It means everything.
“You should get some rest. I’ll be by your side. I promise I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay.” I lift my eyes, guarded but hopeful.
This time, when I close my eyes, I feel the calm in my body that only Roman can provide. I drift off quickly.
When I wake, the sun is going down. It takes a moment to gather myself. Roman is sitting in the chair, looking at his phone, exactly where he said he would be.
I realize that it’s been a hell of a day for him too. He must be exhausted.
“Roman,” I state in a groggy voice.
He places his phone down instantly. “Hey. How was your nap?”
“Mmm … good. I feel much better. How long was I out?”
He looks down at his watch. “Three hours, I think.”
“Oh shoot. Jessie and Walker. They went downstairs but were going to come back.”
“Jessie came back up with Walker behind her. I told her they could leave. I’m not going anywhere, and if he can’t behave himself, he can’t come back in. I’m sorry, Eva. I know he’s your brother, but I’m not going to leave every time he wants to see you.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“Right now, let’s just have some dinner. I’m having someone deliver food for us. We’ll relax and get a good night’s sleep. That’s all that matters right now.”
“Wasn’t the final walk-through of the lobby today?” I ask, realizing how big that was.
“I canceled it.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“My work isn’t very important. I’m not a doctor. I absolutely had to do that.”
I smile at him, feeling like there has already been a big shift since he found out about the baby. I go back to the man I met in my interview. He was so cold. These are not words that he would have spoken at the time.
A knock at the door pulls my attention.
“Dinner’s here,” he announces as he walks to the door and grabs two large paper bags from the man.
He walks back to me, but I’m still trying to figure out what just happened.
“How did that guy get in here? And are we allowed to have food delivered right to the room?”
“You ask too many questions.”
I chuckle as he dodges my question. “You pulled strings.”
He pulls the rolling table up to me and begins to place a container of food in front of me. It smells too amazing to worry about how the hell he got the permission to have it delivered directly here or who that person was.
“Wow.”
He keeps putting more on the table until it is completely filled.
“What did you order? This is enough for the entire floor.”
“I needed to make sure my girl and my baby were fed.”