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Her mom smiled. “Well, I can’t turn down an offer like that.”
Cara settled into another chair across from Roman. “Yeah, it will go twice as fast.” Her heart swelled as she watched her mom explaining the finer points of turning a candy cane into a reindeer to Roman De Marco.
He took everything in stride, and within a couple of moments, was twisting pipe cleaners into reindeer antlers like a pro.
“So, where are you from?” Jana asked.
Cara glanced at her brother’s fiancée. Jana was a pretty redhead. Petite and full-hipped. Almost opposite of Knox’s ex-wife. Cara wondered how it had been for Jana, being around Macie.
“Originally?” Roman said. “I was born in Seattle.”
Cara hadn’t known that. They hadn’t really talked about Roman’s childhood, and suddenly she was intrigued.
“Oh really?” Jana continued. “How long did you live there? And how did you get involved in the film industry? Sorry, so many questions.” She gave a nervous laugh.
Roman only smiled. “My parents divorced when I was about six, and I moved with my mom to the LA area,” he said. “She was a set medic, and so I was around a lot of productions, I guess. Crew, mostly. Just kind of stuck.”
Jana tilted her head. “What’s a set medic?”
“The person on set who helps with any medical issues,” he said as he twisted another pair of antlers out of a pipe cleaner. “My mom was a nurse practitioner, but she didn’t like hospital bureaucracy.”
“What about your dad?” Cara asked now. “Did he stay in Seattle?”
“Sure did,” Roman answered. “He’s still there, too.” He paused before twisting a set of antlers onto the arch of a candy cane. “We don’t talk much. He hasn’t even met Mia.”
The three women in the room stared at him.
Then Cara’s mom cleared her throat. “Oh, sorry to hear that.” She patted Roman’s arm. “Mia’s a dear, and families can be so complicated.”
Everyone nodded at that.
“Well,” Jana said in a bright tone. “What about your mom? Is she smitten with Mia?”
“Definitely,” Roman said in a softer tone. “She comes to visit a few times a year. She can’t wait until Mia is old enough to be with Grandma on her own.”
“And her other grandparents?” Jana said. “I’m sorry to hear about your wife.”
Cara froze. Was Jana going too far with her questions? She hadn’t even asked this of Roman.
But he didn’t seem bothered. “My wife’s parents are the kind of people who never stay put. I don’t even know where they are right now. We’ll get random postcards from all over the world. They work on humanitarian projects. Liz’s dad sold a software company about ten years ago, and he’s now wholly devoted to humanitarian work.”
“Interesting,” Jana said. “But tough for Mia.”
Roman looked at Cara as he spoke. “Yeah, it’s been tough since her mom died, but I feel like her days have been brighter since meeting Cara.”
Wait, what?She held Roman’s gaze, trying to figure out why he’d say something so . . . direct.
“Aww,” Jana said with a smile. “That’s sweet.”
“And of course your hospitality has been very much appreciated.” Roman shifted his gaze to Cara’s mom. “I don’t know if Mia will ever get off that pony.”
“Well, you’re invited anytime,” her mom said quickly. “You don’t need to go through Cara, either.”
Roman chuckled, and his gaze connected once again with Cara’s. “Not sure how Cara would feel about that.”
She was currently feeling flushed. She was trying to figure out if Roman was being sincere about what he said about Mia and her . . . If so, it was possibly the nicest thing that anyone had ever said about her. To make a difference in Mia’s life was something Cara was more than happy to do. Was that what Roman truly thought?
“Mom can invite whoever she wants anytime,” Cara said in a light tone. What she really wanted to do was leave the room, find a place alone, and catch her breath. Roman was just . . . overwhelming. He was extremely successful, extremely busy, yet here he was, making reindeer crafts in her old childhood bedroom, while he bared his soul to her family.
The conversation continued around her, this time between her mom and Jana as they talked about some of the people in the town. People that Cara barely remembered. She should really be paying attention, though, since she’d be seeing a bunch of townspeople tonight. Yet all she could focus on was the man sitting across the table from her.
