by S. M. Soto
I glance at the clock, shock rolling through my system. “Yes, I’ll be there.”
The line clicks off, and I fall back into the seat, a small smile playing at the corners of my lips. If I can fix this for Roman, that would be a dream come true.
Suddenly remembering the time she mentioned, I shoot up from the seat, searching for Travis or his father. Thankfully, it’s his father I run into, instead of Travis.
“There’s something important I have to do, a meeting later. Is there any way I can get off a bit early? I have to drive to Oakland, but I can switch shifts with someone, maybe take the night shift?”
“Go for it. You can help Travis close up tonight.”
A smile breaks out across my face. “Thank you so much, Dr. Bennett!”
I gather my belongings, stuffing everything into my purse, as I fly out of the clinic, trying to beat the clock before traffic hits.
I fidget in the dingy waiting room, listening to phones ring off the hook and watching people come and go, as I wait for the caseworker to step out of her office. I got here with just a few minutes to spare, thinking I’d be allowed to head right back into her office. I couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve been waiting here in their lobby for twenty minutes now. The anticipation is killing me.
The second I see her walk out of her office, I shoot to my feet, startling her. She pauses, eyeing me strangely at first, until recognition registers on her face.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name when we last met. You can call me Mrs. Archibald.”
“Olivia Hales. Please, I just want to talk to you for a bit.”
She glances down at her watch. “I have a meeting with some—”
“That meeting is with me. I called earlier to set up the appointment.”
Her brows rise in surprise, and she nods slowly, as though she’s taking her time processing. Finally, she jerks her head over her shoulder, indicating for me to follow.
She leads the way into her small office and shuts the door behind her. Settling in the winged back chair, Mrs. Archibald leans back, dropping her glasses down the bridge of her nose, watching me.
“What brings you down here, Ms. Hales?”
I blow out a nervous breath and keep my hands hidden in my lap, so she doesn’t see just how nervous I am. I lean forward and lick my suddenly overly dry lips.
“I need to explain the other day. With Roman.” I can already see her opening her mouth, more than likely to tell me to save my breath, so I rush to add, “And please, I need you to hear me out. I had no idea about Rome’s little brother. See…” I pause, rubbing at the back of my neck nervously. “We don’t know each other very well. I just moved in not too long ago, and I’m a bit…eccentric compared to him. I’m a tough person to handle, I know this.”
She leans back, giving me permission to go on.
“I didn’t understand why he was so moody, why he worked so hard and did whatever he could to keep his distance from me. And well, me, because I’m as nosy as they come, I couldn’t take it, so I inserted myself into his life. One petty thing led to another, and then we were pranking each other. That day…I slipped into his home and spray-painted washable paint on the walls. It was childish, I know, but I want you to know, he had nothing to do with it. I think a part of me wanted the attention from him. Wanted him to have a reason to talk to me, you know?”
A knowing gleam enters her eyes, and a small grin twists her lips. She shakes her head and sighs, toying with the paperwork on her desk.
“That isn’t my only issue regarding Roman. He was once incarcerated. He’s young and still prone to make mistakes.”
Rage fills me. “Isn’t everybody? Have you been in his house? Have you seen how hard he works? There is no one his little brother deserves to be with more than him. He’s worked his entire life to get himself together. To get his little brother back. That’s his blood, his only relative in the world. Just because he had a crappy past, parents who didn’t care, and had to make decisions to keep him and his little brother alive doesn’t mean he should be punished. They both shouldn’t be punished.”
“And you think Roman would make a fit parent?”
I nod vigorously. “I do. I’ve never seen anyone so determined. He loves his brother. You know deep down, no one is going to take better care of Ryder than he is.”
She nods slowly, processing, and a small smile curls her lips. “You must really like him. I haven’t heard one bad thing come out of your mouth, and honestly, after the way he yelled at you, this isn’t what I expected.”
Pressure builds in my chest. “We all have our moments. Why don’t you finally give him the one thing he’s been working so hard for?”
She pushes back from the desk, stands, and puts her hand out between us for me to shake. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. Hales. I appreciate you vouching for Roman. If you don’t mind, though, I have another meeting in about ten minutes. Have a nice afternoon.”
Deflated, I walk out of the building, feeling even shittier than when I got here. I thought, for sure, my speech was going to work. I thought she’d call him right then and there and tell him he got his brother back. But I should know better. Life isn’t like books or the movies. Life is unpredictable. It doesn’t care about feelings or ruining people’s lives. All it cares about is the balance. I just hope whatever that balance is, it works in Rome and his little brother’s favor.
After the meeting, I head back to the clinic to work the night shift with Travis and the rest of the second shift staff. I’m expecting it to be slow, but much to my surprise, it’s not as slow as it usually is this time of night. We’re busy enough that everyone has their hands full. Usually at least one of us has our hands free, but that doesn’t seem to be the case tonight.
“Olivia, I need you back here. Bring me a methadone IV and get him hooked up. Then I need you to keep the heat on his axillary, while keeping the light stable here.” Travis points down at the animal he’s working on. I jump into action, gathering everything I’ll need for the procedure. I crack open the disposable heating pad, placing it on the dog’s axillary, to keep his body temperature warm and stable.
