The Crazy Girl's Handbook

by DelSheree Gladden

  Chapter Twenty

  It was hard to believe what Roman said when wading through the scattered contents of your own apartment. As far as I could tell, nothing had been taken. That made it even more disturbing. If someone had just wanted my TV or computer, I’d still feel violated, but it wouldn’t have seemed as personal. This was personal. Whoever this guy was, he’d broken into my apartment and destroyed as much as he could before spotting the cops moving in and bolting.

  I understood, now, what it meant when cops or mobsters on TV would say an apartment had been tossed. That was exactly what it looked like. It was like one of those snow globes after being shaken up, except it wasn’t fake snow. It was everything I owned. Smashed, torn, ruined. Half my wardrobe was a total loss. The rest I didn’t even want to touch because he had handled it. In the end, all I took were the textbooks I needed, a few family mementos, and personal documents I’d kept in a lockbox in my closet that the intruder either hadn’t seen or didn’t have enough time to mess with.

  Huddled in the front seat of Roman’s truck, I felt exhausted. Roman was settling my things in the backseat when Detective Cordova approached my door and pulled it open. “I spoke to the building manager and she said she’d coordinate with the service your sister contacted to get things cleaned up. I don’t want you coming back to the apartment alone for any reason. I don’t even want you coming back with Roman or your sister. If you need something, call me, okay?”

  I nodded, more than happy to give that promise.

  “I know you’re planning on going back to classes next week, but I would strongly encourage you to stay off campus as much as possible,” he said.

  That caught my attention. “You think he’s a student?”

  “Or faculty, or support staff. We don’t know, but given how much time you’ve spent on campus lately, it’s the most likely place to have met this person, and the easiest place to get access to you.”

  That scared me, a lot. I didn’t like the idea of missing classes or work. I was supposed to defend my thesis at the end of the semester and graduate. Taking a little more time off work wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but falling behind in my classes would have a much bigger impact.

  “If you need me to speak to your professors, just say the word,” Detective Cordova said.

  I nodded, thankful for his understanding. I was almost positive he was doing a little more hand-holding than he normally would with someone involved in a case, but I appreciated his concern. He promised to check in on me in the morning then stepped back and closed my door again. He and Roman exchanged a few words before Roman was once again sitting beside me.

  “Ready?” he asked. I took his hand and nodded. “Let’s go home then.”

  I didn’t think he’d said that out of anything more than habit, but I felt myself shudder in relief at the word home. There were plenty of people who would think I was out of my mind for moving in with Roman, but what did I care? I felt safe with Roman. I felt loved and accepted. No, that didn’t mean we were a sure thing, but for right now it felt right.

  What felt like a long time later, Roman pulled into his garage, and the door leading to the house burst open. Sammy and the boys spilled out into the garage with Lydia chasing behind them, telling them to be careful.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Roman said, “but Sammy was worried and didn’t want to stay the night at Lydia’s anymore. I know we were supposed to have a night to ourselves.”

  “Of course I don’t mind.” My door was yanked open and Sammy climbed up into the truck to tackle me with a hug. “Snuggling up together for a movie on the couch sounds perfect.”

  Roman gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping out and opening the door behind him to get my things out of the backseat. James was there helping a moment later and they had everything in hand before I managed to get out of the truck without one of the boys pulling me out on top of them. As soon as I had both feet on the ground, Lydia flew at me.

  “I was so worried about you! I just can’t believe all of this. They have no idea who it could be? I am just beside myself knowing someone is…” Her gaze flitted down to the boys, all of whom were listening attentively. Shaking off the rest of her words, she hooked her arm with mine and started leading me into the house. “I’m glad you were with Roman when that detective called. I really wish you’d just come stay with me so I can be sure you’re all right, but I guess I understand if you want to stay here at Roman’s for a while.”

  “For always!” Sammy shouted happily.

  Lydia blinked, and almost seemed to pass off what he’d said as him being silly, but then she stopped at looked at him. “What?”

  If Sammy felt her scrutiny, he certainly didn’t show it. “Yeah, my dad said Greenly’s going to live with us all the time now. Isn’t that great?”

