“So stop bothering her,” several voices say at once.
“But what if she’s just?—”
“She’s not,” I interrupt. “Rodriguez, if a woman tells you she’s notinterested, she’s not interested. Showing up at her workplace repeatedly isn’t romantic. It’s?—”
“Much ado about nothing?” Dex offers, grinning.
Rodriguez flips him off but there’s no heat in it. “Fine. I get it. I’ll leave her alone.”
The apartment isquiet after the noise of the party.
I kick off my shoes and sink onto the couch with a sigh.
“That was good,” I say. “Overwhelming, but good.”
“You did great.” Roman sits beside me, pulling me against his side. “Though I’m never living down the IT band thing.”
“You shouldn’t. That was possibly the worst plan I’ve ever heard.”
“It worked.”
“After forty-seven minutes of ice torture.”
“Still counts.”
I laugh, settling against him.
We sit in comfortable silence for a while. Then Roman shifts, reaching into his pocket.
“I have something for you,” he says.
“Roman, you don’t have to?—”
“I know. But I want to.” He holds out a small box. “Was going to wait for the right moment, but I don’t think there is a right moment with grief.”
I take the box and open it slowly.
Inside is a delicate silver necklace with a small wind chime pendant—three tiny tubes that actually move when I lift it.
“Wind chimes,” I whisper.
“Your mom had them. On her porch.” His voice is quiet. “You said they reminded you of summer, of good days. Thought maybe you’d want to carry that with you.”
My throat closes.
I can picture them perfectly—the wind chimes on Mom’s back porch, the way they sounded on warm afternoons, how she’d sit outside and listen to them while doing crossword puzzles.
“Here.” Roman takes the necklace and fastens it around my neck. His fingers are gentle against my skin.
I touch the pendant and the tears come. Not the harsh, broken sobs from weeks ago. These are softer. Bittersweet.
“Thank you,” I manage. “It’s perfect.”
“She’d want you to remember the good stuff. Not just the end.”
“I know.” I wipe my eyes. “Some days it’s hard to remember anything except her dying.”
“Then I’ll remind you.” He pulls me closer. “About the crossword puzzles. About how she told me I’d better be good to you. About how she threatened to haunt me if I broke your heart.”
