she'd done-slept with multiple women in one day, had sex on her mom's bed, or the classic, stole her father's car. But she'd never had an affair before-she'd never slept with a married woman.
She headed inside of the kitchen and noticed Lee standing by the oven. Lee spotted Rosalie and rushed over to her.
"How was babysitting?"
Lee wrapped her arms around Rosalie's neck and placed a kiss on her lips. She'd been worrying about Rosalie spending time with Henry, not that she had a major problem with it, but it made her paranoid.
"When were you going to tell me?"
Rosalie shifted her lips away and looked down at Lee's shoulder. Lee was confused. What was she talking about?
"What are..."
"The affair."
Lee swallowed. She still had a chance to act oblivious. There was no way Rosalie knew.
"I've never cheated, sweetheart. What are you talking about?"
Rosalie stepped backward and raised her eyes to meet Lee's. She wasn't sure what Lee's eyes were saying, but there was certainly no sincerity.
"I'm not sure how I've never seen through your lies, but you need to stop and tell me the truth."
Lee stepped forward and Rosalie took another step back. She didn't want to be close to Lee, because she needed to get answers. And she would have gotten distracted from their close contact.
"Sweetheart, I swear. I've never cheated."
Rosalie inhaled a breath. She wasn't sure if Lee was acting oblivious or if she just was.
"Okay. But you've cheated with me, right? On Beth?"
Lee's eyes widened. She should have known better than to allow Rosalie anywhere near Elizabeth. That's why she kept her distance.
"Sweetheart... I..."
"How many years of our relationship have you been with both of us?"
Pedro excused himself from the kitchen, and Rosalie tried to calm herself down. Her anger was rising, and she knew that she'd leave that very night if Lee didn't start telling the truth.
"It doesn't matter. You're fussing for no reason."
Lee passed her hand through her brunette hair and sighed. She couldn't tell Rosalie the truth. Rosalie would never forgive her. She'd listened to Rosalie talk about her father, and how she could never forgive him. It was the one thing that would definitely end their relationship.
"Lee, I'm fucking furious, right now. Either tell me or I'm leaving..."
"Leaving? Leaving to go where? I'm the only one you've got here."
Rosalie shook her head, her cheeks heating up. She hadn't gotten that angry in a while.
"You're an arse. I don't need to have anyone to leave you."
Lee rolled her eyes. Rosalie rushed out of the kitchen and bumped into Jennivine.
"I... uh..."
Jennivine stuttered. She'd overheard their conversation-the entire restaurant did. Lee came out of the kitchen and grabbed Rosalie by her arm.
"Stop this. We are good together."
"Leave me alone, Lee. If you can't be upfront with me, then I can't be with you."
"Being upfront, huh? Why were you talking to my ex-wife in the first place, huh?"
Rosalie couldn't believe that she'd spent four years of her life with someone that she apparently knew nothing about.
"Because you can't seem to be a mother to your son. Is that what you want to hear? I tried resolving the situation only to find out that I've been your bloody mistress for god knows how long!"
Rosalie pulled herself away from Lee's grasp and headed over to the bar. Pennelope looked at Rosalie with sympathetic eyes and poured her another glass of wine. The restaurant was filled with customers, but she didn't care at that moment. She didn't care about anything.
"Rosalie, calm down."
Lee walked over to Rosalie and placed the palm of her hands on the surface of the bar's counter. She inhaled a deep breath trying to come up with something to resolve the situation-to make it all better.
"No. Tell me, Lee. When did you actually leave your wife? After you started fucking me, or after I moved in?"
Lee slammed her hand down on the bar's counter. She couldn't stand it anymore. Rosalie was making a scene in front of everyone.
"Shut the fuck up already!"
Rosalie scoffed. She didn't cringe or shudder. Lee didn't scare her, and if she dared to raise a hand, Rosalie had taken enough self-defense classes while growing up to defend herself.
"Not until you answer my question."
Lee breathed unfulfilling breaths. She needed to calm down, and Rosalie needed to calm down too.
"We've been together for four, wonderful years. Why does it matter?"
Rosalie felt her eyes welling up. She looked at Pennelope behind the bar and wordlessly asked her for help. Because even though Rosalie seemed composed, she was torn and disheveled.
"Because it's either you tell me now, or I buy a plane ticket, and you'll never see me again."
