23. Roman
23
ROMAN
43.0760° N, 107.2903° W
W alking out the front door of Elora’s family home with a cup of coffee, I walk over to the railing on the front deck and look out at the mountain in the distance. Two days ago, we arrived in Littleton, and each morning, I’ve come out here to drink my coffee and take in the view.
It’s beautiful. It’s also quiet, so quiet I know I won’t be able to stay here too long before the silence becomes too much. But I’ve enjoyed the peace, the history it holds for Elora, and the way her face lights up every time she tells me stories about growing up here.
Turning to look over my shoulder when I hear the door to the house open, I smile as I watch Elora stumble outside in just my tee, with her hair a mess from the shower we took last night and my fingers that tangled in it after we fell into bed.
“Morning.” She walks up to join me, and I lift my arm when she curls into my side. “I thought you’d sleep in.”
“Me too, but I think it’s too quiet.” She takes the mug from my hand putting it to her lips to take a sip.
“Since I’m up, do you want to go have breakfast in town?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“Yeah, I don’t really feel like cooking.” She hands me back the cup, then leans up on her toes for a kiss. Once I press my lips to hers, she drops back down. “I’m going to get ready.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I watch her disappear back into the house, then turn back to the view as I finish my coffee. When I’m done, I walk inside and wander through the living room. It’s exactly as it was when Millie was alive. Pictures of Elora growing up are on every available surface, books she enjoyed reading are stacked on the coffee table, and art supplies are still out from a painting she was working on near the window as if she expected to come back and finish it. It was the same at Val’s apartment when I went there while he was in the hospital.
I take my cup to the sink in the kitchen, wash it out, then place it in the drying rack before I go up to the second floor, where Elora’s childhood bedroom is and where we’ve been sleeping since we arrived.
When we’re both dressed, I buckle her into the car I rented and drive us the fifteen minutes into town, which is small, with only two grocery stores, a couple of fast food restaurants, and multiple bars and churches.
The café located on Main Street isn’t very busy when we get inside, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a weekday or just not enough people live here to ever really fill all the tables on any given day.
“Elora.” The woman who spots us first is close to Elora’s age but dressed like she stepped out of the ’50s, wearing a blue dress with puffy sleeves and a white apron tied around her thick waist.
“Hey, Mo.” Elora gives her a kind smile.
“Are you back?” she asks, then her eyes move to me and widen when I step into Elora’s space, wrapping my hand around her hip.
“Only for a few days,” Elora tells her. “Can we get a table for two?”
“Of course.” She hurries to pick up two menus, then leads us to a booth in the back. Once we are seated, she takes our drink orders and hurries off.
“A friend of yours?” I ask quietly, and she shrugs.
“More of an acquaintance. Tyler was the only person I really spent any time with outside of school and work.”
With a nod, I pick up the menu. “What are you getting?”
“Pancakes, but you have to get the eggs benedict. It’s one of the best things on the breakfast menu, and you’ll love it because the portion is enough for three people.”
“Are you saying I eat a lot?”
“I’m not saying you don’t.” She starts to smile, but that smile slides away when a shadow falls over our table.
When I look to see who’s joined us, I find a woman standing over us who looks a lot like Millie did in every photo I’ve ever seen of her. Only her hair is mostly gray, and her face is wrinkled from the sun that she obviously gets too much of.
“Aunt Josie,” Elora greets quietly, and my muscles immediately bunch.
“I thought that was you,” her aunt says, looking at her niece, and I notice that there is no move from either of them to hug. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on my mom’s place.”
Josie nods. “I heard the sale went through.” Her gaze comes to me. “Who’s your friend?”
“Roman King.” I don’t bother holding out my hand. “Elora’s boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” She looks at her niece with disapproval, but Elora misses it when her eyes come to me, and her face goes soft.
“Yes.”
“That was fast.” Her aunt frowns as Mo scoots up to Josie’s side.
“Are you going to be joining them, Josie?” Mo asks her, and Josie shakes her head as she takes a step back so Mo can place our coffees on the table.
“I’m just grabbing a coffee to go.”
“Cool, I’ll get that for you after I get their order.” Mo gives her a smile, then asks us what we’d like. When she walks off, Josie takes up her place by the table.
“How long are you here for?”
“Just a few more days,” Elora tells her, wrapping her hands around her coffee mug. “I tried to call you to let you know that I was coming into town.”
“Did you? I never received a voicemail.”
“I didn’t leave one, but I called multiple times over the past few months.”
“You should have left a message.” She shifts awkwardly.
“Or you could have called her,” I point out, giving zero fucks, even as Elora’s foot taps against mine under the table. A silent demand for me to be quiet, which I ignore.
