[ Author’s note: this story takes place shortly after the events described in the epilogue to Fidèle. Not much useful background is included herein, so those who haven’t read that story in full may find this brief addendum bewildering, at best. Call it an Easter egg for everyone who has. It’s a brief character study that relies as much on implication as it does on explication.

When I finished Fidèle, I told countless correspondents that I would never write more about Luke’s future and thus, to my immense regret — especially given my adoration for the character — probably couldn’t write about Rose either, because one way or another he’d have to be dealt with. Of course, inspiration struck almost immediately thereafter, and what follows is the result.

While this is tagged “minimal sex,” there’s no actual sex in the story. Sorry, fellow pervs. But there’s enough sexual content that I didn’t feel “no sex” accurately reflected the vibe.

And, despite all my firm convictions and solemn promises, a sequel to Fidèle is in the works.]

“Hey, sweetheart. You know that I’m going to kill and eat you, right?”

The sheep kept on ignoring her, gnawing grass as she contemplatively patted and stroked its thick wool. She sighed, musing on the ephemerality of existence as she turned her attention toward the Irish Sea. The water was turbid and roiled, neither absorbing nor reflecting. It suited her mood.

It was always there. Always the border and the horizon, the too-close known and the too-distant unknown. Ireland was right there, yet it couldn’t be seen. And beyond that...

She loved and hated the water, for it represented everything that kept her here. That and...

“Everything that I wish didn’t,” she muttered to the indifferent ewe. A lone rooster cautiously circumnavigated the pair, pivoting its head back and forth in hope and hunger.

“C’mon, really?” she snorted, “I just fed you.” The rooster stopped moving, as if he’d somehow understood her. “Remember: if you get too fat, it’ll be you who’s next for the pot.”

She left her animals behind and wandered down to the shoreline. Her emotions were on edge, and she knew it. Maybe I should dive in. A few seconds of icy oblivion might clear my head. Her shirt was halfway off before she reconsidered. No. Once it’s over, it’ll just be yet another reminder.

Her back pocket started ringing and vibrating. She extracted her phone, studied the caller ID, squeezed her eyes tightly shut, took a fortifying breath, and reluctantly brought it to her ear.

“Hello, Luke.”

“Dylan pinched my bum again,” Manon declared, shrugging off her coat and hanging it on an unoccupied hook.

“Sounds romantic,” Rose observed from the couch.

“In his addled mind, it probably was.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“Haven’t decided,” she replied, shedding her boots and slipping a pair of heavy woolen socks over her bare feet.

“Really?”

“Been a while. Startin’ to itch, if y’know what I mean,” she said as she settled onto the opposite end of the couch and picked up the generous pour of whisky her host had already set out for her.

“But... Dylan? I mean, I guess he’s not bad-looking...”

“Why not? He’s a nice enough bloke. Doesn’t blab about his conquests. I think a few-nighter might be alright.”

“Dylan has conquests?” Rose asked, stifling a laugh.

Manon grinned. “He’s gotten around some, though probably not as much as me. Well, okay,” she admitted in response to Rose’s incredulous reaction, “definitely not as much as me. Word is he’s kinda girthy, too. Where’s the harm? I’m just gonna toss him back in the water when I’m done.”

“Until you get another itch.”

“Nothin’ wrong with auditioning the talent,” Manon retorted with a wink, taking a healthy swig of whisky.

“Yeah...” Rose sighed, staring into the fire.

“Uh-oh. There you go again.”

“Sorry.”

“Heard from him?”

She nodded.

“How’s...”

“Can we not talk about this? He’s only been gone four days, and the end of his stay was ... intense. I’ve heard from him twice, okay? A text to let me know he arrived safely, and then a call today.”

When she didn’t elaborate, the bartender prodded, “For a friendly chat?” Rose shrugged. “And?”

“You were listening when I said I didn’t want to talk about this, right?”

“Of course not.”

Despite her melancholy, Rose shook her head and chuckled softly. “Don’t you have talent to audition?”

“Rather be here. When I ran into you yesterday, you looked like you needed a friend. Then you called this afternoon and not so subtly invited me over. Now that I hear you talkin’ like this, I know you need one. Dylan and his pinches can wait.”

“Thank you. I really do appreciate it. I know it’s late and you have to work tomorrow, but...”

“Think nothin’ of it,” she snorted. “Does he miss you?”

Rose sighed heavily. “That’s what he says.”