“Here,” Travis says toward the end of the procedure. “Close it here and release the tab like so, exactly. Perfect.”
My hands shake as I do it, but I can’t keep the smile off my face. The rest of the procedure goes smoothly. We wait for the little guy to wake from the drugs, and when he does, we can already see the change in his demeanor. He already seems more like a happy, healthy pup.
Travis gives the owners a call after cleaning himself up, and I get to work on cleaning the room. I do a thorough scrub down, then I mop. After doing that, I wipe everything down one last time. By the time I’m finished, my lower back is aching, my feet are throbbing, and I’m in dire need of a break.
I practically fall into an empty chair in the break room. Tossing my head back, I close my eyes and let my mind go blank, soaking up the silence. If I do this any longer, I’ll risk drifting off to sleep, but I can’t seem to bring myself to sit up straight and stay awake.
“You did really well in there.”
I jerk in the chair, my eyes flying open at the sound of Travis’s voice. It takes me a few seconds to process, and when I do, I blush a little at his praise.
“Thank you for letting me do that.”
He waves me off. “You need the experience, if you’re ever going to master it, right?”
I grin. “Right.”
“So, how are you doing? Heard you had an important issue earlier? Family emergency?”
“Oh, no. It wasn’t like that. I had a meeting with a social worker.” At the furrow of his brows, I wave him off. “It’s a long story. But no, thankfully, everything with my family is okay. They came to visit me not too long ago, so it was good to see them, even if it was for a short amount of time.”
“Where are they from?”
“Long Beach. That’s where I used to live.”
He whist
les. “Wow. That’s right. I forgot your file mentioned you worked near Long Beach. What do your parents do out there?”
“My dad’s a psychologist, and my mom is a sex therapist.” As I say it, my face turns beet red, and Travis takes notice. He chuckles at my obvious discomfort.
“We have more in common than I thought. My mom is a psychiatrist.”
My brows jump. “That’s amazing. And I never said we didn’t have anything in common.” I roll my eyes.
“I know, I’m poking fun at you. You make it too easy.”
I head over to the water system to get a cup of water, suddenly feeling awkward, and needing to put distance between us. As I’m filling the plastic cup, I hear his next question, loud and clear, and my stomach flutters just thinking about it.
“What’s going on with your neighbor? He still giving you a hard time?”
I take a hearty swig of the water, as I lower myself back into the seat. “No. We’ve seemed to have found some common ground. I feel like… I don’t know, I think I misjudged him before, you know? He hasn’t had an easy life.”
Travis’s lighthearted demeanor seems to dissipate. His features tense, the lines around his eyes growing tight. His shift in attitude has me pausing, a frown taking over my face.
“That doesn’t mean anything. We’ve all had hard lives. That doesn’t give anyone the right to treat you like shit,” he practically spits. I get where he’s coming from, and for the most part, he’s right. If Rome hadn’t apologized, I’d agree with him, but he did apologize, and more than that, he explained things to me.
It’s not that I pity him. I feel for him. I feel like I understand him a little better than I did before. He makes sense to me. He’s not so much of an enigma anymore. I have the sudden urge to defend him to Travis. He doesn’t get it, so obviously he’s going to jump to conclusions.
“It’s not like that. He’s a good person, and I misjudged him.”
He scoffs, a brief flicker of hatred passing over his features. “I guess he’s gotten to you already, hasn’t he?”
I jerk back in surprise. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re a nice girl. Guys like that are good at lying and manipulating to get people to feel sorry for them, just so they can justify their actions.”
I press my lips together in a grim line because I don’t want to argue. It’s obvious Travis doesn’t get it. And hell, maybe I am being dumb or too forgiving, but that’s my choice. If I want to leave the bad blood between us in the past, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
I finish off my water and push away from the table, needing some space from Travis. He, obviously, feels some type of resentment toward Rome, and that won’t change just because I told him we’re on good terms.
“I’ll see you back out there.”
I hear his protest, as I walk away, but I don’t bother turning around.
By the time I pull into my driveway, I’m bone-tired. I’m also pleasantly surprised to see Rome’s garage open. I shift on the seat, trying to see what he’s doing in there. Trapping my bottom lip between my teeth, I wonder if I should go over there. It’s late, I think idly, as I glance at the clock on the dash.
My mind gets made up for me when I spot him stand to his full height, my stomach, once again, doing flips. The force with which the butterflies take flight is reckless and all consuming, like G6 fighter jets. Shaking it off, I grab my purse and climb out of the car, heading toward his garage.
He pauses what he’s doing and stares. I feel his gaze linger on me, traveling up and down my body. The shiver it elicits rolls through my body in waves.
“You’re up kind of late.”
He shrugs. “Couldn’t sleep, decided to knock out some stuff. Just get off?” He looks pointedly at my clothes, and I have a moment of self-consciousness. I’ve been working all day in these clothes, so I probably look like a complete mess.
