Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
As Roman and I settled in for the evening, making a simple pasta dinner, I realized with a shock that I hadn’t felt scared in a very, very long time.
Not really scared, anyway.
I’d been going to therapy once a week, specifically tailored toward the type of trauma I’d been through. It felt like a chill that had slowly been thawing—impossibly slow, at first, but eventually, I hadn’t even realized that my daily fear had gone down so drastically.
I felt normal. And I felt amazing, with Roman by my side.
Even when we were back here in LA.
And I swore I’d never know how to express just how grateful I was.
A week later, we were back in Amberfield, sitting in my hot tub on my bedroom balcony as we watched the sunset. Roman had just fucked me senseless downstairs on the couch, and now we were relaxing before heading off to Red’s Tavern for the night.
When my phone rang, I ignored it at first. But when it rang again a minute later, I groaned, hopping out of the hot tub naked to go fetch it.
“The best ass I’ve ever seen,” Roman called out after me, and I smiled, waving him off as I retrieved my phone, walking back out onto the balcony.
“Hello?”
“Theo,” Martina Sanford said. “Glad I caught you.”
“It’s good to hear from you, Martina,” I said, and Roman overheard me, raising his eyebrows in excitement. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to tell you that I showed your wonderful script to Jason Bentsworth at Paramount, and there is considerable interest in the film.”
My heart thudded like a jackhammer in my chest. “You’re kidding.”
“I am not kidding,” Martina said. “I think they’re going to be more than willing to back the film, but of course they want to meet with you. If we go forward with this, I would be honored to direct.”
I could feel the first hint of tears welling up behind my eyes. “That’s incredible, Martina. I’m—that would be a dream come true.”
“It would be great for me, too,” she said. “I’ll have my assistant call Madeline and schedule a meeting for all of us this week. Is that okay?”
“That’s more than okay. It’s perfect. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”
“Thank you for writing such a moving script, Theo. I mean it.”
After we’d hung up, Roman was beaming at me from the hot tub. “That sounded good.”
“It’s more than I could have dreamed,” I said, hopping back into the tub and covering Roman with kisses. “I think my movie is actually going to get made, Rome.”
“I told you it was good,” he said. “You’re a talented writer. And your grandfather led an amazing life. Oh, we’re getting champagne tonight at Red’s. No question.”
I pulled in a long breath, squeezing Roman before letting him go. My mind was racing. “You know that this is going to mean a ton of traveling, right? We’ll have to be in LA for tons of meetings, and then probably for a lot of filming, too. We’ll definitely film lots of it here in Kansas, too, but there will be even more travel when we have to film the war scenes, somewhere tropical—”
“I’m with you, Theo,” Roman said, his voice deep and gentle, as he reached out to stroke my cheek. “I will travel anywhere with you. Whether it’s LA, or rainforests, or to the middle of the damn arctic circle. I’m with you for anything. And I am so damn proud of you.”
He met my lips in a deep kiss again, and I melted into his arms as we watched the last of the dusky sunset fall below the horizon. We stayed like that for a while longer until it was time to get cleaned up and go celebrate at the tavern.
I hopped in the shower and when I got out, I found Roman standing over the little wooden box where I kept my jewelry.
He had one of my little silver rings in his hand. He looked up at me, giving me a sheepish smile.
“Roman,” I said, walking over. “Did I just catch you trying to get one of my rings to figure out what size I wear?”
“What makes you think I’d do anything like that?” he asked, reaching for me, picking me up in his arms, and kissing me. “What makes you think I’d want to find out your ring size? To get my own ring made just for your ring finger? To ask you to do something crazy like spend your life with me?”
“Guess I’m just hoping to God you want that as much as I want it, too,” I said, butterflies filling my body.
“Then I guess I can admit you caught me red-handed,” he murmured, looking deep into my eyes. “I’m still going to try to surprise you with when I ask. But… I am going to ask, Theo.”