19
Bex
Bex had both of her video cameras set up in the kitchen on tripods on different angles, both running. She would use her cell phone video camera here and there, and then Nikki would piece everything together later. Standing in front of one of the cameras, she introduced the video.
“Hello, Bexlandians! Today on our Inn Roomies segment, we are going to tackle something that everyone with roommates has to tackle—cleaning! What’s that? Boring, you say? Mundane? A game where you’re on one side and your roommates are on the other and penalties are getting called on everyone?
“Then you’re not doing it right.” She held up her phone. “Step one to getting it right: set up a Spotify music list that you all agree on. Step two: gather everyone together for a cleaning party.” She motioned for her roommates to come into the video frame, and they all squeezed in, waving with elbow-length pink dish-scrubbing gloved hands and cleaning bottles. “Step three: blast music and clean!”
She started the music and all of them scattered to mostly different parts of the kitchen, dancing as they did. They hadn’t decided ahead of time who was going to clean what, so Bex’s audience got to see all the negotiations on that, too. Addison and Ian paired up to clean out the fridge, and she was glad that she had one of the cameras aimed at them. The looks on their faces as they opened plastic containers of food and smelled them to see if they were still good was priceless.
Bex used her cell phone camera to catch the disagreement between Peyton and Timini on who should work on the counters, the big dining table, and the myriad smaller tables in the inn’s big dining room, and who should tackle the big job of sweeping and mopping the expansive floors. Once they agreed to splitting both, Bex turned off the camera on her phone and started on the dishes.
The music was energetic and everyone was dancing and singing along and having a great time as they worked, and Bex really tried to do the same. She danced a bit as she was rinsing off dishes and loading the dishwasher, knowing she was in the frame, but then her mind would wander to Roman, and she’d slip.
Then, as she was scrubbing the sink and the handle broke right off the scrubber, she decided maybe she was pouring a bit too much emotion into the job. She had to get her head back into the game. Addison and Ian had grabbed both mops and started mopping the big floor before Timini even got finished sweeping, so things were moving fast. Within moments, Peyton had finished the last of the counter tops and Addison and Ian raced into the space, seeing who could finish mopping first. It ended with all of them in the space between the back counter and the island, panting and grinning at the clean kitchen.
“And that’s how it’s done, folks,” Bex said, and then turned off the camera. Then she chucked both pieces of the broken scrubber into the garbage can.
Addison’s gaze went from the garbage can to Bex. “Are you sure you should be filming segments right now?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know, Bex,” Peyton said. “It’s only been three days, and you can’t get over a relationship like yours and Roman’s in three days.”
Bex shook her head. “There’s only so much administrative work I can do without going crazy. I need to keep busy to keep my mind off him.”
Because if she didn’t, all she could do was think of him. About how much she enjoyed being with him. How much she loved brainstorming with him about their businesses. How much she enjoyed laughing and doing crazy things with him. The sweet look on his face right before he kissed her. The way he challenged and pushed her and was never, ever boring.
But being in the spotlight as much as she was wasn’t for everyone. She knew that. She didn’t know why she hadn’t been cutting Roman more slack about it all along. Sure, he’d been super resistant to the interviews at the beginning, but he had been so good at it, and he’d seem to deal with all the attention they brought just fine. So she had assumed he was okay with it and never really talked with him about it.
Maybe she had handled things wrong at the awards party and overreacted. And maybe she under-reacted. She was still so mad at him for the words he’d said. And not just for saying it, but for thinking it! For believing it. She needed someone who would support her in her career, not think it was trivial.
Maybe ending things with Roman was for the best. She remembered very clearly all that Nikki had gone through after marrying a guy who was driven and opinionated and stubborn, and she didn’t want to have to go through any of that. It was good they stopped dating before she got any more of her heart invested.
She should be relieved.
So why did she feel so awful?
“Whatever,” she said as she removed one of the cameras from the tripod. “It’s not like he has called, anyway.”
When she turned back to her roommates and friends and saw the looks of sorrow on their faces, she could feel the tears welling up inside. She hadn’t cried in front of them at all. But as they all surrounded her in a hug, the tears started falling freely and she let herself cry.
20
Roman
Roman sat down at the desk in his office at the end of a really long day. The end of a really long week, actually. He ran his hands through his hair and then just sat there, elbows on the table, hands holding his head.
He just could not stop thinking about Bex. How had he managed to mess up the best thing he’d ever had in his life?
He pulled his laptop toward him, opened a browser, and found her on YouTube. He’d gotten a notification earlier in the day that a new video posted, so he pushed play on it. She still posted three new ones this week, along with two Facebook Live videos. He watched them all. Each one had been torture, but he couldn’t seem to stay away. He missed her smile. Her personality. Her voice. Her determination, spunk, and drive. He missed all of it.
He startled when Charli poked her head in. “Whatcha doing here still, Boss?”
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “You?”
“I forgot my lunch bag and didn’t want to leave it here getting gross all weekend.” She sat down in the chair across from him and sighed. “Are you watching one of her videos again?”
He turned the laptop toward Charli. “Look how happy she is.”
She looked at the screen for a moment, which was paused on Bex’s face, then looked back at him. “And you’re wondering why she’s so happy when you aren’t? You want to know why it isn’t wrecking her the way it’s wrecking you?”
He was. He was too ashamed to admit it out loud, though. He should be happy that she was happy. He didn’t want her to be as miserable as he was.
“I don’t know, Roman. Maybe she isn’t. I mean, I’ve seen you fake it pretty well this week, too.” They both stayed silent for a few moments, and then she said, “Have you called her yet?”
He shook his head. “Those words I said to her—I would’ve only expected them to have come out of my dad’s mouth. But they didn’t—I said them, and it was bad. Some things aren’t forgivable.”
“I don’t believe that.”