Chapter 28
Lexi
“I’m thinking about making a run down to the cafeteria,” Georgia says as she pushes up out of one of the guest chairs in my hospital room. She arches her back, which I’m sure is stiff, since she’s been sitting there since showing up with my dad and Gray at 6 A.M. I smile as I see my dad’s eyes watching her every move.
I’m not sure exactly what is going on between them, but it’s clear they have deep feelings for each other. My dad seems like a different person in Georgia’s presence.
Alive, youthful, and oh so very happy. I can’t judge his happiness level before her coming into his life, but I know right now he’s a satisfied man.
It’s quite possibly the best thing that has happened since I’ve come into the Brannons’ lives.
Or maybe the best thing is that I have a new family, as evidenced by the fact that my dad and sister have been here since the crack of dawn. They were not happy when the nurses ran them out last night, or so I was told. I was pretty zonked and have vague memories of them in my room, along with Roman and Georgia hovering over me as well. I woke up a few times during the night and Roman was sleeping in a chair near my bed. The nurses couldn’t make him leave, but then he must have at some point in the early morning hours because he was gone when the others arrived.
“I’ll join you,” my dad says as he stands up and takes Georgia’s hand. He brings it to his mouth and gives it a soft kiss, causing Georgia to blush and stammer as she calls him a charmer.
Gray and I share a silent laugh with each other as we watch those two crazy lovebirds flutter around.
So freaking cute.
Dad bends over my bed and kisses my forehead gently. “Be back soon. Want anything?”
“I’m good,” I tell him with a smile. Georgia pats the top of my foot, which is covered with a sheet and lightweight blanket, and one of the few places I don’t actually hurt. That accident knocked me silly to say the least, but I’m just glad no one was seriously hurt. Sadly, it was a twenty-year-old kid who hit me and he was freaked out. I vaguely remember him at my window, which I’d shattered with the side of my head, screaming at me if I was okay. I sort of feel bad for him, as he was terrified, and when the police officer arrived, he had to practically drag him away from me.
Once Dad and Georgia leave the room, Gray leans toward my bed from her chair on the other side of where my dad and Georgia were sitting and whispers, “Are they the cutest or what?”
“Totally the cutest,” I agree.
“You know, I never thought much about my dad not having someone while I was growing up. It was just him and me, and he was the best father a girl could have. I never felt anything was lacking, but I was really shortsighted not to think that something may have been lacking for him.”
“You were a child,” I point out.
Gray rolls her eyes at me. “I grew into an adult, and still didn’t think twice about it.”
I refrain from shrugging, as my shoulder won’t tolerate it, but instead offer, “Maybe he didn’t need someone before. Maybe he was completely happy with just you. I mean…he’s a man who has his priorities, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his being focused on you.”
I get another eye roll and Gray says, “That’s true, but I think once I left the nest, he could have spent some time trying to find someone.”
“Or maybe Georgia was the one he was meant to be with,” I suggest.
“You’re very philosophical,” she says with a laugh. “I could learn from you.”
Blinking at her in surprise, I shake my head—carefully of course, because it hurts. “I’ve got nothing to teach. I’m just a ukulele-playing barista.”
Gray’s expression turns serious. “And yet, I think you may be the smartest one of all of us. Or, the converse is that I may be the more foolish. I’m really sorry about the crap I put you through with Roman.”
“It’s okay—”
“No, it’s not,” she says gently, cutting me off. “I have no excuse to offer that’s valid. I let my emotions control my actions and I should have known better. But just know, a lot of my behavior was indeed personal, and thus could be said to be selfish.”
“I don’t think you’re—”
“The point being,” she says, again running right over me, “is that I’m sorry and I believe the issue has been fixed between Roman and me. You won’t be seeing our petty sides anymore. Doesn’t mean that we won’t have agreements on the business end of things, but that will remain business and not personal. I promise.”
I stare at her a moment, feeling my heart swell with delight that Gray is saying these words to me, not because she has to, but because she really wants to. So I say the only thing that is appropriate. “Thank you, Gray. That means a lot.”