“I’ve been grieving and have had a lot on my mind with losing my sister and my parents’ property.”
I glance at Elora, who looks like she just got sucker-punched.
“Your niece lost her mother.”
“I know, and because of that, I lost my family legacy. My parents owned that land, my parents’ parents, and so on.” She looks at Elora. “I know you made a pretty fair profit from the sale of the land, and if you think about it, some of the money should be mine and my brother’s.”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“Why didn’t you buy the land from Elora’s mother when she asked you if you wanted it before she died?” I ask, and she looks at me with narrowed eyes.
“I couldn’t afford to pay what she was asking, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want it.”
“Okay, then why didn’t you even offer to help Elora pay off the back taxes so it could be kept in the family, which is what you are claiming is important to you?”
“I have my own bills.”
“Yeah, Elora had her own too. Then shit hit the fan, and she was left holding the bag and trying to figure out how to make it out of a fucked-up situation without sinking.”
“She had her mom’s life insurance.”
I look at Elora. She never told me about any life insurance.
“There was no life insurance. No company would cover Mom,” Elora corrects, looking at her aunt, and I can tell she’s trying to hold back tears.
“You need to leave,” I bite out.
“Pardon me?” Josie hisses.
“Not once since Elora left did you think to check on her, to make sure she was alive and well. To ask if she needed anything or just to see how she was dealing with the loss of her mom.”
“My sister died.”
“Yeah, and as Millie’s sister, you should have known that she and her daughter were close and just how hard it would be for Elora to lose her mother. So, I’m sorry for the loss of your sibling, but I don’t feel sorry for you , and you need to get the fuck away from our table.”
“Are you going to let him speak to me like that?” She looks at Elora.
“If he wasn’t telling the truth, I might try to stop him, but even then, I have zero control over Roman,” she mutters, and I know that if we didn’t have a table between us, I’d fucking kiss her.
Josie opens her mouth to reply, but a cup of coffee appears in front of her, cutting her off.
“Here’s your coffee, Josie.”
“Thank you, Mo.” She snatches the cup out of Mo’s hand, then without another look at Elora or me, she storms off.
“Are you okay, Elora?” Mo asks softly when the ding of the bell over the door sounds at Josie’s departure.
“Yeah. Thanks, Mo.” Elora nods, and Mo’s face fills with empathy.
“Breakfast will be just a few minutes.”
“That was worse than I thought it would be,” Elora whispers when Mo wanders off. Hearing the hurt in her voice, I find it difficult not to just swoop her up and take her back to the city. Back home where I know she’s safe, and no one can hurt her—not even emotionally.
I knew this trip would be difficult for her, but I assumed it would be difficult because we would be staying in her mom’s house and surrounded by the memories of her mother. I didn’t factor in the rest.
“Your aunt is a bitch.”
“She’s also my mom’s sister. They were close. Maybe I should?—”
“If you even think about telling me that you could give her some of the money, I’m going to lose my shit.”
“I just hate that that’s how that went, that I might not ever have a relationship with the people who hold the closest link to my mom.”
“You don’t know that you won’t ever have a relationship with them. Things might change. Maybe what happened will be her wake-up call.”
“I doubt it.”
“Then she doesn’t deserve to even know you, much less be a part of your life.”
“You’re right.” She picks up her coffee cup and takes a sip while I let out a relieved breath.
That whole conversation could have gone differently if she chose to fight in her corner and insist she share some of the money she made off the sale of her land with her family. Because that is something I would have fought her on. Maybe I’d feel differently if her aunt had been in her corner, but with how things went down long before today, there is no way she deserves a single cent.
That money is Elora’s safety net, so she always feels like she has her own money. She’ll never feel like she’s stuck depending on me even though I fully intend to take care of her, so she will never have to touch it.
“Here you go,” Mo says, placing two plates that are overflowing on the table. “Do you need anything else?”
“I think we’re good,” Elora tells her with a smile, adding a soft “thank you” before she takes off.
“Do you want to show me around town after breakfast?” I pick up my fork as I change the subject, hoping to alleviate some of the heaviness that has settled around us.
“There’s not much to see.”
“We can stop by your old job,” I suggest, and her smile is filled with happiness.
“We can do that.” She picks up her own fork and digs into her food.
After breakfast, we drive around town. She shows me her high school, the ice cream shop where she worked as a teen, and then we stop by the daycare, where we spend some time with her old coworkers and some of the kids she used to take care of. When we leave, we head to the grocery store to pick up stuff to make for dinner, along with flowers that we take to the cemetery and place on her mom’s headstone at their family plot. The day is heavy, but when we crawl into bed later, it takes her no time to fall asleep or for me to follow her.
