Page 6 of Roman and the Hopeless Romantic
Roman leaned against the counter. “Your sister, man.” He shook his head.
Jesse laughed. “You usually last longer than this around her before bagging out.”
“She won’t talk to me.”
“She doesn’t talk to anyone.” Jesse eyed him. “You know it’s not her fault, right? She isn’t just choosing not to talk to you.”
He sighed. He did know, but it didn’t make it any easier. He’d always struggled trying to understand it, trying to see how to help her. “What happened to the kids who spent every day together? Doesn’t she remember that?”
“Of course, she does. But in her life, really in all our lives—even yours, Rome—there’s a before and an after. She’s stuck in this in between place along with my dad. Neither have moved on to the after. Maybe it’s PTSD, maybe something else, but we have to have patience. We have to love her.”
He did love her. He always had. She was his family, the girl convincing him to break the rules when they were kids, the one he’d have followed over a cliff. In his after, that hadn’t changed, but she had.
Jesse put a hand on his arm. “I know you care about her. She’s like a sister to you too. We just have to believe she’s making progress and help her in whatever way she needs.” He picked up two cups and walked into the living room.
Roman waited a moment to get a handle on his thoughts. Most people didn’t think he had a thought in his head, not the airhead hockey player who was always making jokes. He wasn’t supposed to worry about anything. The rich kid who could do whatever he wanted.
He hoped Cassie still knew him well enough to see someone else, someone who cared about her.
Running a hand through his short blond hair, he pushed out a breath before re-entering the living room.
His cup no longer sat beside the chair. Instead, a suspiciously similar one tilted against Cassie’s lips.
For the first time in a while, she smiled his way, an ornery glint in her eye.
“It’s okay.” He sat in the recliner. “I tend to backwash when I drink.”
Her face twisted in disgust, and she spit the coffee back into the cup before setting it aside.
Settling his eyes on the TV where a hockey commentator shared his opinions, Roman wiped the smile from his face. He wouldn’t let Cassie see how much her reactions got to him.
Once upon a time, he thought that girl was perfect. She’d been smarter than the rest of them with a wicked sense of humor and a nose for trouble.
Not to mention adorable dimples even the kid-version of himself could appreciate.
Over the past years of silence and the crumbling of their friendship, many things between them had changed.
But that wide-eyed wonder he’d developed as a kid, the image of her he had in his mind… that never had.
* * *
It wasdark by the time Roman pulled up outside his palatial home. His house belonged in an exclusive part of Gulf City like Wentwood, not the much smaller neighborhood it sat in.
Where the Carrigan house was large, the Sullivan house was grand. Even the pond behind his house—a staple in Florida—was larger than Jesse’s, and also more desolate. No other homes could be seen across the water. Only the birds and alligators inhabited the area along with Roman.
Which was why he was surprised to see his parents’ cars both in the driveway as he walked up the drive from his parking spot on the street.
That couldn’t be good. They weren’t due back for another few days at least. All the jokes and the “I don’t care” attitude he showed to the world disappeared when he stepped through the front door of his own home.
The hall was dark save for golden light spilling out the door of his dad’s office. His footsteps echoed through the house, but that was probably just in his own mind. A foreboding feeling sliced through him as he peered through the doorway to find both his parents seated on the couch along the back wall, bookended by two tall, oak bookcases.
“Um, hi?” He stood in the doorway.
“Roman.” His mom looked up with a soft smile. “Come in, honey.”
“It’s late, son.” His father looked at his expensive watch.
“I didn’t expect you to be here.”