“You believe him?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t ... you know, this is exactly what I don’t want to talk about.”

“You miss him, though.”

It wasn’t a question, but she treated it as such. “I can’t let myself miss him. Not until he works things out. And maybe not even then.” Her guest took another sip of whisky, staring at her friend as if trying to read her thoughts. Rose continued to gaze into the flames, saying nothing but remembering much. Manon leaned forward, grabbed the bottle, and refilled both their glasses. This finally broke Rose’s reverie. “You’re planning on staying a while, I see.”

She shrugged. “I can leave anytime. Whisky disappears pretty quick in my company, should the need arise.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“Just tell me one more thing, and then I’ll get off this subject for now.”

Rose nestled her glass between her legs, closed her eyes, clenched her fist, and gently pounded her forehead in frustration. “Since I obviously can’t stop you, you might as well get it out of your system now. Plus, the more you drink, the more invasive your questions are going to get, so this is probably the least bad among a host of horrible futures.”

“That’s exactly what I say to entice men into my bed,” Manon quipped. “Was he good?”

She gasped. “Manon!”

“Handsome, swingin’ some serious lumber which I had the great good fortune to take hold of for a few seconds, and don’t think I didn’t notice the rather dramatic change in both your spirits once he moved out here. At least at first. I know I’m not the brightest lamp in the mine, but some things even I can’t miss. So?”

“You ... I...” Rose sputtered.

“I’m gonna keep askin’ until you tell me.”

She glared at the brunette. “And if I do, this subject will never come up again?”

“Never again ... tonight,” she acknowledged with a smirk.

“Manon... “ she grated.

“Look, if I’m gonna be the friend that comes over on short notice for late night fireside drinkin’, then I’m eventually gonna drag the whole story out of you. Sooner or later you’re gonna want to talk about it, and that’s when I’m gonna have to be all girly and supportive, which you know isn’t my specialty. So this is my price.”

“Your...” She was sputtering again, at least until she noticed the mischievous grin on Manon’s face. “Oh my god, now I know why you’re really asking!”

“I’ve put him to use before. No reason to stop now.”

Rose sighed in defeat. “You could do much worse,” she muttered. “Very, very much worse. We ... did some things. Not even close to everything we could have, but a lot for me, especially given the situation. Even though we only scratched the surface, he’s absolutely fantastic. Not that I was surprised, given ... well, you know. Satisfied?”

Manon pouted. “Not in the least. But I guess Dylan just moved up the calendar.”

“He can thank me later.”

“Like I’m gonna put you in his head, you gorgeous fox.”

Rose looked at her curiously. “Did you just call me gorgeous?”

Despite her prodding, Manon stayed true to her word as the bottle’s fill level descended and their tongues were decreasingly bound by convention or propriety. They’d been animatedly discussing Manon’s sources of information regarding Dylan’s endowment for at least twenty minutes when Rose noticed that her friend’s attention was starting to waver.

“Thinking about giving him a call right now?” she teased.

To her surprise, Manon looked down at her lap, whispering, “No.” After which she fell uncharacteristically silent.

Rose waited patiently, then impatiently, until finally blurting out, “What?”

She looked away, clearly struggling with the idea of looking Rose in the eye. “I keep fillin’ our glasses for a reason, and it’s not just because you need it, nor is it because I do it for a livin’. It’s because...” With a heavy sigh, she turned her full attention on her companion. The vulnerable expression on her face was one Rose had never seen Manon wear, and she wondered at it. “It’s time. I have to tell you something.”

She actually pronounced a trailing “g.” It must be serious. She’s not going to tell me that she had sex with Luke, is she? I suppose she has no reason to know that I wouldn’t be upset if she did. On the other hand, I really don’t want to have that conversation right now. “Manon, if this is about...”

“It’s not about him. I promised, and I’m keepin’ that promise, at least for tonight.”

“Then what?” Rose demanded, her confusion deepening.

“I ... swear that you won’t be mad?”

Raising an eyebrow, she replied, “Hard to do until I know what it is I’m not supposed to be mad about.”

“Please?”

“All I can do is pledge that I’ll try. But I really don’t have any clue what you could possibly do to make me mad at you. Did you run over one of my sheep or something?”

If Manon found the joke humorous, there was no sign of it. “I’ve been hidin’ somethin’ from you. I’ve been hidin’ it for a long time, and I was gonna go on hidin’ it forever. But then ... sorry for bringin’ him up... he was here, and it started gnawin’ at me, and...” She ground to another halt.

