Roman (Season Three: The Ninth Inning #7)

by Lindsay Paige

  As his parents approach us, I quickly wipe my palms on my thighs. Before Roman introduces us, I speak. “Mr. and Mrs. Dailey, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” I shake their hands. Mrs. Dailey has dyed blonde hair, but it’s a good job, not just a bottle job, and her outfit looks like it came right off the mannequin.

  “Carissa, Roman talked a lot about you yesterday.” Her smile doesn’t quite meet her eyes, and it reminds me of my mother.

  Oh no.

  “He speaks very highly of you both as well.”

  “Enough with chit-chat, I want steak,” Mr. Dailey boasts and Roman shakes his head.

  “Let’s head out.” Roman directs everyone back to his car.

  I end up sitting in the back with Mrs. Dailey, so Mr. Dailey can sit up front with his son. On the drive to the steakhouse, Roman keeps the conversation going about baseball and the game tonight. I’m thankful for it, and I can feel Mrs. Dailey eyeing me. I have to put on my thick skin like I do with Mom, and I put my battle gloves on.

  We’re seated immediately when the hostess see us. Roman called ahead and made sure we had a table in one of the private rooms. This is either going to go really well or very bad. I take a deep breath as Roman holds my chair for me and seats me directly in front of his mother, who is still giving me a once over.

  “My son says you’re a tutor.” Mrs. Dailey keeps her green eyes locked on me. “Not a teacher, huh?”

  “Oh, I have my license, and I just finished all my paperwork to start subbing when the school year starts back up.” I smile at her, keeping my voice upbeat.

  “What do you normally teach?”

  “Math, mostly. In Florida, I taught fourth graders, and my curriculum covered all subjects.” I pause for a beat and turn the questions on her. “Roman tells me you’re both teachers as well.”

  “Yes,” she answers quickly, and the waitress brings us our drinks. Roman is sticking with water since he has a game in a few hours, but I really want to chug my wine to calm my nerves. “I have to say I was surprised when Roman told us he had a girlfriend.”

  I nod, because I’m not sure how to respond to her.

  “Mom, I’m sure it didn’t stop the world from spinning.” Roman uses a low tone with her, and it has a warning attached with it.

  “I just wish I had known. We assumed this was going to be a family week,” she counters.

  “It is. Carissa is part of my life and God knows I wanted her to meet my parents,” Roman says.

  Mrs. Dailey and Roman have a stare down for a moment, before she finally breaks eye contact and turns back to me. “Carissa, you have to understand, he’s the only son I have left.” Her voice cracks. “I never see him and hardly talk to him on top of that. I’m a little emotional,” she confesses.

  “Mrs. Dailey, you have my deepest sympathy. I know this week is hard on you because of Heath’s death, and I have no words to express the sadness you must continually feel. If you want me to leave, I will, and we can do this another time.”

  Roman is about to say something, but his mother cuts him off. “No, please stay. You actually seems like a nice, normal female and nothing like I thought Roman would bring to meet us.” She sighs. “I’m sorry.”

  I have a sad smile on my face. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  Before more emotional words come from either of us, Mr. Dailey begins to talk about the baseball team he coaches, and I’m thankful for the change in the air. As we order and even when our food comes, we are more relaxed and even laugh from time-to-time.

  Too soon, we have to go. Mr. and Mrs. Dailey tell me they’re going to the game, but will be sitting behind home plate. Mr. Dailey likes sitting there the best. I tell them where I’ll be and told them I’d meet up with them when the game ends.

  After dropping his parents off, he takes me to Hector and Zoey’s house. I’m riding over with Zoey. I’m mainly going to figure if she’s going to have a baby or not. I sent several messages to Hector, but he dodged the question each time. This leads me to believe she is carrying my niece or nephew, and I can’t wait to be an aunt.

  I give Roman a big kiss, tell him I’ll see him later as I leave his car, and stroll into my brother’s place.

  “Zoey, I’m here,” I announce myself, shutting the door behind me.