Distractedly, I tug at my scrub shirt. “Yeah. It’s been a long day.”
Rome jerks his head over his shoulder, and because he’s full of surprises tonight, he pulls up the same bucket I sat on last time and places it next to him, leaving a hearty length of space between us. I wish the space wasn’t there, but a woman can’t be picky.
“You mentioned you work with animals?”
“Yeah, I’m just an assistant at the vet clinic.”
“You ever thought about being a vet?”
I purse my lips. “Yes and no. It’s a lot of stress, and it’s still a lot of schooling. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
He chuckles, and though I hate to admit it, I’m beginning to love the sound. How is it this man can bring out the most extreme emotions in me?
I hate him.
Now I like him.
I can’t even keep up at this point.
I watch him from my perch on his bucket, as he gets to work on the car with Metallica playing softly in the background. When he’s deep in thought, those thick brows pull together, forming a deep crease. Even when he’s not frowning, you can still see the indents in his face, the frown lines. That just must be how often he does it. Every so often, he licks his lips, and my eyes follow the movement, wondering what they’d feel like. His muscles bunch and bulge, when he lifts something heavy or goes to tighten stuff.
I’m completely enraptured with him, while he works. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man work so hard, and now that I know what I know about him, it makes me wonder how someone can have so much drive and self-restraint.
I think about my meeting with the social worker earlier, and my stomach clenches uncomfortably. I’m obviously not going to tell him what I did. The last thing I need is for him to yell at me again. But, also, it’s not like my meeting helped. What’s the point in getting his hopes up?
“I really am sorry. About the other day. With the prank. And the social worker.”
He pauses what he’s doing, resting his oil-weathered manly hands on the front of the car, near the open hood. He bows his head for just a second, and I wonder what he’s thinking. He turns to face me, and my heart shrivels, just a bit, at the brief flash of indignation in his eyes.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?’ I whisper, afraid this will be the moment he snaps and tells me he’s still angry.
“Pity me, Olivia. Don’t pity me.”
A lump forms in my throat. “Rome, I don’t pity you. I admire you. You’ve accomplished so much despite the way you grew up. I have every reason to believe you’ll get him back. Believe me, what I feel for you isn’t pity.”
My eyes widen when I realize what I just said, and the many ways he can take it. Heat rises to my cheeks, and I open my mouth, about to explain what I really meant, but he beats me to it.
He blows out a gruff disbelieving laugh, shaking his head at me. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. You would be this annoyingly optimistic.”
I blow out a relieved breath, glad he didn’t pry into my previous statement further. “Wrong. I’m not optimistic. I just choose to see the good in life and not dwell on the bad, because then…where will that get us?”
“That’s easy for someone like you to say. You’ve had a good life. You have a great family. You want for nothing.”
I raise my brows. “You think I’ve had an easy life, Rome? You think I want for nothing?” When he doesn’t respond, I smile sadly, searching his gaze. “What do you want?”
He looks off, with a faraway look in his eyes. I know his answer, and just like I know the man leaning against the car, he won’t say it. He won’t expose himself any more than he already has. I pat the empty bucket next to me, urging him to sit. His brows tug low, and I can see the internal battle he wages. He takes a seat, his eyes extra guarded, as he observes me.
I shift on the bucket, our knees grazing, sending a thrill down my spine. “You gotta think of it like this. Imagine you’re sick with a life-threatening illness and you never know when your final day is coming. Wouldn’t you want to
live life to the fullest? Wouldn’t you want to enjoy every second you had, instead of living in a past you can’t change?”
Slowly, Rome turns to look at me, and the look in his eyes has my breath lodging in my throat. There’s so much there, so much of the man he keeps hidden from everyone else, and he’s giving me a piece of him. Right here, right now.
“Sunshine.”
My brows dip. “What?”
He smirks. “I think I’m going to call you, Sunshine, from now on. Because that’s exactly what you are, Olivia. You’re the sunshine after a hurricane. After years of living in darkness, you’re the warmth everyone wishes they had for themselves.”
My heart is pounding, my stomach somersaulting, and the smile that takes over my face…it’s foreign. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I feel the dormant muscles in my cheeks, caving with pain from being used, and for once, I feel at home with someone. I feel at peace with myself. I feel happier than I’ve ever felt.
I’m not even afraid to admit that I might be falling for my neighbor.
“Daydream”—The Aces
I hate that I have to ask Travis, knowing how he is with the other women in the clinic, but there are no other guys on shift I can ask, and I don’t know if Rome is awake. The last thing I want to do is ring his doorbell in the middle of the night, asking for help with something else, like he hasn’t done enough already.
Despite my better judgment, I ask Travis to help me bring in the desk I bought. We haven’t talked much, even though we work together. I think there’s still a bit of tension between us from our last encounter in the break room. Not to mention, Lucy seems more frustrated with him than usual, and there’s no way I’m getting in the middle of it.
Well, until now, that is.
The cute little rustic desk I bought seemed like a neat purchase at the time, when one of the employees helped me get it into my car. The problem is now getting it out and inside the house.
