“That’s … nice of you.” Something is up. She’s making me nervous.
“It is nice of me. It’s very nice. And I want you to remember how nice it was of me to forgive you just now.”
“Stella,” I say, ready for her words to make any sense at all.
“I just need you to remember this, okay?”
Not okay. I’m not buying it. Setting both elbows on the table, I stare at her unrelentingly. Man, she’s beautiful. “What’s going on?”
“I’m just saying, if I ever do something, you need to forgive me too.”
My mouth gapes open. “What—” I bobble my head. “What did you do?”
She straightens her back and pulls in a breath. Lookingme dead in the eye, she says, “Roman, I bought plane tickets.”
“To Canada?” I’m shocked. I’m willing to go, but I’m stunned that Rebecca talked her into it.
“No,” she huffs, then pulls in a shaky breath before answering. “To Atlanta.”
My brow narrows. That’s where my dad lives.
“Remember how I forgave you!” she spats, pointing a finger my direction. “We are going to hand-deliver Mason’s gift.”
I cough, pushing back from the table. My chair scrapes on the ground, tipping over as I stand. “When?” I say, but I’m too stunned to form a complete sentence. “You—when?”
“I ordered the tickets last night.”
“Last night?” My voice pitches high. “When last night? We were together all night.” I blink, my wife coming in and out of focus. Righting the chair I’ve knocked over, I fall back into it. My hand scrubs over my short hair and down my face.
“After you fell asleep.”
I shake my head, trying to make sense of her words. “You’re telling me you got out of bed and bought plane tickets? To visit my father?”
“I did. To visit yourbrother,” she says. “You’re like the dead, Roman. You did not move an inch. I mean, I had to lift your seventy-pound arm off of my body. Holy, that’s one heavy arm. And you didn’t even flinch.” She blows out a breath as if she’s just lifted my arm off herself now.
I run a hand over my head.Atlanta?I don’t think about the last time I saw my father years ago. It didn’t go well. I wish I didn’t remember. I’d just gotten on with the Red Tails,and my father’s exact words were, “Thisis what you’re doing with your life?” I haven’t talked to him since.
With my silence, Stella fidgets in her seat. “You never mailed Mason’s gift.”
“So, you bought plane tickets?”
“It felt like a sign,” she says. “No wasted time, Roman.” She covers her hand with mine. “You have abrother.”
I breathe out a trembling breath and nod.
“Oh! That’s right.” Nose wrinkling, she hisses, “Also, I have no money. So, I used your credit card. We leave tomorrow.”
Forty-Six
My bags are packed.
Remember how I had no intention to go anywhere this break? We travel enough while in season.
And now I am staring at a packed suitcase.
All because I have a wife. And that wife decided I need to meet my one and only brother. And it turns out, I quite like my wife. I am unable to stay mad at her. And she makes some good points—no wasted time.
She’s probably right. But I haven’t confessed to that just yet—no matter that I’m overly fond of Stella. We’ll be in Atlanta for two nights and three days. Just in time to make it home for the Red Tails Team Christmas party. Man, Stella has good timing. Or possibly the worst timing ever. Is she doing this to me on purpose? Because she knows I adore her? And she can get away with it all?