  “Kitchen,” she yells back, and I make my way to her.

  “I’m not going to beat around the bush here, sis.” I smile at her when I enter the room. “Am I going to be an aunt or not?” I place my hands on my hips and stare her down.

  Zoey, who’s sitting at the kitchen table eating a big plate of fries, smiles. “You’re going to be an aunt.”

  I squeal with delight and jump up and down. “Oh my God.” I bounce over to her, hugging her neck. “I’ve been bugging the hell of Hector. Why didn’t you two tell me?” Zoey smile fades, as does mine. I take a seat next to her and grab her hand. “What is it?”

  “I had a small breakdown,” she whispers.

  “Why?” I grip her hand tighter.

  “Well, I first thought about Hector’s reaction. I mean, we’ve not really sat down and talked about kids. At least, not a serious discussion. We both knew we wanted kids, but the when of it was the least talked about. I thought he might be upset since we’ve not been married long. Then I thought about your mom. She has been treating me much nicer these past few months, but I thought she would flip out on Hector and cause him more stress.

  “Plus, I thought about my parents. They’re not here and they’ll never see this beautiful baby or see how great a man Hector is.” She sniffs and tears roll down her cheek. “Plus, my career is just taking off, and what if I lose all my creativeness? Of course, then I worried about how fat I’d get and if Hector would even want to touch me again. Aunt Minnie and Aunt Lanny came over last night and we told them. They reacted like you and are already bugging me about going shopping. But, when I told them how I felt, like I just told you, they told me I was being crazy.”

  “Oh, sis.” I rub her tattooed arm. “You are being silly. Hector loves you more than anything else in this world. I’m pretty sure he’d give up baseball if you asked him to. Don’t worry about Mom, she’ll either love her grandchild or get over the fact you and Hector belong together and that’s it. And everyone gains weight being pregnant. Hector will love every inch of you. Plus, having the baby might open a ton of new doors of creativity. Now, you’ll be able to see things through the eyes of your baby. I’m sorry your parents aren’t here, but they’re looking down on you and everything you do. Your aunts will never leave your side and neither will I. You know this already.”

  She nods, wiping her tears with a napkin.

  “What does Hector say?”

  Zoey smiles. “He’s over the moon. He almost cried when he looked at the pregnancy test. He kept telling me over and over how much he loved me.”

  “See. Right there says it all.” I reach over and hug her shoulders. “Don’t forget your baby is going to be so freaking cute, too.” This makes her laugh, and I smile, feeling her relax around me. “I say we head to the stadium and cheer on our Angels.”

  “Let’s go.” She nods and we head out the door.

  By the time we reach our seats behind the dugout, all the girls know about Zoey and are hugging and congratulating her. I’m especially glad to see Scarlett at tonight’s game. We talk as the guys are warming up and she says she and Trent are becoming closer than ever.

  “He stayed at my place all night.” She beams.

  “Really? Is this the first time?”

  “Well, yes. We try to do as much as we can together, but with his daughter, it’s hard, but she’s the most amazing little girl.” I can see the pride on her face.

  “I’m so happy for you.”

  As the boys head back to the locker room, Roman and I catch each other’s eyes, and he grins brightly with a wink. I love him, and there’s so much happiness in my life now. The girls and I are gossiping as usual, and I tell them about seeing Roma
n’s parents this afternoon.

  When the game begins, I’m excited to see what it will bring. The Angels are sitting pretty at the top of the division and slowly inching their way from the pack. Roman is still leading the league in RBIs, Tanner in most bases stolen, and lately, Blake is running away with home runs. Then again, Blake’s arms are huge, and I’m not surprised.

  Inning by inning, the Angels add to their lead. The girls and I clap louder and louder with each amazing play and the loudest when the game ends. We watch the guys head down to the locker room and us girls shuffle with the crowd, making our way to the parking lot to wait for the guys, and meet up with Roman’s parents.

  As we stand by the cars, we’re still talking when my phone begins vibrating in my back pocket. I figure it’s Roman, but I almost collapse when I see the text:

  Dane: Shouldn’t you be wearing your brother’s jersey?

