DO IT ALL OVER
ROMAN
Roman has never been happier to have worked in this bar than today.
Because she stayed. She watched him from afar. She ate from his plate. She listened to him, and now she’s asking about his daughter and she’s not running away.
He likes that he’s got her attention.
And he’s going to do his best to keep her right where he can see her.
He smiles, scratching the back of his head. “Lucy, she’s … that’s my whole world. I love her to death.”
Jahlani leans forward. “Do you have a picture of her?”
He scoffs, slipping his phone out and typing in his pin. He’s ready to send the phone her way when she rises from her side of the booth and drops a few inches away from him, the entire length of her right side pressed to his left.
His body seems to stutter as she bends down to look at the phone. He clears his throat when her fingers brush against his on the screen as she zooms and pinches. Her eyes widen a fraction as she looks up at him, then thumbs through more photographs.
“She’s beautiful, Roman,” she says through a soft breath. “She looks just like you.”
Heat swells in his chest, and he can’t help leaning in, purposefully pressing closer to her. “You think I’m beautiful?”
She looks up, lips parting in shock; her eyebrows furrow, and she shakes her head, looking back at the phone.
“You’re unbelievable,” she mutters, swiping her thumb more. “Unbelievable.”
He laughs, rubbing two fingers over his mouth. “I’m just asking for clarification purposes.”
She didn’t say no.
Clicking the phone shut, she tilts her head, sending a disapproving look his way as she slides it back to him. She turns to face him, resting her head in her hand again.
“You said she was sick,” she says quietly, dipping her finger into the condensation from the glass on the table. “What’s wrong with her?”
Roman blows out a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yeah. She has something called nephrotic syndrome.”
“Nephrotic syndrome,” she says, moving closer into his space. “What does that mean?”
He clears his throat, rubbing under his jaw. “Her kidneys leak protein, and it causes her body to swell. It makes her more at risk for infections, more tired.” The words hang, heavy and clinical, as he thinks about when they first told him—how Kareena dissolved into tears at the word steroids, how Danica and his mother asked a million questions, how his knees wanted to give out under the weight of it. Jahlani must notice him disappearing before she nudges him.
“Her mom?” Jahlani asks, her voice quiet, probing.
Roman’s eyes flicker, the edge of his jaw tightening. “We were co-parenting. She walked out when Lucy got sick. Said itwas too much.” His gaze shifts toward the window . “Last I heard, she moved out of the country.”
“God.”
Roman shrugs, offering a small, almost imperceptible smile, his eyes burning at the fact that his daughter has to grow up without a mother. “Her loss.”
“How do you do it?” Jahlani asks after a long pause, her eyes flickering between Roman and the walls of the room. “Manage everything. School, work, raising her?”
Roman’s smile falters, and he leans back in the chair, the creak of the plastic seat filling the quiet space. “My mom helps. A lot. My sister too. I don’t think I would have survived this without them.”
Jahlani nods, her lips pulling into a smile. “You’re doing a pretty good job.”
Roman looks up at her then, the faintest spark of surprise in his eyes. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she affirms, bumping her shoulder into his. “You could just stop showing up to school, but you’re making it work. You’re doing your best. You should be proud.”