  “You mean for a few weeks, until her apartment is fixed and everything’s taken care of, right?” She was talking to Sammy, but her fingernails were digging into my skin.

  “I don’t know,” Sammy said. “My dad just said Greenly was moving in with us. Before she was just staying the night because you were mad at her.”

  A stiff smile spread across my sister’s lips. She waited until the boys had run ahead before yanking me to a stop. I knew what was coming, so I said, “Sammy’s right. Roman asked me to move in, and I said yes.”

  “Because of the stalker and the break-in, right?” Her stare was expectant, not to mention insistent.

  “No. He’d been considering asking me all week, actually, and before you say anything that will cause a fight,” I said, “I love Roman, and Sammy, and I love being with them. That’s why I said yes.”

  There was a moment where I was positive she was planning ways to strangle Roman. Then, her shoulders relaxed and she pulled me in a little closer. “Well, I’m happy for you then.”

  I had to admit, she surprised me. “You are?”

  “If this is really what you want, of course I am. You being happy is all I’ve ever wanted for you, Greenly.” She said it like I was silly for thinking otherwise. I chose not to comment.

  By the time we reached the den, the boys were watching TV, completely oblivious to anything else. Roman and James were standing off to the side, deep in discussion about something until James noticed us come in and elbowed Roman in the side. I swear he muttered something that sound an awful lot like “Good luck,” before giving Lydia a peck on the cheek and taking off with an excuse to check on the boys.

  Lydia disentangled herself from me and threw her arms around Roman. “Thank you for taking care of her tonight,” she said. A little surprised, Roman hugged her back, but kept a wary eye on her just in case. When Lydia pulled back, he looked like he was preparing for a tongue lashing. Instead, she smiled. “I will warn you that Greenly always used to say she would wear our mom’s wedding dress when she got married. It’s absolutely dreadful and I’m begging you not to agree to her walking down the aisle in something that ugly.”

  Roman gave her a dry look. “Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

  “You met my sister three weeks ago,” she said pointedly.

  “I met her at your Christmas party, actually.”

  Lydia rolled her eyes. “I’m just hedging my bets. The way you two are moving, I’ll be an aunt before the end of the year.” Her scathing tone was ruined just a little by a smirk that made it pretty obvious she wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if we proved her right on that.

  I was trying to suppress a giggle when I cured up against his chest. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush that shade of red before.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had to discuss my sex life with your sister before.”

  “So far, there isn’t much to discuss,” I said with a laugh.

  Roman pulled me against his chest. “Don’t remind me.” He pressed a rough kiss against my mouth. “I’d been planning on remedying that tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised i
f Sammy wormed his way into bed with us. He may be absorbed in watching Lego people sing about awesomeness right now, but he was crying earlier when he overhead Lydia talking to James about what had happened.”

  I turned to look at Sammy, who was indeed glued to the TV as Emmet gave the world’s worst speech. I felt terrible that he’d been upset so much. “I’m sorry about tonight.”

  “Hey, don’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault,” Roman said. “Besides, we’ll have plenty of other nights together, right?”

  I was still reeling from everything, but that felt like a promise, one I needed to hear. Tipping my head up, I smiled through my exhaustion. “Right.”

  I suspected neither of us would have been up for more than crashing even if we had been alone, but desire smoldered in Roman’s eyes as he leaned down and kissed me. Worry melted away for a few precious seconds as his mouth moved against mine. Soft, gentle, insistent, he pushed the numbness away and brought life back to my body.

  “I was joking about becoming an aunt,” Lydia mumbled as she walked by us and into the kitchen.

  Roman’s chest rumbled against mine as he chuckled. “I don’t understand her at all.”

  “No one does,” I said.

  He kissed me again, then asked, “Do you really want to wear your mom’s wedding dress?”

  “Are you kidding me? That thing is hideous. I only ever said that as a joke. Not even my dad liked that dress.” I shuddered at the idea of wearing that much lace, ruffles, fake diamonds, and tulle. In the middle of picturing such an ordeal, my thoughts finally snapped into order. I looked up at Roman and asked, “Why?”