Chapter 28
Roman
“They’re here.”
“What?”
“Your boxes from Vegas just showed up.”
It was half-past four, and I had just finished working out. It was over three weeks since Vegas, and everything was good between Sage and me beside the fact no one knew we were married. “Put ‘em off to the side. Sam and I can put them together when I get back from Miami this weekend.”
“Oh, you can’t do them tonight?”
“I have a meeting tonight with SKW.” And then I was off to Miami in the morning.
“That’s right,” she mumbled. “But you’ll be at the doctor appointment tomorrow, right?”
Son of a bitch. “I thought that was Monday.”
“No. It’s tomorrow. We find out what we’re having.”
“Shit, Sage. My flight takes off at ten tomorrow. What time is your appointment?”
“Eleven.”
Double shit. “Uh, let me see if I can get a later flight. SKW books all of my flights for me but I’ll just skip the one they booked and get a later one.”
“What? No, it’s fine, Roman. I don’t want you to waste your money.”
“It’s not wasting money.”
“I’ll just get Molly to come with me.”
“Not happening, Sage. Let me book a different flight, and I’ll call you back.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
“Ten minutes. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I quickly hung up and started searching for a later flight. I don’t know how I could have messed up the day of Sage’s appointment. We had both been looking forward to this, and now I almost fucked it up.
Five minutes later, it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to get out of this.
I pulled out the contact number I had for SKW and listened to the ringtone.
“SKW. We’re here for all of your sport karate needs.”
“Yes, this is Roman Yeck. Can I please talk to Robert Barnes?”
“He’s out of the office today, Mr. Yeck.”
Shit, shit, shit. “Um, by chance do you know who puts together my scheduling? I’m having a bit of conflict right now.”
“Certainly. Just let me take a look.” She put me on hold for a minute then came back on the phone. “It looks like Lauren Radcliffe takes care of all of that. Let me see if I can connect you with her.”
After another minute-long hold, Lauren was on the phone. “Roman! How good to hear from you.”
“Hey, Lauren.”
“What can I do for you?”
“It’s about tomorrow. I have an appointment scheduled for eleven tomorrow morning I can’t miss. Is there any way I can fly on Friday morning instead? I just checked for a later flight tomorrow, and there aren’t any.”
I heard the rustling of paper, and Lauren hummed under her breath. “Oh no. You have an interview with Karate Illustrated and Karate Weekly.”
“They can’t be rescheduled to Friday?”
“I guess I can give them a call, but I really am not going to make promises here, Roman. You signed on with SKW, and these are your obligations.”
“I more than understand, Lauren, but this is very important.”
“Give me five minutes. I’ll call you back.”
I tossed my phone on the desk and buried my head in my hands.
“What’d you fuck up now?” Kellan asked.
“I fucked up the day of Sage’s doctor appointment. We find out what she’s having tomorrow, and right now, it looks like I’m not going to be there.”
“Miami doesn’t start until Friday night. What’s the problem?”
“Karate Illustrated and Karate Weekly.”
Kellan whistled and shook his head. “Damn, brother. Those are some pretty big magazines.”
No shit. “I know.”
“So what are you going to do?” he asked.
“I just talked to see if she can move them to Friday.”
“And what if she can’t? You know you can’t fuck over SKW, brother.”
“I know, Kellan.”
He clapped me on the back. “Look, I’m sure Sage will understand if you explain it to her.”
“You mean she’ll understand after I’ve promised her for the past four months that I’ll always be there whenever she needs me? Yeah, not likely. I’m not missing something unimportant. I’m missing finding out if we are having a boy or girl.”
“Not gonna blow smoke up your ass, man. She’s gonna be pissed. Now it’s gonna be about how you make it up to her.”
My phone rang, and a number I didn’t know flashed across the screen.
“Hello?”
“Roman? Lauren Radcliffe here.”
“What’s the word?” Here we go.
“Karate Illustrated was willing to move, but Karate Weekly needs to have the interview turned in by five P.M. tomorrow for publication on Monday.”
Fuck. “There aren’t any flights leaving later than ten, Lauren.”
“Well, I’m sorry Roman. But even if there were, I doubt you would be able to make it in by three o’clock for your interviews.”
“Lauren, I can’t miss this appointment.”
“And you can’t miss these interviews either, Roman. It looks like you have a decision to make. If you’re not in Miami tomorrow, you’re putting your sponsorship on the line.” She disconnected the call, and I hung my head.
“Did it go how you expected?”
“Sage is going to kill me.”
*
Sage
The bell above the door dinged, and I looked up to see Roman walk through. Hmm, this didn’t look good.
“Hey, ninja,” I called.
He walked up to the counter and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “Hey, baby.”
We just stared at each other. I already knew what he was going to say. After he had hung up with me, I had searched for later flights and hadn’t been able to find one.
“So, about tomorrow. I can’t get a later flight, and I couldn’t get the interviews moved.”
“It’s okay.” I tried to sound upbeat like I wasn’t about to punch him in the face.
“Is there any way you can see if they can move your appointment to Monday?”
I shook my head. After I had searched for flights, I had called the doctor's office to move the appointment. No dice there either, not unless I wanted to reschedule it for a month from now. “No, they don’t have anything.”
“Shit.”
“It’s fine, Roman. It’s only about a half an hour appointment. There’s no reason to mess up your whole weekend over that.”
He grabbed my hand. “Sage, it’s important. More important than anything else.”
“But you can’t mess up your sponsorship.”
He looked away. He knew I was right. As much as he wanted to be there tomorrow, it didn’t make a difference. “Have Molly go with you and record it.”
“I’ll just facetime you.”
He shook his head. “I’ll be flying while you’re in your appointment.”
“Of course. You’re right, I’ll just record it. It’s not a big deal at all, Roman. Go and do what you need to do.”
He looked down at me. “Why do I feel like you don’t really mean that?”
“I do mean it.” Maybe in a teeny tiny part of my heart, I meant it.
“I love you, Sage.”
A sad smile crossed my lips. How many times had I heard that before with Jack before he let me down? “I love you, too.”
“Make sure you tell Sam as soon as I get back on Sunday, we are putting those trophies together, okay?”
I nodded my head. “Will do. He’s been bugging me about them ever since we got back, so it’s a relief that my landlord called and said there are packages waiting for me.”
He looked around the café, then moved around the counter. His fingers laced through mine, and he pulled me into the storage room.
“I hate you looking like this, baby.” He tucked my hair behind my ear.
“Looking like what?”
“Sad. Pissed. Ready to rip my balls off.”
Hmm. And here I thought I was hiding all those feelings pretty well. “I’m fine.”
“To anyone else you are, but I know you. Don’t be mad at me.” He rested his forehead against mine, and I closed my eyes.
Such an easy request, but it was so hard to actually do. “By Sunday, I’ll be better.”
“You’re killing me here. I tried everything I could.”
He had. “I know. I promise by Sunday, I’ll be better. Just blame it on my crazy pregnancy hormones, okay?”
“I could get Kellan and Molly to watch Sam tonight, and you can come with me to this photoshoot I have tonight.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. He has karate tonight, and then I promised him pizza and a movie after.” That promise had also included Roman being part of them, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. He already felt guilty enough. “Now, go. I have work to do, and I’m sure you need to get ready for this weekend.”
“I’ll call you every day, okay? Probably ten times a day.”
That sounded nice. “Sam and I will be waiting to hear how you did.”
“Now, can I kiss you?”
“If you must.”
He chuckled and kissed me.
Kissed me like he was never going to leave, like I was the most important person in the world.
That was all well and good until he lifted his head, told me he loved me, and left.
*