“Well, you mean a lot to me,” she says as she stands up from her chair, then nods across my bed toward the open doorway. I turn my head on my pillow and look, my heart skipping a few beats when I see Roman standing there with my ukulele case in his hand.
He’s so gorgeous that even though I’m banged up and lying in a hospital bed, my entire body still tingles at the sight of him. I wonder if it will always be that way, or will I get used to his magnificence over time?
Roman’s eyes do a slow, critical sweep of me and his lips are pressed flat together as if he doesn’t like what he sees. This I recognize as equal parts anger that I’m lying in a hospital bed and fear that it could have been so much worse.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Gray says as she leans over my bed and kisses my cheek. “I’ll check in on you later.”
“Okay,” I say with a soft smile.
Gray straightens and heads around my bed. Roman steps to the side to let her pass, and I watch as she punches him lightly on the shoulder. “What’s up, jerk?”
His eyes spark with challenge, but his tone is gently teasing when he says, “Not much, nag.”
I grin to myself as I realize that yeah, they’ve worked things out.
“Later,” Gray says, and then she’s gone.
Roman sets the ukulele case on the floor and walks up to the side of my bed. Nodding toward the instrument, I tell him, “Don’t think I’m going to be playing that for a while because of my shoulder.”
He ignores me, instead bending down and touching his lips to mine gently. When he pulls back, he puts his fingers featherlight against my cheekbone underneath the throbbing bruise and asks, “How much pain are you in?”
“Not much,” I lie, and he doesn’t need to know that I refused my medication this morning. While I’m not generally averse to such things, I knew that I wanted to be clear when I saw my family this morning, but more important, I wanted to be clear when Roman came in. Last night was such a blur to me, but I know he was worried and fretful when he was here. I wanted to make sure he was reassured that I’m going to be okay.
Roman pulls away from me and sits down in the chair that my dad had vacated earlier. He scoots it close to the bed and takes my hand. His eyes are so somber when he says, “You scared the shit out of me.”
“It was just bad luck,” I tell him softly.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I mean you scared the shit out of me when you left your birthday party last night. Told Gray and me not to contact you until we got our shit worked out.”
“Well, I meant—”
“I thought I lost you,” he says quietly, and I snap my mouth shut because his words sound so pained. “I went home, and was just…I don’t know…feeling so out of control. I didn’t know how to fix things.”
“You would have figured it out,” I reassure him.
“Only because you were in that accident,” he says bitterly. “I was so afraid you were going to die without me having the chance to fix it.”
“But I didn’t,” I point out rationally.
Roman smiles at me. “No, you didn’t, thank fuck. And when I got to the emergency room and saw how freaked out Gray was, I just realized…it was easy for us to put that shit aside because you were far more important than any of our pettiness that we had gotten so mired in.”
“I think you and Gray are kind of wonderful,” I murmur.
“She’s all right,” he says with a smirk. “I mean…she has potential.”
I laugh, and then wince because that causes my head to hurt.
“You’re in pain,” he accuses.
“A little headache is all.”
“Well, when you get sprung from here, you’re coming to my house and I’m going to take care of you,” he says firmly.
“You’re going to have to fight Dad, Gray, and Georgia,” I tell him with a grin. “They’ve all said the same thing.”
“It’s a fight they’ll lose,” he says menacingly.
“My money’s on you, baby,” I say sweetly, and Roman’s eyes warm with satisfaction.
“Okay, I’ve got something for you,” Roman says abruptly as he stands from the chair. I watch as he grabs the ukulele case and brings it back to the chair before sitting down again. He flips the latches and pulls it out, setting the case on the tiled floor and the ukulele in his lap.
I watch him carefully, because I get the distinct impression he doesn’t expect me to play, but I have no clue what he’s doing.
“So I’d been working on this for your birthday,” he says quietly and with a nervous quaver in his voice.
“Oh my God,” I blurt out in amazed realization. “You learned how to play?”
He nods, swallows hard, and admits, “For the past few weeks. I found someone who would give me lessons and did them usually after hockey practices.”
