He shrugs and she doesn’t move from her spot on the chair, making it a point to drum her fingers on the table.
He lowers his eyes to the countertop, scratching the back of his head. “I’m not in the mood to talk, Dan. Can we do this another time?”
She shakes her head. “No, Ro. You won’t talk to mom; you won’t talk to Taylor or Vaughn?—”
“What’s there to talk about? She … left and I’m … here.”
Danica’s eyes soften. “Okay, there has to be more to the story than that.”
He lets out a bitter chuckle. “How much time do you have?”
Danica and Roman sit on the couch together as they watch Lucy play on the floor in front of them. Alphabet blocks cover her playmat, as well as the toy Jahlani gave her two weeks ago. Roman sips from his glass as he waits for Danica to say something.
After a few moments of silence, Danica lets out a low “damn.”
He blows out a breath, scratching behind his ear. “Yeah … so if I’ve been a mopey asshole the past few weeks, it’s because I’m pretty sure I had my heart ripped out of my chest and … yeah. Everything just … hurts,” he says, letting out a long exhale.
She nods, twisting her mouth. “Can I tell you something that you probably don’t want to hear?”
He laughs. “Go ahead. Not like I can feel any worse.”
Danica sucks in a sharp breath before turning to face him. “I think she was right?—”
His eyes widen and he lets out a disgruntled noise. “Seriously?”
She holds up a finger. “ButI still think there’s a chance. I think you should go to her.”
“What?”
“You should go to her.”
He shakes his head. “I … don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
He clears his throat, standing up. “I don’t know, let me think. She told me she doesn’t want to be with me, we haven’t spoken inweeks, and she lives on the other side of the country.”
Danica twists around to follow him as he moves into the kitchen. “Roman, she cares about you.”
He snorts, shaking his head. “She does not.”
“She didn’t want you to have to choose between her and Lucy, so she made the choice for you.”
“That wasn’t her place,” he says, voice rising. “She didn’t even talk to me about it, Danica. When you’re in a relationship with someone … you communicate. You talk, youshare, you compromise.”
“Well, did you tell her that?”
“What?”
Danica stands from the couch moving to the kitchen. “Did you tell her that—about the communication part?”
“She’s an adult. Pretty sure she knows how to communicate,” he says, shaking his head.
“It’s not the same, Ro. How me and you communicate is different. Communication in a romantic relationship isinherently different from just plain old communication. It’s more nuanced. It requires …more. Just, are you sure that she actually expressed how she felt? Is she even someone who’s good at communicating romantically? Has she been taught that?”
Roman shakes his head becausefuck, she’s making sense.
“I don’t think I could stand her saying no again.”
