"John, can you move the star to the left a bit, it looks wonky," Darlene said as she took a step back from the Christmas tree.

John held in a groan, the star had been adjusted three times already and Darlene still wasn't satisfied. "Why don't we take it down, it's too heavy not to lean to one side or the other."

"But we can't have a tree without a star, here let me try."

He stood back and she climbed onto the footstool and attempted to reposition the star. "How does that look?"

"Spot on," he said lying. "But you know with Junior crashing about, the tree's gonna be battered in no time."

Her mouth turned down. "More than likely, but after last Christmas, I want to at least try to make everything perfect."

"Nothing's ever perfect," he said keeping his tone light. He knew she was alluding to the miserable time they'd had last year as she'd struggled to put his affair behind them. "Now do you want a cup of coffee making?"

"You are happy with me, aren't you?" she asked ignoring his question.

"Sure, I am. Now about that coffee?"

"Stop deflecting." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. "Sometimes I feel like you're only with me because it's the right thing to do. I can't help wondering if you'd be with Ros if it wasn't for the kids."

"No, of course not," he said holding in a groan. "I love you, and we've been through too much together to throw it all away."

Her eyes narrowed and her mouth formed a thin line. "But you've risked throwing our marriage away more than once. Do you have any idea how taken for granted that makes me feel? Why do you think I'll keep on forgiving you?"

"I honestly don't know," he admitted. "I don't mean to take you for granted but I'm selfish and stupid." He shrugged helplessly. "If you wanna leave I'll understand."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Why does it always come down to one of us leaving? How about you don't play around in the first place?"

"You're right, I don't know why I do it." She gave him a withering look. "I don't. I guess I wish we'd started our family after we'd been together a bit longer but I don't regret it. And the other girls meant nothing, they were never a threat to you."

"Rosalind was, you had feelings for her," she said flatly.

He opened his mouth to protest but there was no point, she'd see straight through him. "I might have had feelings for her but only because we were friends and we went way back, it was no more than that."

"I think it was," she said her voice shaking. "If you'd continued with your affair I think you would have left me for her."

"No, no way. I wouldn't have," he said reaching out to her and she stepped back.

"We'll never know that though, will we?" She smiled sadly. "I'll go make the coffee, you can try and straighten that star again."

"Yeah, sure," he said watching her retreating form. He was surprised she'd dropped the subject so easily, normally she could go on for hours raking over the past. He hoped it was a good sign but he wasn't so sure, Darlene had sounded positively defeated.

                                                 ~~~

"I'll get that," Rosalind shouted to Dale as the phone began ringing. "If it's for you I'll tell them you're working." She'd promised not to nag him about bringing his work home and he'd promised to keep it to a strict minimum, so far their agreement was holding up.

"Hello?" she said picking up the receiver but there was no reply. "Hello, is anyone there?" She was about to put the phone down when she heard the caller clear their throat.

"Hi, Ros."

She almost dropped the receiver. "John? What the hell are you doing calling me?" She glanced up the staircase but Dale remained in the study. "How dare you! What if Dale had answered?"

"I'd have hung up," John said quietly. "I'm not out to cause trouble for you."

She snorted, "It's a bit late for that. What do you want?"

"I need to see you."

"No way!"

"Please, we need to clear the air."

"No, we do not," she said gripping the receiver tightly as Dale opened the study door. "I have to go." She prepared to hang up.

"If you put the phone down I'll call again."

"Please don't," she said beginning to shake.

"I need to talk to you."

"Okay, okay, I'll be in touch," she said rapidly as Dale came down the stairs. "Have a nice Chrismas, bye." 

"Who was that?" Dale asked following her into the living room.

She took a couple of deep breaths, clenching her fingers together as she tried to regain her composure. "It was Charlotte."

"That was short and sweet, I hope you didn't end the call on my account?"

You don't know how right you are.

"No, she was in a hurry, she has a long list of people to get through," she said making it up as she went along. "You see she's pregnant and she wanted to tell me before I found out from anyone else." Dale gawped at her, and she felt on a more comfortable footing. "I think she was a bit worried I might be upset about it." That was true, Charlotte had told her a few weeks ago and Ros had been confused by her reaction. She wasn't at all jealous, which surprised her since finding pleasure in other people's good news didn't come naturally to her. She suspected she wasn't quite as enthusiastic about having a baby as she'd led people to believe.

"Wait a minute, back up," Dale said looking utterly bewildered. "Charlotte's pregnant?"

"Yes, and she knew we'd been trying for a baby so she wanted to tell me before I heard it on the grapevine." She breathed a sigh of relief, that at least was entirely true.

"Not much shocks me these days but I am shocked," he said, a frown on his face.

"Yeah me too. Her relationship with Louis is kinda messed up." Not that I'm one to talk.

"I take it they've got back together?"

She shook her head. "No, they've been talking and they've met a couple of times but she's holding back."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say. I'm going to sound rather judgmental here but what the hell was the point of her divorce case?" He looked both annoyed and exasperated. "She could have let Nick divorce her for adultery and it would have been over and done with. All that rigmarole we went through, and for what? She's lost the moral high ground now."

"Yeah I know," she said feeling similarly censorious. "All that time and effort, and the money."

"So what's she going to do?"

"She doesn't know, she's more worried about what people will say than anything else." That part she did understand and yet she was glad that someone else in her friendship group - her former friendship group - was going to be the subject of gossip. She remembered John's call and shuddered, fearing the motivation behind it.

"She'll need to make some sort of financial arrangement with Louis," Dale said and she realised he'd been speaking a while and she'd zoned out. "If they don't get back together, he should still support his child."

"I don't think that's an issue," she said refocusing. "Reading between the lines I'd say he's happy about the baby, and I'm sure she is deep down. It's everyone else that's the problem."

He nodded, "There's a lot of small-minded people around here."

"Yes, there are." She paused taking a deep breath. "And I've kinda been thinking about it, why don't we move away from here?"

His eyes widened, "I thought you loved this house?"

"I do but it's tainted now." He pulled a face and she wished she'd better rehearsed what she wanted to say. "This was supposed to be our forever home, but this town, the people, I think we could both do with a change of scenery. I want to make a fresh start somewhere else."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure you're not wanting to run away from our problems?"

"That's part of it," she admitted. "But I think we'd have a better chance of moving on if we put a bit of distance between us and the Lombardos, and everyone else who is in our business."

"I can't say the thought hasn't occurred to me as well," he admitted surprising her. "Maybe it would be nice to start again in a place where we're not all wrapped up in each other's lives."

"Exactly," she said brimming with excitement. "I think we should have done it when we first got married. Much as I l like Charlotte, Darlene and I have been in some sort of weird psychodrama since we were in junior high. It's not healthy."

Especially not with John seeking to re-establish contact. 

"I agree," Dale said with a rueful smile. "But then I always was an anti-social asshole."

She laughed. "No you weren't, you just didn't have time for idiots like John and Louis."

"Okay, how about we seriously look into moving in the new year?"

She let out a squeal. "Do you mean it?" He nodded. "I'd love to Dale. I just want us to go somewhere where we can concentrate on being Mr and Mrs Townsend, and to hell with everyone else."

                                          ~~~

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