Heart Of Gold

An Accident

Rose gasped as Jake's cool fingers touched her sunburnt shoulders.

Summerland hadn't had this kind of heat for as long as Rose could remember, and she cursed herself for having scoffed at the idea of needing sunscreen for a barbecue.

"You know, you really should have worn sunscreen," Jake admonished her quietly. "This looks painful."

"You have no idea," Rose said, sticking out her lower lip in a pout. "I can't believe it's this hot in September. This is crazy!"

"It's not that bad," Jake shrugged. "We used to get this a lot in Toronto, only the air gets all heavy and humid with all the smog. It'll be like, forty-five degrees once you add in the humidity - at least it's a dry heat here."

Pulling on her thin lace camisole, Rose winced as the fabric brushed her tender skin and stood. Cursing, she tripped over the pile of notebooks strewn across the floor.

"Sorry," Jake said, moving to collect them up. "I was studying before you came over - you wouldn't believe the work that goes along with these classes."

"Accounting?" Rose said, wrinkling her nose as she picked up a small grey textbook.

"It's not really that bad," Jake shrugged. "I was nervous at first but the instructor is great - everything makes sense."

"Well, I'll take your word on that!" Rose laughed.

Math and anything involving numbers had never been her strong points.

Jake wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close, and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Call me later?" he asked.

"Of course." Rose smiled. "I love you."

"Love you too. Drive safe," Jake said softly.

It had been nearly three months since that night in Williams Lake when he had first said that he loved her but it still gave Rose butterflies to hear him say it in such an easy manner.

Like it was the easiest thing in the world to trust that someone wouldn't throw it right back in his face.

Rose kissed him one last time and walked out the door to where Nelly-Belle sat parked on the grass. The dashboard was still warm from the fading sun and Rose winced as her tender skin brushed the upholstered seat. The seat belt strap cut into her burnt collarbone, so she left it off.

The winding drive along Lake Okanagan and into town was peaceful.

With the setting sun streaming through the windshield and a warm breeze blowing through her hair, Rose relaxed into her seat and rested her left arm out the window.

It didn't take long to get to her house once she crossed the bridge. She pulled into the driveway and opened the front door, which had been left unlocked.

Sara was stretched across the couch in their front room, mouth hanging open and an empty bottle of wine lying on the coffee table. Rose bent down quietly, listening for the inhale and exhale of breathe. When Sara gave a muffled sort of snoring sound, Rose backed away and wandered into the kitchen.

Her stomach rumbling, she poked around the cupboards and in the fridge looking for something to eat. There wasn't much but she settled on an apple, cheese and crackers and a bottle of beer. Rose climbed the stairs up to her bedroom and settled down at the foot of her bed to eat. She picked up a faded copy of Wuthering Heights from the shelf above her head and flipped it open, settling on the passage where Cathy was bitten by dogs at Thrushcross Grange.

It was the moment that, as far she Rose was concerned, changed the whole outcome of Heathcliff and Cathy's lives, really – had she not been bitten and had to stay with the Lintons throughout her recovery, Cathy might never have fallen under their suffocating grasp.