Lee ran the palm of her hand over her face and sighed. Rosalie was being unfair, to her at least. To everyone else, her proposition seemed fair enough.
"A week before I asked you to move in."
Lee sucked in a breath and Rosalie felt all the blood drain from her face. She didn't think that she could feel worse than she was already, but was proven wrong.
"That was two fucking years ago! How could you!"
Rosalie screeched as her composure finally faltered. She couldn't believe that Lee had been two-timing for all that time into their relationship.
"Rosalie, let's take this upstairs."
"No!" Rosalie picked up a miniature umbrella and threw it at Lee. She was hurt. No, she was crushed. The tears rolled down her cheeks heavily. Her emotions were spiraling out of control. "You've ruined everything."
Rosalie mumbled as she grabbed a napkin and wiped her cheeks. Pennelope felt as though she had to do something. She'd never seen Rosalie in the state that she was in.
"I fell in love with you. That's not a crime, right?"
Lee looked at Rosalie with remorseful eyes. She hated that she was the reason for Rosalie's tears, and her heart shriveled inside of her chest.
"I love you, Lee. But I don't think I can be with you."
Rosalie looked around. She took a sip of the wine that Pennelope had poured out for her. She'd never felt so lifeless before.
"But we're engaged! How can you..."
Rosalie gritted her teeth.
"Because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but I don't even know who you are anymore."
"But you love me, right? We'll figure this out. We can go to counseling. I'll make it all better."
Rosalie trailed the tip of her finger along the stem of the wine glass.
"Love isn't always enough."
Lee felt her knees becoming weak. Was their relationship ruined?
"It is. Trust me, sweetheart. We'll get through this. I've never cheated on you, so that's gotta mean something, right?"
Rosalie looked at Lee with narrowed eyes. How could she believe anything Lee had to say? How could she trust her again?
"You wanted both of us... so how can I trust that I'll be enough for you? In a few years, you might go back to your old ways. I can't trust that our relationship will be different. I don't trust..."

"And why do you believe everything she told you!"
Lee yelled. She was becoming furious. Elizabeth had no right to tell Rosalie anything about her past, because it was ruining her future-a future that she'd desperately wanted.
"Oh. So now, she's the one lying. Tell me, Lee. What has she lied about so far? That you cheated? That you're a two-timer? That you're a disgrace of a..."
"Shut up!"
Those words screeched in Rosalie's ears. It made her body tremble and her heart shiver inside of her chest.
"I'm going to stay at a hotel tonight so that I can calm myself down. I don't even want to look at..."
"Save it."
Lee held the palm of her hand up. She thought that Rosalie would have been more understanding. But Lee was just making up excuses for herself. She knew that what she'd done was wrong.
Pennelope's shift was ending soon, and she knew that she'd need to take care of Rosalie. She'd never let Rosalie stay at a hotel alone, that would have been torture.
Lee stormed into the kitchen. Orders were piling up, and customers had started to leave because of the scene. She needed to be hands on with her work. It would distract her, and that's what she needed.
Rosalie headed into the loft and packed a few of her things into a small suitcase-jeans, blouses, shorts, bras and panties. She'd need to hire an entire U-Haul if she did plan on actually moving out. But for the time being, she was just giving herself some space away from Lee. She needed to figure out if their relationship was worth fighting for or not.
Pennelope was waiting for Rosalie at the end of the staircase, and took it upon herself to hold the suitcase. She'd noticed the smile on Jennivine's face, and knew that the blonde was more than elated. There were many things that Pennelope knew, and one of those things was the fascination that Jennivine and her girlfriend had for Rosalie. Maybe Rosalie knew, and maybe, she didn't. But Pennelope knew that those two didn't stand a chance.
"Pen, you don't have to..."
"I want to. You really think I'll let my best friend stay at a hotel?"
Rosalie smiled. At least, she was sure that she had a true friend. She wondered if she should have left the country for a few weeks, to settle her mind. She could have spent some time in her hometown, or meet her mother in Puerto Rico, where she'd been staying for the past few days.
As Rosalie sat in the passenger side seat of her car, she looked at the rearview mirror as Pennelope reversed out of the parking lot.
She'd never thought that she'd stay with Pennelope, and have a falling out with the love of her life. But was Lee really the love of her life? She wasn't too sure anymore. For the next few days, she knew that she needed to reassess her life-her wants, needs and most importantly, her future.