  Dane: I looked up Roman Dailey. Is he the new fuck in your life?

  I look all around. How does he know what I’m wearing?

  Oh God, he’s here.

  ***

  WHEN I FIRST spot Carissa, she’s alternating between looking at her phone and frantically glancing around. Her face is pale, and she seems scared. I pick up my pace into a jog until I reach her. She whirls around as if I’ve startled her.

  “What’s wrong?” I blurt out.

  She crashes into my chest, murmurs something as she wraps her arms around me, but I can’t hear her.

  “What?”

  Carissa pushes her phone into my hand. I hold her to me with one arm and look at the phone. My heart beats out of control, and I hold her tighter.

  “It’s okay. He’s not going to get close enough to touch you; I promise.”

  “He’s starting to scare me,” she tells me quietly.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “What’s going on?” Hector demands to know when he sees us. I wordlessly hand him her phone. He curses under his breath. “We need to report this, so the police know he’s here.” Without waiting for a response, he walks over to Ariella. A few minutes later, he returns to us. “She’ll handle it. Go home and forget about him, Carissa.”

  She leaves my arms long enough to hug her brother and Zoey goodbye. We’re quiet as we head to the apartment complex. I walk her to her apartment long enough for her to grab clothes to stay with me. Dane seems to know where she lives, and depending on how often he’s watching her, he know that I’m only a couple of floors below her. However, I’d feel better if we were in mine.

  I’m worn out from the game, so we head straight to bed. We have a road trip coming up soon, and I hate to think about leaving her. I don’t like the idea of her staying alone either. We don’t know what he might do since he’s apparently stalking her now.

  “I think you should stay with Zoey when we’re on the road, and you should make sure someone is always with you, just in case.”

  “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

  I lean back to look at her. “You said so yourself that he was scaring you, so yeah, I think it’s completely necessary. It’s a simple precaution to keep you safe and away from him. You can’t possibly have an objection to that.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Good.” I kiss her softly, hold her against me, and we fall asleep.

  In the morning, I drive Carissa to work. We decided to let her boss, Felicia, know that Dane could be a possible issue. To make sure Carissa tells her, I even walk inside to oversee the conversation and watch as Carissa shows a photo to Felicia. If she sees Dane, she promises to call the police.

  When I walk into the locker room, Hector is in a mini rant. It seems Zoey made her first doctor’s appointment, and the only time she can get is when we’ll be out on the road. He made a big announcement to the team yesterday before the game. You would’ve thought he was giving us a pre-game pep talk with his enthusiasm and how excited the guys got for him.

  These are some baby making machines. First, it was Sofia, then Heidi, Ariella, and now Zoey. As long as no one expects me to jump onto the bandwagon any time soon.

  Shit. I can’t believe I forgot.

  “Hey, you owe me two hundred dollars,” I say to Spencer.

  “Damn. I was wondering how long it would take you to remember.” He reaches for his wallet, pulls out two crisp one hundred dollar bills, and hands them to me.

  “Thank you,” I say, plucking them from his fingers.

  “What the hell, Sugar Daddy?”

  We turn to see Hector holding up Colby’s left hand where a wedding band now sits on his ring finger.

  “When did you get married?” Felix asks.

  “Over the weekend,” he says simply.

  “And we weren’t invited?” Tanner holds his hand over his heart like the thought hurts him.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Jordan adds.

  “I proposed last week. Ariella didn’t want anything big, and she didn’t want to wait until after the baby is born. We had a small ceremony with just our families. We’ll party after this road trip. I didn’t tell y’all because Hector broke his baby news.”

  “Fuck,” Spencer huffs with a deep breath. He forks out two hundred more dollars and hands them to me.

  “Thank you.” I grin. “Maybe one day you’ll learn to think before you make bets. Congrats, Colby.”

  “Thanks, Roman.”

  “Yeah, congrats,” Jordan says, which leads to everyone else to congratulate him on his new marriage.

