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Roman paused to study her. ‘Welcome to my circle of friends. It’s not as large as yours, but we were tight. We had each other’s back.’ As he talked, he balled his hands into fists. ‘Anthony brought us together. I was his roommate and Tara was a girl he’d met at orientation. She was friendly and resourceful. Pretty soon we started hanging out, but Anthony didn’t have a lot of free time. My folks saved all their lives to send my brother and me to college. Tara had scholarships. Anthony had to work to afford books and stuff. He started coaching at a local gym and that was it for him. He’d found his calling. He would’ve dropped out of school, but his mother would’ve killed him. You met her, so you understand. Tara and I did what we could to get him through. We wrote his papers and coached him through presentations. We made him our special project. We’d started together and were determined to end together.’
‘A noble sentiment.’
‘He was the only one who knew how to cook, so … there’s that. He got us all eating healthy. It beat frozen burritos for dinner every night. But don’t get me wrong, that guy owes us a lot.’
Samantha loved his generous spirit. ‘I’m sure he does.’
‘Most nights Anthony went to bed early to meet with clients at dawn. Tara and I would stay up late, cram for finals, order pizza, all the usual things.’
Samantha had no trouble imagining Roman and Tara spread out on a dorm room floor, books piled everywhere, sharing notes and eating pizza straight from the box. That tightening in her chest was jealousy, no doubt about it.
‘One night we slept together. One day she moved into my room. And that’s it. We were a couple.’
‘Sounds like a whirlwind romance to me.’
‘I keep things simple.’
Samantha’s chest was so tight, she could hardly breathe. ‘She’s obviously in love with you.’
‘Is it obvious? I don’t see it.’
‘Roman, she flew all this way—’
‘I wouldn’t read too much into that.’
‘Well, when did you fall in love with her? You asked her to marry you.’
‘I wouldn’t read too much into that, either.’ Roman dropped into deep thought. ‘But I loved her. I won’t deny it. There was no lightning-bolt moment. One morning it snowed so bad our classes were cancelled. We stayed in and it felt right.’
For the first time tonight, Samantha wanted to cry. She loved the way he loved, the way he eased into it on a snowy day.
‘After graduation we went our separate ways. Anthony had a job waiting for him in LA. He sent his diploma to his parents and took off. I got picked for a training programme at my firm. Tara went home to Philadelphia to sort things out. She was already enrolled in graduate school. I thought it was over between us. We didn’t see each other again until she showed up in New York eighteen months later to interview with my firm.’
‘Is this something she does? Turn up out of the blue wherever you are?’
Roman cracked a smile. ‘I gave her the lead on the job, so I can’t blame her for following through.’
‘You picked up where you left off.’
‘Pretty much. She moved into my building. She kept her own place, but we were living together.’
‘Wait,’ Samantha said. ‘You got her a job at your firm, had her move into your building. Admit you wanted her in your life.’
‘Oh, I admit it. I’d missed her and wanted things back the way they were. For a while, it worked out. We were happy. Anthony took his business bicoastal, meeting with big-name clients in the city. We got together often and it was like old times except he didn’t have to cook. We could afford nice restaurants. We looked forward to his visits. He always stayed with us. One weekend he announced that he was coming with someone special. He’d never done that before.’
‘Naomi.’
Roman nodded.
‘She loved your flat. She said the views were amazing.’
‘I’m glad she liked it. Her visit changed everything.’
‘How?’
‘Anthony took us aside and said he intended to marry Naomi before she realized how dumb and boring he really was. There was more to it than that. He was clearly in love with her. She was so good to him.’
‘Weren’t you concerned? They couldn’t have been together long.’
