What Rosie Found Next Read Online Free Page A

another person in her living space was something she wasn’t used to, hadn’t been for a long time, but it was something she’d enjoyed. And she’d certainly appreciated him scaring away the lizard and fixing the pool cleaner.
    She slotted her contract back into her file. As two grown adults, surely they could sort this out between themselves.

Chapter Four
     
     
    Owen came and went the rest of the day as though the house were a youth hostel, and he was gone again the next morning. Rosie found it quite impossible to pin him down, and once again she was torn between chasing after him to force him to talk to her and phoning the agency to say she wanted out of this house-sit on the grounds that it had ‘unreasonable complications’.
    So much for the adult approach.
    She’d thought about contacting Jane and Michael Harrison in London, but it would feel childish to do so. No, calling them had to be a last resort if she and Owen couldn’t resolve this. Owen had certainly been pulling his weight around the house at least, feeding the cat before she’d had a chance this morning, emptying the dishwasher, replenishing juice and milk supplies – hopefully not drinking from the spout any more either.
    She dragged the hose from the back of the house around to the front to water the shrubs and creepers that added to the English Tudor property’s grandeur. She watered the dancing violet and yellow flowers in the hanging baskets positioned between the downstairs mullioned windows framed in dark wood, and she sprayed the foliage framing a front door made of the same wood with iron panels running across it. George sprawled out in the sunshine as she worked and brushed against her legs every time he decided it had been quite long enough since Rosie had paid him any attention.
    She went to the kitchen to pour a glass of lemonade and took it to the back deck. She opened up her iPad and tapped Adam’s name into the FaceTime app. It was early morning in Singapore, and if she was lucky she’d catch him before he got too busy. She couldn’t wait to show him this place. They’d been together for four years now and often talked about getting a place of their own. She crossed her fingers that this house-sit could open his mind to living further away from a big city. She’d never given it much thought, not until this job opportunity had come up, but now she was actually here, it was addictive and she found herself wanting the peace and tranquillity more and more.
    ‘Hello there.’ Adam grinned when his face appeared on her screen. He ran a hand through cropped blond hair that formed a hint of a quiff at the front. ‘I’m all yours for ten minutes and then I’m off to the first meeting of the day.’
    With a roll of her eyes, Rosie smiled. Adam was fast climbing the corporate ladder, and the busier he was in his job as an investment banker, the happier he was.
    ‘Are you missing me?’ she asked.
    ‘Of course I am. And I’m sorry we couldn’t chat this past week, but it’s been full on here. How was the drive up to … where are you?’
    ‘Magnolia Creek. The drive was fine, less than three hours.’
    ‘Not bad going from Geelong. How’s your mum?’ She’d spent three days with her mum in between house-sits.
    ‘She’s good. She’s been taking Italian cooking lessons.’
    ‘Good on her.’
    ‘She fed me up with a lot of pasta when I was there.’
    Adam drew in his breath. ‘Dangerous.’
    ‘I know. I’ll have to swim it off in the pool during this house-sit.’
    ‘You will.’ He laughed. ‘How are her plans going for renovating her house?’
    ‘Great. She’s all set to convert the attic space into a huge master bedroom with en suite, which obviously she can’t do until she gets rid of my things.’ Rosie knew construction wasn’t due to start for almost a year, but she needed to remind Adam that not having a permanent address wasn’t an arrangement she wanted to go on indefinitely. She wanted to feel settled,