Page 16 of A Forever Home
By the time Della climbed into her own bed, she was exhausted. It was five days before Christmas. For the most part, she’d already gotten everything she could possibly want. She reached over and grabbed her cell phone, hesitating before tapping out a quick text to Roman.
I hope you got back on the road okay.
She imagined he was back at the Charlotte airport by now and waiting for his flight home to Dayton. What a long day for him.
The dots on her screen started bouncing as Roman responded to her.
I’m sitting outside the terminal, waiting to board.
Della smiled as she lay in bed.Good, she texted back.
How was the boys’ performance?he asked.
Amazing, she told him.The best two minutes of my year.
And Jingle Bell?he asked.
Della shone the light from her phone to the corner of her room where Jingle was already sleeping. Then she tapped out another text.She’s already a member of our family.
Della nibbled at her lower lip.Thank you for today, Roman.
I should be thanking you. Mrs. Coker didn’t feel the need to keep calling me after you talked to her.
Glad I could help, Della texted.Last I checked, her GoFundMe page already has $900.
Wow. That’ll be helpful for their family.
Yes, it will.
Della waited for Roman to text more, but more never came. Maybe his plane was boarding. Or perhaps that was all they had to say to each other. She laid the phone back on her nightstand and closed her eyes. At some point, she drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the long day she’d had and the road trip adventure she’d been on with a stranger who had quickly become a friend. She didn’t wake up until morning, when the boys barreled into her room to check on Jingle Bell. Then the day snowballed forward with retrieving her car, shopping for their new pet, and preparing for Christmas.
Before heading home afterward, Della stopped at Hannigan’s Market. She was pushing a buggy when her phone vibrated with a new text. She pulled it out and laughed at the screen, where a text from Roman was waiting.
I made it to Dayton, but I’m missing my pretend girlfriend.
“Who is it from, Mom?” Justin asked, tugging on Della’s sweater.
“The man who helped me get home for your recital. He made it back to his home as well,” she told her son.
“Hooray!” Jett said. “Everyone made it home for Christmas.”
“Yes, they did.” Della tapped out another text to Roman.Who needs the real thing when you have the pretend?
Not me, Roman texted back.
The texts continued sporadically that evening and the next day, coming in at random times and making Della smile. Her heart began to skip every time Roman’s name popped onscreen. It was foolish, because he lived in a whole other state. But it was making her happy.
Show me a pic of Jingle Bell, he texted the following night.
Della did one better and took a selfie of herself and Jingle together.
There they are. The two girls who stole my heart this Christmas.
Della’s smile crashed into a frown. What was she doing? She couldn’t allow herself to fall for a guy that she might never see again. She was heading for another heartbreak that she didn’t need. She was a mother. Her boys needed her focus to be on them, not in Dayton, Ohio.
She laid her phone down without texting Roman back. It vibrated a few more times with incoming messages and then fell silent. Their time together had been brief and fun. She didn’t regret it by any means. But if she continued to allow this thing between them to go on, she might.
Her mind was set; her resolve solidified. It was time to say goodbye to Roman Everson.