“I’m sorry, but I’m completely lost. I thought you said it wasn’t about Luke.”

“It’s not. Well, I suppose a little bit, but not really, though...” Manon chewed the inside of her cheek for a few moments, hands fluttering, then took a deep breath and held it for a while, obviously trying to force whatever it was past her lips.

“I slept with her.”

Rose studied Manon in utter bewilderment. “Huh?”

“I slept ... had sex, I mean ... with her.”

“Who’s ‘her?’”

“Her. Your cousin.”

Rose’s eyes and mouth flew open. “You had sex with Kathryn?!?”

They stared at each other for a while, Manon’s face radiating layers of guilt and anxiety, Rose’s a rictus of shock. Until the dam burst.

“You ... when? Why? How? Why didn’t you tell me? And you don’t even like girls!”

Manon cocked her head. “Who says I don’t like girls?”

“But...” Rose was sputtering again. “The party? At Seren’s house? When you decked that woman?”

It was Manon’s turn to arch her eyebrows. “First of all, I barely even grazed her. It’s not my fault she was leanin’ forward tryin’ to kiss me when I did. Second, I hit her because she was a drunken skank. She’d spent the last hour tryin’ to kiss a woman on the sly — I’m surprised she never got around to you; anyone with taste would’ve started with you — because her boyfriend was in the corner watchin’ and gettin’ off on it. Now ... right time and place, all liquored up, maybe I’d be up for that kinda fun. But in a house full of people I know, includin’ the drunken louts I have to deal with at the pub every night? Havin’ them beggin’ for a repeat performance every single time they come in? Like hell. Tramp wouldn’t take ‘no bleedin’ way’ for an answer.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Besides, in my opinion all I did was tell her no in another language.”

“But you ... all this time I thought...”

“Well, I don’t go around lezzin’ it up everywhere. Same reason as before: I just don’t need to give the lads another reason for their endless shite, you know? It’s not like I make a habit of it, but every once in a long while somethin’ turns up that’s too good to turn down, so to speak. Anyway, I thought you knew.”

Rose shook her head; still too unnerved to return to the first, and vastly more significant, revelation. “I had absolutely no idea.”

“But I told you about it.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Sure I did. That night we all went for a midnight swim and froze our arses off. Everyone else went home and we were sittin’ here chattin’ away. Like we are now, except with more blankets. You started tellin’ me about some girl at your fancy college, and I told you about Lili and me.”

“I don’t remember any of that.”

“Huh. Must’ve been drunker than I thought.”

“I guess so. Uh, which story did I tell you?” Rose asked nervously.

“I don’t remember all the details, includin’ her name, but you’d been on a date. You went back to his place and had unsatisfying sex, and while you were stompin’ your horny self home you accidentally knocked some poor girl on her arse. You bought her a drink to apologize, one thing led to another...”

“Ohhhh, right. That’s fine, then.”

Manon smirked. “Not one of the embarrassin’ ones, eh?”

Rose managed a weak smile. “I definitely could’ve shared worse.”

“Well,” Manon quipped, hoisting her glass, “night’s still young.”

“Oh no. First of all, I’m never getting that drunk around you again. And second, we’re avoiding the elephant in the room.”

Manon’s smirk disappeared. “I suppose we are. Pour me some more, will you?” Rose complied, emptying the rest of the bottle in her own glass and getting up to retrieve another bottle. By the time she’d resettled herself, however, Manon still hadn’t said anything else.

“Look: I’m not upset, though I’m a little sad you felt you had to hide it from me, and eventually I’d like to know why. But I don’t want to have to play quiz show with you, either. I was annoyed earlier when you were doing it to me, and I’ve no interest in turning the tables. Just tell me whatever you’re comfortable telling.”

She took a healthy gulp of her whisky before responding. “I think you were travelin’ or somethin’. I don’t remember where or why, but you definitely weren’t here. Your cousin came into the pub for dinner ... which wasn’t somethin’ she did very often, because the food’s terrible and the lads were even worse with her than they are with you. Anyway, she finally fended all of ‘em off and we got to chattin’. She never said it in so many words, but I got the impression she was lonely and needed someone to talk to, which would make sense as you weren’t around. End of the night rolled around and she started gettin’ ready to leave. I told her she didn’t have to if she didn’t mind me closin’ up while she was keepin’ me company.”