  Practice goes smoothly as the guys talk about the upcoming party. Someone decides it should just be us boys since Colby didn’t get a bachelor’s party. Who knows what’ll end up happening. Afterward, since I have four hundred dollars to blow, I decide to use my Angels status to make reservations at this fancy restaurant. I think Carissa and I need a calm night out. Plus, chicks like dressing up, right? She’ll be thrilled. I send her a quick text to let her know about our plans.

  Spencer and I play video games in the meantime.

  “I have to say, I’m kinda glad Colby went off and got married without us. Weddings are a waste of time. Let the couple and their family have a ceremony and let the rest of us party and celebrate without suffering through something so boring.”

  I laugh. “You do realize that one day, you might get married, right?”

  “Doubt it. Tanner may be onto something with his whole find a regular fuck and stick with her kind of thing.”

  “Yeah, but that’ll never last.”

  “Why not?” he asks.

  “Pretty sure every woman wants a legit relationship, someone to be with, marriage or not. They won’t be satisfied with just fucking forever.”

  “I want to find a woman who will be.”

  “Good luck,” I laugh. “Why are you so opposed to relationships, anyway?”

  “Just am. They’re too much work, and I’m much too young to be tied down to someone.”

  I feel like there’s more to it than that, but I don’t press him. Eventually, it’s time for me to change into something nice and head up to get Carissa. When she opens the door, all I can do is stare. She’s wearing a coral summer dress, and she looks amazing.

  “Do you like it?” she asks, doing a little twirl that causes the bottom to flare out.

  “Like it, love it, want to rip it off, and all of the above.” She laughs and I smile, holding out my hand. “Ready?”

  “Yep.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  We walk out to my car and head out.

  “So, what spurred the dinner date?” she asks.

  “You know how Spence likes to make bets?” She nods. “Well, he lost two today and paid me four hundred bucks. That and wanting to do something with you is why.”

  “Four hundred dollars? Y’all really make too much money if that’s how he blows it. How often does he bet that much with you?”

  I shrug. “Only every so often.”

  “What was the bet?”

  �
��I said Zoey would get knocked up and Ariella and Colby would get engaged. They got married, so I still won.”

  “Wait. What? When did they get married?”

  By the time I finish filling her in, we’re at the restaurant.

  “I can’t believe they did that. I’ll have to remember to congratulate them next time I see them. And I’m guessing Hector told the team?”

  “Yeah. He was irritated this morning because he’ll miss her first appointment.”

  “I know. Zoey told me. I’m going to ask for some time off to go with her.” The waitress stops by to take our drink orders and Carissa picks up as if she was never interrupted. “And how cute is this, Zoey is going to do some sort of painting and deliver it to her aunts and mail one to my parents to tell them the news. I’m so ready to go shopping for baby stuff, but I’m waiting until we know the sex. Well, I’m going to try.”

  “Isn’t there gender-neutral stuff?” I ask.

  “Yes, but if it’s a girl, then I want to buy something girly and cute. If it’s a boy, I want to buy something blue and cute. Either way, I need to buy some baseball stuff, too. Sounds like I need to start a baby fund for them.”

  I laugh. “Here.” I hand over half of my bet earnings. “You’re off to a good start.”

  “I can’t take this, Roman,” she says with a shake of her head.

  “Yes, you can. It’s play money for me; I don’t need it. You want to go shopping for your niece or nephew then I want to help you do that.”

  She smiles and finally takes the cash. “Thanks.”

  Carissa spends a lot of our dinner talking about either her work or the baby or some of the plans she and Zoey have made for when we’re on the road. To hear and see her be so excited about a kid makes me want to give her one. Eventually. Still no time soon, and I’m sure she’d be on board with that.

  I let my woman talk, order a dessert she insists we share and then she eats three-fourths of it, and take her home. This time, we go to her apartment. I plan to do dirty things to her and make her scream my name. No need to subject Spencer to that.

  “You have that look in your eyes,” she says after locking her apartment door.

  “What look?”