Chapter 20
Sage
“When is Ro coming over?”
I looked up from my e-reader and smiled. “Tomorrow, honey. Right now, he’s competing.”
“When are we going to be able to watch him? He said we would be able to.”
“That’s only if he makes it to the night show.” At least, I think that was what Roman had called it. I had talked to him a couple times today, and he sounded confident he was going to win a couple of his divisions and move on to the show that was live streamed.
“When will we know? Can we call him? I miss him.”
I sighed and patted the couch next to me. “Why don’t you come sit next to me, and we can text him.” The last thing I wanted to do was call him in the middle of his division.
How’s it going?
Sam looked at the screen. “What’d ya say?”
“I asked him how it’s going.”
He sighed and sat back on the couch. “Tell him we miss him.”
Sam misses you.
“That’s my name. I said to put we miss him.”
I rolled my eyes. And I do too. “Is that better?” I asked, holding the phone up for him to see.
“Mama, you know I can’t read.”
I ruffled his hair and put my arm around him. “What do you want for dinner?”
“Pizza and pickles.”
My stomach rolled at the suggestion. “Um, how about one or the other.” My phone dinged in my hand, and we both looked at it.
Calling you.
The screen lit up with Roman’s face, and Sam grabbed it from my hand. “Ro!” he yelled. He hit the connect button, and put it to his ear. “Hiiiii!”
Damn kid.
“What are you doing?”
“Did you do your bo?”
“When?”
“I’ll tell Mama.”
“We miss you.”
“Bye Ro!”
He thrust the phone at me and ran down the hallway to his room.
“Roman?”
I heard his laugh on the other end of the phone. “I’m here, baby.”
“I was afraid you might have hung up.”
“Nah, I wanted to talk to you.”
I curled my feet underneath me. “So, how did you do?”
“Well, I dropped in extreme. Got third in traditional. Second in both open hand and CMX but managed to pull out the win in musical.”
“What? Roman, that’s amazing!”
He chuckled. “It’s not bad for being off the circuit for over a year. I shouldn’t have dropped, but these damn lights fuck with ya.”
“Does that mean we’ll get to watch you later?”
“Yeah. The night show starts at seven.”
I glanced at the clock and saw it was half-past five. “It’ll be on that website you told me about, right?”
“SKW will have it on their page. You should be able to watch it. I told Sam.”
“Is that what he was supposed to tell me?” I laughed.
“Yeah.”
“He handed me the phone and ran off to his room to play.”
“Not the greatest messenger.”
“Not at all,” I laughed.
“One sec, baby.” I could tell he pulled the phone away from his mouth, but I could still hear him. A few people congratulated him, and I could hear the pride in his voice as he thanked them.
“Sorry.”
I sighed. “You’re okay. You are a superstar ninja after all.”
“Only you would say that.”
“I’m proud of you, Roman.” I was. I was so damn proud of him. The past two weeks all he did was a train, work, train, spend the night with Sam and me, and then do it all over again the next day.
“Dammit, Sage.”
“What?” I laughed.
“You can’t say shit like that when I’m in a crowd trying to act like a badass ninja.”
What a weirdo. “Well then, I’ll let you go, and you can call me later so I can tell you how amazing I think you are.”
“That’s a promise, baby. Don’t forget seven o’clock.”
“We’ll be watching.” I disconnected the call and tossed my phone on the coffee table.
Sam came running down the hallway with his karate gi on and his belt trailing behind him. “Mama, Ro is going to be on TV. Can you get my belt on me?”
He tossed it to me and held his arms out in front of him. “Um, can I ask why you need to have your uniform on?”
“Because you can’t watch karate in jeans.”
I laughed and looped the belt around him. Thank God for the little kids. They had the belts pre-tied, and all I had to do was velcro it together. “You know Roman can’t see you, right bud?”
“He can if you take a picture and send it to him.” He grabbed my phone and handed it to me.
I opened the camera and motioned for him to step back. “No, Mama. One of all of us?”
“All of us?” I asked.
“You, me, and the baby.”
And my heart melted.
He climbed into my lap, sat on the side, and pasted a big smile on his face. “Take the picture, Mama.”
I fought back the tears that were clogging my throat and held up the camera. Sam gave a thumbs up with one hand and pointed to my tummy with the other.
“Cheese!” he sang.
I snapped the picture.
“Now do funny faces. Ro and I do those all the time on his phone.”
I snapped three more pictures of us laughing, looking downright goofy.
“Now send them, and say we love you.”
“How about I just send them?”
Sam shook his head. “No. I love Ro. He’s funny, a ninja, and I want him to be my daddy.”
I was speechless. I knew Sam was getting attached to Roman. “Sam, don’t you think you would rather tell Roman that in person?” And leave me out of it?
“Don’t you love Ro, mama?”
I grimaced. “Um, well, you see. I, uh…” Shit. I did. Dammit, I totally did. But I had never told Roman. Whenever the words were on the tip of my tongue, I second-guessed them and was afraid that they would make him run.
“It’s not a hard question, Mama.”
From the mouths of babes. It really wasn’t a hard question. You either loved someone, or you didn’t. “I guess you’re right, Sam.”
‘So, do you love him?”
When did my four-year-old become my relationship counselor? “Uh, yeah.” Whoa.
“Send the pictures, tell him we love him, and then it’s karate time!” Sam thrust his fist in the air and leaped off of the couch.
I opened my text messages, and my finger hovered over the keyboard. Do you love him? Such an easy question, but the answer was so complicated.
“Send it, Mama.”
It was like the kid could tell I was terrified out of my mind. I quickly typed it out, attached my two favorite photos we took, and hit send.
I had just told Roman Yeck I loved him.
*
Roman
My phone buzzed in my hand, and I looked at the screen to see Sage had texted me.
I had just sat down in the hotel restaurant with a couple of the other competitors to grab a quick bite to eat before the night show.
My finger pressed the message icon and clicked on Sage’s name.
A picture of her and Sam sitting on the couch popped up, and I couldn’t help but smile. Sam was pointing at Sage’s baby bump with a surprised look on his face while Sage laughed. The words on top made my heart stop.
We love you.
“What’s got you smiling like an idiot, Yeck?” Marcus Reins asked.
I glanced up. “My family.”
*