Chapter 22: The Wife

The chattering from my bedroom can only mean one thing, Rosa and Freddie are still enjoying each other’s company. It’s always the least likely people that will fall in love. For Freddie, he comes with a tragic backstory that Rosa is unaware of. Freddie, being twenty-five, has a few years on Rosa and in those short years before they met, Freddie was previously married. His wife, Maria, died in a plane crash. Maria was a bit like Amelia Earhart, or so Freddie has mentioned to me in our private conversations.

The truth of it is, Freddie has closed himself off from getting close to anyone. He doesn’t need to tell me this for me to notice. I have witnessed him at work with his hands closed and his arms crossed. The scowl of his brow and the clenching of his jaw. Those to me were the mannerisms of a man keeping people away. When I asked him if he was okay after a photo session one day, he broke down and told me I was the first model at Model Perfect to ever ask or care about him. From then