My hand grabs for the bed controller and I hit the button to raise my head, scooting my body so I’m sitting up. My nerves hum with excitement that he would do such a thing, and eager to listen to what he’s learned. “That’s unbelievable. And so damn sweet…and romantic…and I don’t even know what to say.”
“You might want to hold all those compliments until you hear me play,” he says dryly as he positions the ukulele in his hands. And oh my God, it looks ridiculous against his large frame and those long, strong fingers. “And a word of warning: I’m not the best singer.”
“I think you’ll be fabulous,” I tell him, already bursting with pride no matter how bad he is.
Roman gives me a grateful smile, then a little cough to clear his throat. His eyebrows furrow inward in concentration as he places his fingers on the strings to make the first chord, and gives a little strum. His eyes slide to me, so damn nervous, so adorably cute, and I nod in encouragement.
His strumming hand starts to move, his chord changes choppy, but when he sings the first few lyrics, tears immediately fill my eyes.
Wise men say,
Only fools rush in…
I blink, and the tears slide free, rolling down my face as Roman struggles with the chord changes. He’s not secure enough to look away from his fingers on the strings, but I can still see a world of emotion in his eyes as he pours the words of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
I listen to him sing, loving his courage and bravery to play a song he’s just learned to a musician. I watch as he struggles, his voice cracking on a few high notes, because Roman is a hockey player, not a singer, and I start to fall right along with him.
By the time he gets to the last verse, I start singing too and his lips curve into a smile as he strums and we sing together. Movement behind Roman catches my eye, and I see my dad and Georgia standing in the doorway, their arms around each other’s waists. Georgia has tears in her eyes and my dad has a goofy grin on his face.
My gaze slides back to Roman as he seems to be more confident with the music, and as he gets to the last line, he looks up at me with a last glide of his fingers on the strings and we sing the ending together.
For I can’t help falling in love with you.
The notes fade away from the ukulele and Roman and I stare at each other for a blistering moment as we realize what this moment means for both of us. He leans forward in his chair, intent on giving me a kiss, but then my dad and Georgia start clapping enthusiastically. Roman jerks with a start and then just places his forehead on my lap in embarrassment while he mutters, “Jesus fuck. Are you kidding me?”
My hand goes to the back of his head and rubs against the short bristles of his hair. I laugh softly and say, “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Roman lifts his head and grins at me with sparkling eyes. Regardless of his audience now, he tells me softly, “I am falling in love with you, Lexi.”
“After that song,” I tell him earnestly, “I’m already there.”
“Okay, well…I’m actually there too,” he admits, and then finally pops up out of his chair to give me a soft kiss. His mouth moves to my ear and he whispers, “And despite Gray and those two behind me being a pain in my ass, I’m sure I’ll come to love them too.”
I can’t help the giggle that breaks free, and I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him to me in a fierce hug. When I release him, he stands and turns to my dad, who has walked into the room now. Roman holds his hand out, holding my ukulele by the neck with the other.
“Mr. Brannon,” Roman says in greeting.
My dad gives him a hard look, and the minute they grasp hands, my dad pulls him in for a sharp, one-handed bro hug where they sort of bump chests. My dad claps him hard on the shoulder, and when he pulls back, he says, “None of that Mr. Brannon crap. You’re part of the family now.”
Roman turns his head to look at me over his shoulder, and I give him a wink. “Part of the family. Get used to it.”
“Thinking that’s not going to be as hard as I thought it would be,” Roman says with a smile back at me.
He then releases my dad’s hand and moves over to the other side of the bed to take the chair Gray has been sitting in, waving to the two chairs on the other side for them to sit in.
We spend the rest of the morning talking and laughing. Gray comes back and joins us, and I watch as she and Roman sort of lapse into a sibling type of rivalry, taking snipes at each other but in a completely teasing way. My dad hovers over me at times, and Georgia flirts with him shamelessly, which causes him to blush. The nurses have to tell us to be quiet on more than one occasion, and that makes us laugh harder.
My heart feels full, ready to burst…joyful in the knowledge that Roman is part of a family again.
Amazing to think of how my life turned out.
That I am part of a family again.