“See you tomorrow.” I wave at my Dad as I pass the bar. He just nods at me, so I know he’s pissed.
Outside in the street, the lights from the bar are reflecting on the piled up snow on the sidewalk. Elden heads home while Ben and I stand in the street.
“Still want to carry on with Julia?” Ben shakes his head. “Sounds like a liability to me.”
“She’s worth it cuz - this family stuff is other people’s damage. Not ours. You’d see if you got to know her.”
“Well…” Ben’s words are cut off as Ty appears from around the corner, pushes him out of the way and launches a roundhouse punch in the direction of my jaw. I manage to move most of the way to the left to avoid it, but the surprise attack jolts me off balance and I stagger to the side.
I’ve had enough of this.
Ty is running forward as I straighten up and it’s not too hard to use his momentum to push him into the waiting snowdrift. Except in his drunken state he bashes his eye on the side of a parked car as he goes down.
My Dad and Mr Friar run out of the bar as Ty sits up woozily. There’s a bleeding cut on his eyebrow and he’s going to have a black eye.
Dad grabs me by the back of the neck. “Get out of here. I’ll handle it. Go home.”
Ben is already dragging me across the street away from Ty.
I shrug his hands off. “I’m going, Ben. Quit it.”
“Roman, this isn’t good. There’s too much drama. Your Dad is so mad - did you see his face?” Ben’s stressed and he’s talking so fast that his words are tripping over themselves.
“Yeah I know. What a night. Shooters?” I say it just to make Ben smile.
“No way, you’re a dangerous man Ro. Calling it a night.” Ben slaps my back and walks away.
Once I’m back home I sit in my apartment with the TV on, but I’m not watching anything. It’s comforting to know Julia’s right next door, even if I can’t speak to her yet. I hope she hasn’t heard anything by the time I get to speak to her tomorrow.
My cell beeps.
It’s a text from my Dad.
You can’t see Julia Caputo again. Our family has too much to lose. How can you be so selfish? Think about your actions, Roman.
I already know I’m going to see her again.
And again.
Selfish or not, she’s my priority now.
Chapter Five
Julia
Valentine’s Day.
For a romantic like me, it should be a dream.
Except it’s more like a nightmare.
I’m working my butt off selling bunches of roses to every lovebird in Snowflake Falls. And my Dad is mad at me because apparently Roman had some kind of fight with Ty last night. I know what Ty is like, particularly after a few beers, so it doesn’t surprise me. But I have to say I’m a bit worried to hear Ty has a black eye. I didn’t put Roman down as the violent type.
My Dad’s got me to agree to having dinner with Mr Paris tonight in the town’s fanciest restaurant, Silver. I’m not sure how I’ve been talked into it; maybe hope that Mr Paris will invest in Snowflake, and also a hefty dollop of guilt about Ty’s black eye and my involvement with Roman against my family’s wishes.
Still, I can’t stop thinking about Roman.
It’s so busy in the shop that I can’t go for our usual balcony meet-up and I feel the loss of seeing Roman like an ache all day long. It’s like something is missing, an essential part of me, and it sets my defenses down. The more I try to concentrate on what I’m doing, the more I’m thinking about him.
