I WAKE UP alone.

        My fingers stretch along the bed, reaching for Roman even with my eyes closed only to come up empty. I snap awake, glancing around the room quickly to no avail. He wasn't here.

        I pull my legs off of the bed and slide into the first clothes I find; sweatpants and a t-shirt I was sure belonged to Roman. After brushing my teeth I make my way out of the room and down the stairs, drawn towards the kitchen by the smell of something doughy and sweet.

        A child's laughter fills my ears. I turn the corner to see Isla sitting on Roman's shoulders, grinning widely as he pours batter onto the stove. Her small hands are sat atop his head and he's wearing the biggest grin I've ever seen on him. "Flip it, papà!" she screeches out, giggling loudly.

        "You ready?" he asks, glancing up at her before grabbing the handle of the skillet and flipping the pancake over with a small grunt and toss. It lands right back in the pan and Isla claps her hands. I lean against the side of the wall, a small laugh leaving my mouth. Roman's eyes turn to me and with a smirk, he returns back to the food. "I see Sleeping Beauty is awake."

        Isla stares at me with a grin. "Sleeping Beauty!" she repeats blissfully. I step into the kitchen and find a seat at the table, the same as last night. "We're making blueberry pancakes! Mommy doesn't make breakfast like this but she's at work right now, so Daddy's here! Do you like blueberry pancakes?"

        "I do love blueberry pancakes," I say, mouth watering. "Will whipped cream be involved?"

         Isla gasps. "Whipped cream! Can we have some, Daddy?"

         "Whipped cream for breakfast, Isles?" Roman grimaces, and I can see the health kick in him fighting with the good dad side of him. "You can have some but only if you eat all your vegetables later. Deal?"

        Isla grins. "Deal."

        Roman's eyes turn to mine. "That goes for you too."

        I purse my lips. "You're not my father," I singsong. "You can't control me."

         "You can't control him!" Isla repeats, laughing loudly.

         I grin at her. "I like you."

          Roman glares at me before setting Isla down in her elevated seat, causing her to giggle loudly. His eyes turn to me. "Good morning," he murmurs.

         "Mornin'," I respond bashfully. "How'd you sleep?" I ask.

        He smiles softly like he has a secret that he wasn't willing to share with me. "I slept all right."

        "What is that?" I ask, pointing to his smile. Roman smiles wider as he hands Isla a plate with a blueberry pancake topped with whipped cream.

         "What do you mean?" he asks, placing two plates in front of us, a stack for him and a stack for me.

        I frown at him. "That smile. When I asked you if you slept okay. What was that about?"

        Roman laughs. "Well, I did sleep well. I just didn't sleep long," he remarks cryptically.

        I glare at him. "Why must you talk in circles?"

        "How plainly would you like me to speak?" Roman asks. "How's this? I spent most of the night watching you sleep."

        I blush deeply. "What? Why?"

        "I've told you before. You're peaceful when you sleep. Not sad, not angry, just at ease," he murmurs, softly so that Isla's listening ears can't catch it. "You slept well last night, too. No nightmares."

          I bite my lip. "You can tell when I'm having one?"

         He cocks his head to the side. "You become restless. Tossing around. Sometimes you speak, sometimes you just kind of seem frozen in terror. I want to wake you but I worry that would make things worse."

        "What do I say?"

        Roman scratches the back of his neck. "Is it that hard to guess?"

         My blood runs cold. Because what else would I say besides Sebastian's name? My heart clenches at the thought of me sleep-talking Sebastian's name while sleeping next to Roman.

          It must show on my face because Roman takes a bite of his pancakes and turns back to me. "You say my name, too," he admits, somewhat shyly. "Not often. But you whisper it. In a sad sort of way."

          My unconscious self seems to have betrayed me. I swallow hard and stare down at my food. Did he know, then? How I feel? Could he see it on my face, hear it in my words, feel it in the way I touched him?

        "Oh," I murmur, licking whipped cream off of my spoon. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

        "Papà, what are we doing today?" Isla asks, polishing off her pancake.

        Roman glances toward me. "Any ideas, Sleeping Beauty?"

         I smirk. "One. But you're gonna hate it."

¥

        "I'm not sure pink is his color, Isla," I say, holding back a laugh. "Maybe try green."

Isla taps a finger on her chin. "I think you're right."

        Roman blows out a breath, glancing down at his twice-painted-over nails in disdain. "Okay, wait, you can't just keep switching colors. It'll mix."

        Isla looks up from his hands, frowning softly with sad eyes. Roman sighs and scratches his chin with his free hand. "Yeah, okay. Go ahead," he concedes.

        Isla grins, going back down to mixing nail polishes and humming a song to herself. I laugh softly and Roman's eyes flash to mine. "What's so funny?" he asks.

        "Nothing," I murmur, applying eyeshadow to his lids. It'd been my idea to give him a makeover and I was happy to see how well it'd gone over with Isla. I wasn't necessarily a kids person—I was far too prickly—but I wanted her to like me. Maybe it was because she was a part of him. "You're just sort of...soft when it comes to her."

        Roman opens his eyes to glare at me behind his glittery eyeshadow and red lipstick. "I am not soft."

I snicker. "Uh-huh. Sure. You're a bad boy."

Roman glowers at my obvious teasing just as Isla lets out a loud yawn. We both turn our heads toward her and Roman nearly jumps up in relief. "Time for a nap, Isla?" he asks.

