Page 78 of Roman and the Hopeless Romantic
Roman
“Has anyone seen Carrigan?” Coach Morrison’s voice rang through the locker room as the team readied to take the ice. “Sullivan?”
“Yeah, Coach?” Roman stood from the bench in front of his locker.
“Have you tried calling him?”
“Yeah, no answer.” Roman checked his phone again, hoping for a text from Jesse. He’d seen him a few hours before when they moved his stuff to Hadley’s house. Their parting had been awkward to say the least.
Roman never wanted to disappoint his friend, but he knew Jesse understood on some level. So did Mr. Carrigan. When he’d told the man he was moving out, he would have sworn he saw respect in his eyes.
Roman took a seat again, replaying that conversation.“Is this because of my daughter?”
Roman met his gaze. “Yes.” It was the truth. Cassie just didn’t know it yet. “Sir, I have feelings for Cassie, I think I have for a very long time. But I want to do this right and that means waiting until we aren’t living under the same roof. I’m not going to ask your permission to be with her—because she has her own mind.”
Mr. Carrigan had raised an eyebrow at that.
“When I tell Cassie how amazing I think she is, how brave and smart and beautiful, I don’t know how she’ll react. But I know now that’s not a good enough reason not to tell her.”
Mr. Carrigan looked behind him to where Jesse stood listening to the conversation. The two shared a silent conversation before Mr. Carrigan clapped Roman on the shoulder. “We’re going to miss you living here, kid. But you’re still part of this family no matter the address you call home.”
He’d heard those words from Jesse before but never expected them to come from his dad. Not when Roman’s own parents so obviously didn’t care about the family.
It went to show that no matter what crap a person is born into, they can still find people to call their own. Like his team. The Carrigans.
They all made it hurt less.
“Roman Sullivan!” An angry female voice invading their locker room had Roman’s head snapping up.
Cassie stormed toward him, ignoring the room full of half-dressed boys. For just a moment, pride raced through him at the knowledge she’d come into public. He shot to his feet. “Cass, you’re here.” His eyes widened as he took in the room around him that had grown very silent. A few of the guys had met Cassie before, but most didn’t know who she was.
“Cass.” Jesse rushed in after her. “You can’t come in here.” He looked to a slack-jawed coach. “Sorry, she jumped out when I was parking the car.”
As if she hadn’t heard her brother, Cassie advanced on Roman. He backed up until his legs hit the bench. “You did it! You’re out in public.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re a little late to the party, Rome. I walked through Target today.”
“I’m so proud of you.”
“I don’t want you to be proud of me.”
His lips turned down. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? You left, Roman.” Her posture loosened, and she took a step back. “I got home, and your room was just empty. I thought you’d gone to your parents.”
He was an idiot. Everyone told him not to wait too long—Jesse, the Gibsons. And he’d done it, anyway. “I’d never leave you.” He thought he whispered it, but by the sounds of chuckles coming from the guys, it wasn’t quiet enough. “We need to talk but not here.”
She nodded and followed him into the hall. Charlotte passed them with a wink as she ducked into the boys’ locker room to join the team for the pre-game speeches.
Roman ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at Cassie. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Then you shouldn’t have. Do you have any idea how that felt? No goodbye. No explanation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know you are.” She leaned back against the cinderblock wall and looked him in the eye. “I walked into this building knowing how awful it would feel. Dizziness, headaches… fear. But I did it, Rome. And I’m not going to stop. I won’t put my life on hold any longer.”
“That’s great.”
