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“Sydney.”
I nodded. “Do you see him much?”
“Nope.”
“Sorry, if you–”
His arm wrapped around my shoulder and gave me a slight squeeze. “No apologies, Barlow.”
I chuckled. “Okay. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”
“Eh, there’s just not much to talk about. He gives me money in lieu of love and expects me to worship him.”
“He’s rich then?”
His laugh was humourless. “Like fuck. How else do I have my car? He gives me an allowance and if I need more I just ask him. Mum, annoyingly, won’t let me help out with the mortgage. Dad pays the minimum, but he could do so much more. Still no matter how much I try, she won’t let me.” He sighed. “Something about it not being a kid’s job.”
“She loves you.”
“She does.”
Mum and Carmen weren’t best friends or anything, but they travelled in the same circles – it was a small town among small towns, so there weren’t that many circles – and they obviously got along so I knew of her pretty well. And after getting to know Roman, I’d started to think that it wasn’t just maternal instinct that made her love her son so much.
Silence fell again and I tapped my foot along to the music even though it wasn’t something I knew. I’d opened my mouth to ask him something when rain just started pouring down. My eyes closed and I yelped.
I heard Roman laugh and felt him jump up. He grabbed my hands and pulled me to standing where I smacked into his chest and he had to catch me before I fell again. I opened my eyes, squinting against the rain and saw him looking down at me with a smile.
“You scream like a girl, Barlow.” But, I knew he was only teasing.
“Yeah, and I’m sure you scream like areal man,” I huffed and he laughed.
We just stood and looked at each other for a moment and I almost forgot it was raining. The air around us seemed warm and I liked what I saw in his eyes; they were softer than usual, something about him not just the cocky, womanising arsehole. Then, lightning flashed and I fully remembered who he was and where we were.
I pulled away gently and bent to pick up the blanket.
“Here.” He took it from me, grabbed my hand and pulled me after him towards our houses.
I would have pulled my hand from his, but I slipped once and his hand was the only thing that kept me standing.
We finally ducked under my back veranda and he shook his wet hair from his face with a gorgeous smile on his face.
“I enjoyed tonight, Barlow,” he said.
I nodded. “I surprisingly don’t hate spending time with you, Lombardi.”
He grinned. “Maybe it won’t be raining tomorrow night.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“I guess I might see you then.”
“You might.”
His eyes were still warm and full of nothing but trouble now, but I still felt the most comfortable that I had with another person in a long time.
“Night, Piper.”
“Night, Roman.”
