“All right, silly goose. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight, héroe,” I whisper into the phone.
“Goodnight, Celia. Sweet dreams,” he whispers back.
Then the call is over.
And instead of turning off the lights and going to sleep like he said, I jump out of my bed and fly down the hallway.
I knock on Gracie’s door once, then four more times until she answers.
“What in the hell is wrong with you?” she grumbles, looking disheveled.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t realize you already went to sleep.” I feel terrible waking her up.
“It’s past eleven. Of course I’m asleep. I have an eight a.m. in the morning,” she says just as sleepily then yawns.
I didn’t realize I’d spoken to Roman for over an hour tonight.
“I can just let you go back to sleep. I’m so sorry.”
“No, you already woke me up. Tell me what’s wrong,” she demands,stubborn as always.
“Roman invited me to family dinner on Sunday. This is a good thing, right? I mean, if he wasn’t serious about me, then he wouldn’t introduce me to them, right? I just don’t know what I’m doing!” I throw my hands up.
“Take a deep breath. Get in here, let’s talk this out.” She opens her door further and goes to her bed. I sit on it with her ready to delve into this new development.
“So, what do you think?” I beg for her advice.
“I think this is great news. He wants his family to meet you. He has brothers, right?” she asks.
“Yes, three. And one of them is engaged. His parents will be there too. I haven’t heard about anyone else, but I can’t be sure there aren’t more.” I give her the rundown.
“Okay. You’ll win over the mom and dad easily. There’s no way parents won’t like you. Now, we know nothing about the brothers or the fiancée. I’d say work on getting the fiancée to like you, then her soon-to-be-hubby will follow suit. That’s the majority which should sway the other two brothers,” she masterminds like a general preparing for battle.
“Or I could just be myself and hope that’s enough for them. Not come in with some battle plan to win people over,” I suggest the much more realistic option.
“Ugh, you’re no fun. But you’ll be fine either way. They’ll love you. You’re a bundle of joy and optimism. You and unlikeable are oxymorons,” she says it almost insultingly, but I think that’s just the grumpiness from being woken up. “It’s why you attract so many morons,” she grumbles.
“Roman’s not a moron!” I defend my man.
My man?
I guess he is my man.
“I’m not talking about him. Never mind. I’m just cranky.” She groans. “If that’s all, please go away. I want to sleep.”
I give her a hug, which she begrudgingly returns.
“Thank you so much, Gracie. I’m feeling better already! Love you!” I tell her as I prance out.
Okay, I can do this.
I’ll just spend the next few days meditating on it.
Chapter 31
Cecilia
Inhale, one… two… three… four…