“Mickey, I’m going to have to call you back,” I say into my cell when I see Elora walk by the living room and head out the front door, wearing my shirt and a pair of rubber boots that look five sizes too big. Getting his okay, I shut my computer, set it aside, and follow her outside.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Weeding.” She stops to look at me while putting on a pair of floral-printed gloves. “Kandi is going to be by Friday to take pictures so she can find someone to rent the house and land. I just wanted to clean up the gardens a little.”
“You didn’t tell me about that.”
“I hadn’t made up my mind until this morning. I just know we’re going to be too busy to come back often enough to check on things, and I don’t want the house sitting here, going to waste.”
“We could find a caretaker to look after it, so when you want to come back, we can stay here.”
“What do I have to come back here for?”
“Baby, this was your home. Don’t you want to come back to visit?”
“I don’t think so. Not right now,” she whispers.
My eyes wander over her face. “Is this about your aunt?”
It’s been a couple of days since that whole situation, and even though I know it’s been on her mind, she hasn’t said much about it.
“No, not just her.” She shakes her head. “This just doesn’t exactly feel like home anymore.” She looks around. “Maybe when we have kids, we can bring them to visit and share this place with them, but I think I need to let it go for a while.” She rubs her lips together. “Does that make sense?”
“Of course.” I close the distance between us and pull her into my arms. “And it will always be here. We can come back whenever you want, even if there is someone else living here. Okay?”
“Thank you.” She leans up to kiss me, and I start to drop my mouth down to hers but look to my left when I hear tires on the dirt road. When I see an oversized truck, I hope like fuck this isn’t anyone in her family because I’m not in the mood for another confrontation.
“It’s Tyler,” she whispers, and my fingers dig into her sides when I realize she means it’s her ex pulling up and parking in front of the house.
When he gets out, I don’t bother to size him up because I don’t feel threatened by his presence. I know in my gut that, even with their past, what they shared doesn’t compare to what we have and are building.
Still, I hate the way he looks at her with familiarity as his gaze wanders over her.
“Elora.”
“Tyler,” she greets quietly, lacing her fingers through mine. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you were in town and wanted to come see for myself.” He tucks his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I’ve called.”
“I know, but I think we each said enough the last time we spoke.” His jaw clenches as his eyes come to me and drop to our hands.
When they go back to her, his eyes are filled with longing and a million regrets.
If I were him, I’d have a million regrets too.
Then again, had I been him and she told me she needed to finish the journey she didn’t get to take with her mom, I would have found a way to go with her. At the very least, I would have done everything in my power to make sure I was there for her whenever she needed me. And if she told me she didn’t want to be with me anymore, I would have fought for her until I couldn’t fight anymore.
If he had done that, their story could have easily ended differently. Instead of us talking about the future, those conversations would have been theirs. So, I guess, in a way, I’m grateful for his fuckup because who knows if she and I would have met if he’d done what he should have. And now that I have her, I can’t imagine my life without her.
“This your new guy?”
“Yeah, Roman, this is Tyler, Tyler, Roman.” I jerk up my chin, and he returns the gesture.
“Can I talk to you for a couple of minutes?” he asks, and Elora’s fingers squeeze mine as she tips her head back to look up at me.
“It’s okay.” I drop a kiss to her mouth, and even though I don’t want to let her go, I do. I know she needs closure, and I want her to leave this place with zero regrets. “I’ll be on the porch.” I step away from her and shoot him a look that states clearly that I’ll be close and that he better not do anything to piss me off.
I can’t hear their conversation from the deck, but there is no missing the way he fights to hold himself in check when it’s obvious he wants to reach for her or the way she stays far enough away that he couldn’t even if he tried.
Luckily for me, their talk is brief, and after sharing an awkward goodbye, he gets in his truck, flicking his hand in my direction.
“You okay?” I ask as she walks up to join me on the porch.
“Yeah.” She leans against me as he drives out of sight. “I love you.”
“I know.”
“Even though this trip wasn’t the best, I feel good about leaving this time.”
“Good.”
“Can we postpone New Orleans and just go home?”
I dip my chin to look at her, surprised by the request. “Is that what you want?”
“Yeah, I just want to be home. I miss Diana and arguing with Clifford.”
“Then we can definitely go home.”
“Thank you.” She leans up to touch her mouth to mine, then grabs my hand. “Now, come on. I need your help weeding.”
“We can pay someone to do that, Elora.”
“We can also do it together and then take a shower after.” She smiles at me over her shoulder, and I soak it in, wondering what kind of magic was at work when it twisted our broken strings together into a knot so seamless we had no choice but to find each other when we needed each other most. And it had to be magic because nothing else makes sense.