Page 43 of Roman and the Hopeless Romantic
Roman
She came. Roman still couldn’t believe it. After two years of turning down every one of Jesse’s invitations to go places with them, Cassie stood on the beach staring out at the waves.
She’d barely said anything to him, but that didn’t matter as much anymore. He didn’t care how she treated him as long as she started to treat herself better, to recover the girl she’d once been.
“Mom loved the beach.” Her voice was more wistful than sad.
Jesse wrapped an arm around her. “You never talk about her. Twice in two days… that’s got to be a record.”
She shrugged. “Annie gave me an assignment to start saying whatever is on my mind and stop thinking so much.”
“Is it working?”
She peered over her shoulder at Roman. “I think so.”
Was that why she’d asked him to kiss her? He’d tried reconciling this new Cassie with that nighttime request, but it hadn’t seemed like her at all—not that he didn’t enjoy it. He did. A lot.
And he wanted to do it again.
He scrubbed a hand over his face, reminding himself not to go there. A car door slamming saved him from his thoughts.
Hadley ran down the beach from the parking lot and slung an arm over his neck. “Hey, handsome.”
“Hadley.” He grinned. Most of the guys in the school would love attention from a girl like her, but he just genuinely enjoyed being friends with her.
Charlie melted into Jesse’s arms as if they hadn’t seen each other in ages. Hadley released him and bent over, gagging.
Roman laughed. Yeah, Jess and Charlotte were pretty sickening. His eyes drifted to Cassie who’d started walking up the lonely beach as soon as the girls arrived.
Hadley swatted Roman. “Cass looks like she could use some company.” She waggled her eyebrows.
A blush crept up Roman’s cheeks. “What do you know? And how?” He grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the others.
“Awww.” She poked his cheek. “Roman Sullivan is a blusher. That’s adorable.”
“I prefer ruggedly handsome but go on. Answer my question.”
“Relax… I didn’t actually know anything was going on until your face turned red like a nun’s in a strip club.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“That’s life. If you don’t think the dear catholic sisters enjoy a little Thunder Down Under when they’re in Vegas, you’re adorably naïve.”
He chuckled and turned away from her to catch sight of Cassie standing at the edge of the water. Hadley stepped up beside him. “How’s she doing?”
That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? How was Cassandra Carrigan doing? Was she recovering from having her life ripped apart? Did she still have trauma from wondering if she too was about to die?
Did something like that ever fade away?
“I don’t know.”
Hadley looked sideways at him. “Aren’t you living there?”
“When we were younger, Cassie wore her heart on her sleeve. I never had to guess what went through her mind because I could read her so well.”
She smiled. “I remember when she went to school with us. You three were inseparable. Everyone assumed you two were together. It’s why most of the girls didn’t like her.”
“It was never like that between us. It was platonic back then, but she was my person, you know?” He didn’t know why he was telling Hadley any of this, but it wasn’t like he could talk to Jesse.
