Page 35 of Roman and the Hopeless Romantic
She moved her laptop to the table next to her bed and brushed a hand over the top of Eli’s head as he shifted. “I hate this.” The words were no more than a whisper, but even getting them out was a win. “I want to be normal.”
She closed her eyes, letting a tear slip through. Annie would tell her no one was normal, that normal didn’t exist. Everyone had their own problems swirling inside them.
Cassie was ready to move on from hers, to find herself again. She just didn’t know how. Scooting lower in the bed, she wedged herself between the twins, taking comfort from their presence.
They didn’t see her problems when they looked at her. They were probably the only ones. A tear dripped down her cheek before more followed. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears away.
She didn’t know how long she laid there until the front door slammed below. Footsteps thundered up the stairs before Jesse poked his head in. He smiled when he saw the three of them.
“Hey,” he whispered. “You watch the game?”
“Of course. Will and Eli managed to stay awake until the third period.”
“Did you see my goal?” He sat on the edge of her bed.
“You mean the one Charlie did all the work for? Yeah, I saw you tap in her rebound.”
He gave her a tired laugh. “She’s better than me.”
“That’s for sure.”
“Did your talk with Annie go well today?” He rarely called them therapy sessions.
She nodded. “We’re going to try something new.”
“You going to tell me what that is?”
“Brutal honesty.”
His lips parted into a smile. “Like the old Cass. I like it. Start with me. Bring it on. I can take whatever you want to say.”
He looked at her with such expectation, such trust, like he knew she wouldn’t say anything to really hurt him. But what if he was wrong?
“Jess.” She looked away, searching for the lowest hanging fruit, something not too revealing that would help him understand everything. “The porch furniture.”
Confusion flashed across his face. “Porch furniture?”
“It was delivered a few days after Mom…” She sucked in a breath. “We’d just picked it out and left the store when it happened.” She needed to say it. “When Mom died.”
He didn’t move, didn’t breathe, for a long moment. “That’s why you and dad pull it inside during every storm.” He rubbed his eyes. “Why Dad won’t even sit in it. Heck, you rarely go out back. Cass…” He reached for her hand. “Roman told me we had a gator back there last night.”
That brought a smile to her face. “It was just Nippy.”
“But you were scared.”
She nodded. Of course, she was. An alligator came up from the pond and confronted her while she was pulling her dead mom’s furniture in out of the storm.
“It was kind of bonkers.”
His smile widened. “That’s an old-Cassie term.”
“I guess it is.” She settled back against her pillow.
Jesse stood and scooped Eli into one arm and Will in the other. “Night, sis.”
As soon as they were gone, Cassie missed her brothers. But she wasn’t alone for long. She looked up at Roman standing in the doorway wearing plaid pajama bottoms and no shirt.
“Have you been crying?”
