In Which Rosy's Secrets Are Revealed

What? You mean it isn't all about moi?

As it turns out, no. I obviously overestimate my significance in her life.

I asked her at lunch time if she was hungry. She said yes, and as we were walking along the colonnade (yes, Big Finance has colonnades. Lots of them.), she said something like, "I have to talk to our boss when she gets back on her vacation because I have to tell her Wednesday's my last day."

"Wait. What?"

She smiled, the very familiar Rosy smile that's been missing for some time. "I got a real job. A permanent job. With benefits. And it's in Hoboken, so it's only half an hour from my house on the bus."

I said, "I don't know which I want to do more, hug you or hit you. However, I know I won't do either."

She grinned. "Yeah, well. You know I can beat your tired white ass."

Kinky.

And as it turns out, Tony's desertion of their jointly owned house, his turning it over to her free and clear, had been a tremendous burden on her mind. "I just don't want to go back there," she said. "I know it's a good house. I put a lot of hard work into that house. But the memories connected with it...plus, what if that idiot boy thinks he can come over anytime?"

The idiot boy has been in the hoosegow for a month now.

This spurred the Baby Daddy into action. He has an enormous family so his first act was to check with Miss Etta. Are any of the Campbells in need of quarters? And wouldn't you know it turned out, they were. So Rosy's going to be able to rent out the house for a year. And in the meantime, will decide if she wants to move back to the Bronx after all.

After all, Juanito, her oldest boy, is in junior high school this year. She isn't sure.

But she's starting a new job around Bastille Day.

And I am waiting for the Indian person who will no doubt be crammed into the cubicle with me.

"You're gonna miss me," I told Rosy.

"Yeah, well. You're gonna miss me, too."

She's right. I already do.