Page 64 of Along Came Amor
“I told you I would.” Roman planted his hands on his hips and surveyed the ballroom, noting that everything seemed to be progressing as it should. “I didn’t realize you had so many friends. Remember when you were hiding from the world like a hermit?”
Ashton’s mouth was set in a grim line. “I wasn’t hiding from the world, I was hiding from thepress.”
“You say tomato, I saytomate.” Roman kept his tone light, since Ashton looked like he was ready to snap from tension.
“I’m starting to regret making friends again. Jasmine and I could have eloped and avoided all... this.” Ashton gestured at the mass of people like they were a mess he had to clean up.
“Don’t tell me you regret resurrectingourfriendship,” Roman teased.
“I don’t.” Ashton shot him a quick grin. “Especially sinceyou’re giving us the friends and family discount for your hotels.”
“Hey, it’s the least I could do for my telenovela hermano.”
“Speaking of family... tu mama y hermana? Están aquí?”
Roman shook his head. “Mickey’s doing something with her school friends, and Mami’s on a cruise with her sister.”
“Mikayla’s going to Yale, sí?”
Roman nodded. It was still hard for him to believe that his baby sister would be a college freshman in just a few short months. He remembered being eighteen and going off to college for the first time, driving down to Florida in the junker he’d bought with the money he’d made working at the pizzeria. He’d felt like a motherfucking grown-up, but when he looked at Mikayla, who was the same age he’d been then...
He still saw her as the baby he’d held in the hospital all those years ago.
How had eighteen years passed in the blink of an eye?
He was fulfilling the promise for her now. She wasn’t limited by things like scholarships and student loans. She would never know what it was like to live on ramen and peanut butter for weeks at a time, to bartend at night and go to class during the day and work at the school in the afternoons, and still barely have two pennies to rub together.
While the thought of Mickey driving herself between Manhattan and New Haven made his lungs seize with panic, Connecticut wasn’t that far. And his mother had not only agreed to let him help her find a place, she’d decided she wanted to stay on the Upper West Side. Roman still wasn’t thrilled that they were leaving, but he was at least feeling more settled where they were concerned.
And then there was Ava.
They’d come a long way since that day in February when she’d refused his request to initiate contact with her. It had required more patience than he’d thought he possessed, but giving her time and space had been the right move. After the night she’d spent in his home, her first non-booty call text to him—aPride & Prejudicememe—had given him a surge of absolute triumph. They shared harmless selfies—Ava in her father’s backyard with paint on her face, Roman in the University of Miami T-shirt she’d worn at his place—but never veered into sexting territory. She messaged him whenever she had a rough day at work, which happened more often than he suspected she realized, and he’d revealed his conflicted feelings about Mikayla going to college and his mother moving out.
It was a delicate balance, but Roman would take whatever Ava was willing to give, while constantly being on the lookout for more. And in the meantime, he was just happy to get to know her better.
He and Ashton moved to the open bar, and while they were waiting for their drinks, Roman’s phone buzzed with a text. He expected it to be Camille with an update from his real estate broker, but a quick glance showed it was from Ava, as if she’d known he was thinking about her.
Ava:Are you free tonight? I want to see you.
His heart flipped over in his chest, and his face stretched into a goofy grin.
This was the first time she’d asked to see him since their movie night—his fault, since he’d been traveling so much—and the first time she’d said something as overt asI want to see you.
He’d just returned the night before from two weeks in Japan, and while he was feeling more than a little jetlagged, the prospect of spending time with Ava had the effect of chugging three Red Bulls.
Ashton elbowed Roman. “Texting your mystery mujer?”
Roman nodded, unable to suppress his grin. “Yeah. Looks like I’ll get to see her tonight.”
“La profe still holding you at arm’s length?” Ashton didn’t know all the details about Ava, but he knew enough.
“She is, but I’m working on it.”
“Does she know you’re rich?” Ashton asked wryly.
“She knows. If anything, it’s a point against me.”
The phone rang before he could respond to Ava’s message. This time, itwasCamille.
