“Fine. Another time then.”
I turn to climb one of the ladders we brought in to check the wiring on our overhead light fixtures. Roman’s phone immediately begins blaring some obnoxious ringtone from the late 90′s.
“Ah shit,” he mutters, digging it out of his pocket.
“Who’s that?” I ask, not really paying attention. “Another one of your‘talentless’Miami employees?” I joke.
“No. It’s Kacey.”
“Is that the girl you’ve been seeing? You know, you mention these women, but none of us ever get to meet them. I asked Natasha if you were still dating Victoria and she asked me who the hell that was?”
He rolls his eyes. “I don’t bring them around because they’re never meant to last.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. For all the money Roman makes, you’d think he could afford to get in touch with his feminine side—maybe then he’d stop tearing through the women in this city and Miami like a one-man wrecking crew. A billionaire and entirely self-made, he’s conquered just about everything except for a real relationship. That’s the one thing he just can’t seem to get right. I’m convinced it stems back to his father issues. Or maybe the girlfriend he had in high school who broke his heart for the very first time.
He swipes up to answer with a fake smile plastered across his face. “Hey, baby.”
I’m twenty feet up in the air but I can still hear Kacey’s voice blasting through the phone, sharp enough to cut glass as she shouts into the receiver. Roman winces, holding the phone away from his face like it’s about to explode.
Then he sighs, punches the mute button, and looks up at me. “So, tell me again, what’s wrong with these lights?”
“Uh, don’t you think you should be paying attention to her? She sounds pissed.”
He shakes his head. “She’s accusing me of being with another woman last night.”
I blink at him. “What? That’s… ridiculous. Didn’t you tell her about the company party?”
“I did, and that’s exactly why I’m not entertaining this bullshit so early in the morning.”
“Put her on speakerphone.”
Roman gives me a long, deadpan look. “When I tell you that I could care less about this relationship lasting, I mean it.”
I laugh. “I understand. But she at least deserves the truth.”
“This is your funeral,” he grumbles then he hits the speakerphone button just as Kacey’s mid-rant, accusing him of making out with a stranger.
“Kacey,” I say, trying to cut through her shouting. She doesn’t even take a breath to pause.
“Kacey!” I raise my voice, and this time, she stops long enough to hear me.
“What?!” she snaps.
I smile, keeping my tone steady. “Hey, Kacey, it’s Gabriel Carpenter. Roman’s cousin.”
“Oh,” she says, some of the venom draining from her voice. But she’s still pissed. I can hear it in the heavy sigh and inflection of her voice. I’m familiar with that tone. Been on the receiving end of it from my younger sisters who I helped raise plenty of times. I’ll never forget the time when Rhiannon had her first heartbreak and how nothing I said could bring her down from the anger. I learned quickly that they don’t want solutions; they just want someone to hear them.
“What do you want, Gabriel?” she says with another heavy sigh.
“I was with Roman last night. We had our holiday party at the bar for the company.”
“I’m aware,” she says curtly.
“Okay, great. Then you’d also know there’s no way he could have made out with a woman in the bar. We don’t have any female employees yet, except for Janet. And no offense to her—she’s a lovely woman—but she’s happily married and well into her sixties.”
“Though we’re trying to hire more women and promote diversity,” Roman interjects, and I shake my head. He didn’t need to say that part. It’s only going to make Kacey even more pissed.
Kacey lets out a loud, shaky breath through the phone before she spits out, “You’re both liars. IsawRoman,” and then hangs up.