She shakes her head quickly. "No, I'm playing with you and...,"yawn, "Sleeping Beauty."

"In a minute you will be Sleeping Beauty," Roman laughs.

"You should take that nap, kiddo," I add on. "In about eight years you'll wish you could sneak one in, trust me."

Isla sighs, lips turning down until there's a pout on her face that is so Roman. "Okay. Can Sleeping Beauty carry me?"

I glance at Roman who is quick to give me the go-ahead gesture. "Oh, I—I have no upper body strength. Like none. Like, if you told me to do a push-up or die, I wouldn't even bother with the push-up. Just wheel me out."

Isla stands up, arms high above her head. "I'm waiting!"

I blow a breath out of my lips, ignoring Roman's stupid smile. Slowly, I climb to my feet and lift Isla up which, surprisingly isn't too hard. Maybe boxing had given me new muscles. Though I did only go once...

Isla curls up in my arms, eyes quickly shutting as she falls asleep. I stare at Roman who is grinning up at me. "She's asleep," I whisper in awe.

Roman laughs. "Yeah. I know my daughter. One yawn, and then lights out. She likes you."

I stare down at the sleeping child and feel something warm stretch along my chest. Damn it. I suppose my adversary to kids would have to end. I liked her, too.

"We can take her up," Roman continues, standing to his feet.

I nod and in no time at all, it's time for me to place Isla back in her bed—a blue and green comforter with sharks and dinosaurs—and shut the door behind her sleeping figure. I lean back against the door. "Okay, she's kind of adorable."

Roman rubs at his makeup. "She's spoiled is what she is," he says with a smile. "This will never come out."

I laugh softly. "Where's Eden's room? She's sure to have some makeup wipes somewhere."

Roman goes just down the hall and pushes open the door, ruffling through something for a moment before reappearing with the makeup wipes. I follow him into a bathroom across the hall. "Sit on the counter, I'll do it," I offer, and Roman's quick to do as I say.

I grab a makeup wipe from the container and begin to swipe softly at his eyes, removing all remnants of glittery eyeshadow. Roman's long fingers bury themselves in my waist and I blow out a soft breath. "You did this once before," he murmurs absentmindedly, voice low and raspy and incredibly sexy. "After the parade."

I nod, gnawing on my bottom lip. "I remember."

He nods again, licking his lips. It seemed there was something he wanted to say, but he didn't. Neither did I. "Can I ask you something?"

        "Okay," I agree easily.

        Roman lets put a small breath. "I don't know if you'll even remember but that night, when we first kissed...when you had that nightmare...what was it about?"

I pull back quickly, eyes wide. "What?"

Roman looks at me. "It's like what I said earlier. You said his name. But you also said mine. Which meant I was in your nightmare, wasn't I?"

I blink back tears, thinking of the worst dream I'd ever had. Roman's fingers tighten and I duck my head away from him as a tear falls. "I'm sorry," he mutters, sounding it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."

"I was on the bridge," I whisper. "In my prom suit. It was that same night that he died. Only, he was hanging onto the ledge of the bridge. Begging me to pull him back up. And then I hear my name again and it's you, holding onto the same ledge just feet away. I wanted to save both of you. But I could only save one."

Roman inhales sharply, staring down at his hands. "And so, you saved him, didn't you?"

I stare blankly at Roman but he only continues. "I meant what I said that day. About my feelings being my business. I guess I just wanted to know where your head is at. You still love him. It's always going to be him, isn't it? There's nothing to fight for here?"

"Why would you even want to fight for me?" I whisper back hollowly.

"Because I only want you, Braylen," he whispers back, eyes squeezed shut. "It's the only thing I want. And I know we said just for the summer but summer is ending. And I know that you care about me. But if I'm always just going to be second to him—"

"I saved you," I blurt out. Roman's eyes snap open as if searching for a lie in my face. He won't find one. I was telling the truth. "I saved you," I murmur, softer this time.

I unlatch my body from his hands and push open the bathroom door, walking away quickly before he could see me cry. I wanted to be angry with him. Angry that he brought it up, angry that he assumed I would always only save Sebastian, angry that the dream even pitted them against each other in the first place.

Because it's not Sebastian versus Roman. How can it be? Sebastian is dead. And maybe if he were alive, it would've been him. But he wasn't. So why did that even matter?

I don't realize I'm outside until my bare feet hit the grass. I sigh, taking a seat on the curb and running a hand along my face. "Hi," Sebastian says, popping in next to me. "You okay?"

I stare at him. "Do you think we would've lasted? If you stayed?"

         "Maybe so," he answers and then cocks his head to the side. "But also, maybe not."

        I stare at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" I hated the way my voice sounded. I hated how close to tears I was.

        "It means that we weren't perfect, Brayls," Sebastian whispers. "I know you feel like we didn't get closure. Maybe we never will. But it's a waste of energy to speculate on what could've happened. You need to focus on what's happening in front of you."

A sob gets caught in my throat. I swallow it back down. "And what's happening?"

Sebastian smiles softly. "You're falling in love."

"No, no. I'm not. I can't..."

"You are," Sebastian disagrees. "B, it's okay."

I shake my head. "It's not. I still love you!"

Sebastian's eyes soften as he looks at me. "I know that. That doesn't have to change."

"Everything has changed," I mutter, burying my face in my knees. "Everything."