Rose started working on snapping pictures of furniture so she could list them on Facebook Marketplace for free. Her first consideration, when it came to the furniture, was to smash each piece with a sledgehammer, but she decided against that when there were plenty of people who could use them and plenty of people with weird tastes. 

She was about halfway through her photo-taking when her phone started to buzz. Seeing it was her father, James, calling Rose let it go to voicemail. She was already feeling belittled by Edward, and she didn’t need James talking down to her too. 

After her talk with her husband, Rose had made the decision to become more independent so that one day she could leave him and start living for herself. She had Owen to thank for that. It continued to feel like a weight off her shoulders knowing that she had options.

Rose’s phone buzzed again and she saw James' name light up on the screen again. This could not be a good sign, Rose thought. Her father only called when he had something to say, and he only called multiple times if he was pissed. Reluctantly, she swiped her phone accepting the call, and braced herself for her father’s wrath.

“ROSEANN CRANTZ!” Her father’s voice bellowed over the speaker. Rose had to pull the phone away from her ear to save her eardrums from the volume.

Rose knew that when her father was in one of these moods it was best not to say anything, lest she add fuel to the flame. 

“I just got off the phone with Edward and he told me something very unfortunate,” James continued, not stopping to hear what Rose had to say. “I don’t care what that man wants from you; you give it. If he says jump, you don’t even ask how high. You just do it! I can’t believe I raised my daughter to be this selfish. I gave you everything. You’ve had everything handed to you on a silver platter! I have only asked you to do one thing. Be Edward’s wife. You can’t even do that right! You ungrateful child!”

Rose let her father rant without saying one word. She thought she would be used to hearing these words. She thought that one day they wouldn’t hurt as much. Her father’s words still stung as much as the last, maybe more this time. This wasn’t just James asking her to be Edward’s wife. James was asking her to sell herself to save her family from losing their riches. James' was asking her to set aside herself as a person and be treated like property. 

Rose soaked in each insult and repeated his words over and over in her head. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying and balled her hands into tight fists until her knuckles whitened. She hated these words, and she hated James, and she hated herself for not entirely hating James. So, instead of letting his words get to her and make her feel depressed, she soaked in his words and let them fuel her anger. And angry she was. Nothing about this situation made her happy, and the only good things to come from this marriage were getting out from under her father’s oppressive roof and, of course, befriending Owen.

Owen, whom she longed to see at this moment. Rose knew that Owen would have a way to cheer her up, or sage words that translated roughly to “fuck ‘em”. Everything in her wanted to hang up the phone and run into his comforting arms. She pushed the urge down. Rose had relied on James, now Edward, and the last thing she wanted to do in her newfound desire for independence was to run to Owen to rely on. 

James was still yelling on the other side of the line. Rose checked her phone and saw that he had been yelling for a little over 20 minutes, which wasn’t his record by far, but she was growing tired of his yelling. 

“Father-” Rose tried to chime in, but James didn’t bother to let her finish. Rose muted her microphone and let out a long groan. She took in three calming breaths, then seven more, until she was feeling safe and grounded. And with that, she hung up and turned her phone off.

Rose sat idle in her car, still in the batting cage’s parking lot. She had spent roughly an hour and a half blowing off steam by hitting things very hard with a bat. She sipped slowly on her water bottle, promising herself that she would head home when the water was done. Although she was just sitting there to stall, she was also enjoying herself. A true-crime podcast was playing over her car speakers. The batting cage was mostly empty and she found herself watching the only other people there: a father teaching his son the proper way to hold and swing the bat. 

How nice, she thought to herself. She and James never had that kind of bond. Neither James nor Sylvia, her mother, were good at close, personal relationships. Rose’s parents never spent time with her, instead having her in lesson after lesson. She doesn’t remember a time when her parents hugged her or talked to her without ordering her around. James always had something to criticize her over, like not being pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough, or ladylike enough. Her mother wasn’t very emotionally present. She always seemed to be in her own little world, as if nothing was her business. Sylvia kept to herself and kept others far away.

Rose jumped at the sudden rapping on her passenger window. She quickly turned her head to see Owen hunched over to peer into Rose’s car. He wore a sympathetic smile and held up two to-go tumblers of, what Rose suspected was, coffee. Rose unlocked her car door to let him in, and Owen slid into the passenger seat.

“How did you know I was here?” Rose asked, gratefully taking a tumbler from him.

“Had a hunch,” Owen replied and then squinted his eyes at the car’s monitor. “Should I be concerned?” 

Rose laughed and turned off the podcast. “No, it’s just sometimes nice to not think about my own problems.”

“Makes sense. Anyway, I was actually going to see if you were hungry when I heard the end of your conversation with your dad. I was considering checking in on you, but you looked like you needed some time. And with a dad like yours, I figured you might’ve needed to blow off some steam.” Owen sipped his coffee thoughtfully. “He’s a real piece of work, huh.”

“He’s not all bad,” Rose jumped to defend James. Owen only gave her a skeptical look. “I mean,” Rose stammered. She drew in a slow breath. “He’s just got a lot going on, especially with these fraud allegations. He’s under a lot of stress, so of course he’s going to lash out.”

Owen took her hand in his. “Rose, that doesn’t excuse anything. I couldn’t hear everything, but he was loud enough that I could hear some. What he says to you, it’s… not okay.” His voice was soft and gentle. “You don’t have to defend him.” 

Rose looked down at their joined hands and drew in another shaky breath. “I know, it’s just… I know he loves me,” she said, but as soon as the words came out she wasn’t sure if that was true. Did her father love her, or did he just see her as an asset? She continued anyway, “It’s complicated. I know what he says isn’t right, but I’ve only known him like that.”

“You don’t have to put up with that sort of treatment. I won’t tell you what to do, just know that you deserve better.” Owen sounded sad as he spoke. He gently rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb in a comforting manner. 

The two of them sat in Rose’s car in heavy silence. Owen had given her yet another thing to think about, but she didn’t mind. She liked that he challenged her viewpoint on things, even if they were difficult to swallow. Rose didn’t move her hand from beneath Owen’s, enjoying the comforting touch a little bit longer. She felt that if Owen had her back, she could do anything. But in order for him to have her back, Rose would have to start making her move.