Love, Rosie (108 page)

hardly
love
Teddy
with
all
my
heart.

OK
then
Alex
and
I
are
madly
in
love
and
we’re
going
to
run
away

and
have
a
passionate
love
affair.

You
see?
It
doesn’t
hurt
to
admit
it
does
it?

Whatever.
How’s
your
Gary?

Overweight.

Jesus
do
you
see
anything
else
other
than
weight
when
you
look
at

him?

Yes,
I
see
memories
of
hours
of
agonizing
labor.
He
still
grunts
at

me
and
makes
signals.
Although
I
heard
him
on
the
telephone
to
his

girlfriend
Gemma.
He
uses
words,
you
know?

Rosie:

Ruby:

Rosie:

Rosie:

That’s
amazing
Ruby.

Well
a
mother
is
allowed
to
be
proud.

Hold
on
Ruby.

Oh
my
god,
celery
stick
just
got
back
from
meeting
with
Bill
and

Bob
and
she’s
crying
her
eyes
out.
They
just
fired
her.
I’m
next.
Shit.

I
better
go.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.

Rosie
has
logged
off

chapter
24

k

Kevin,

Hi
son.
I
know
I’m
not
one
to
write
letters,
but
I’m
not
sure
if
you
gave

your
mother
and
me
the
correct
phone
number
of
the
staff
barracks.
When-

ever
I
call
it
just
keeps
on
ringing
and
ringing
and
that’s
at
all
hours
of
the

day
and
night.
You
either
gave
us
the
wrong
number
purposely,
there’s
some-

thing
wrong
with
your
phone,
or
everybody
is
working
so
hard
they’re
not

there
to
answer
my
calls.
I
wouldn’t
like
the
idea
of
having
to
share
a
phone

with
thirty
staff
members.
Couldn’t
you
get
one
of
those
mobile
phones?

Then
maybe
your
family
could
get
in
touch
with
you
every
once
in
a
while.

I
hope
you’re
not
doing
anything
daft
down
there.
Rosie
really
stuck
her

neck
out
to
get
you
that
job
in
the
kitchen.
Don’t
mess
it
up
like
all
those

other
ones
you
had.
This
is
a
good
opportunity
for
you
now
to
get
a
good

start
in
your
life.
Your
old
man
is
sixty
now,
I
won’t
be
around
forever
for

you
to
rely
on,
you
know!

It’s
a
shame
you
couldn’t
make
it
home
for
my
retirement
party.
The

company
invited
the
entire
family,
they
really
treated
us
well
for
the
night,

treated
me
well
for
over
thirty-five
years
in
fact.
Stephanie,
Pierre,
and
Jean-

Louis
made
it
over
from
France.
Rosie,
Greg,
and
young
Katie
were
there

too.
It
was
a
good
night.
I’m
not
picking
on
you,
son,
just
wished
you
had

been
there
too
that’s
all.
It
was
an
emotional
night
all
the
same.
If
you
had