New Winslow S8E35
Roman woke up to see that the room was still dark and Celine’s side of the bed was empty. Considering he’d been tossing and turning all night, she must have slipped away in the fifteen minutes he’d managed to get to sleep.
He sat up and glanced over at the two rollaway beds. Jamie was asleep on one, while the two babies were curled up on the lower one. The bathroom door was open and there was no sign of her in there, so he was going to assume she’d gone for a walk and not panic just yet.
Roman slid out of bed and pulled on a shirt to go with his old pajama bottoms. None of the kids moved as he pocketed his key and slipped out the door, locking it behind him. The dim lights of the hallway glowed on the antique tables placed along the walls, but there was darkness down by the end, apart from the glowing EXIT sign. Roman made the mistake of looking into the darkness for a moment and he managed to convince himself something was there. Who was it, that poor kid Billy McBride? Roman had sympathy for the kid, just like he had sympathy for his buddy. But Billy and his antics were wreaking havoc on his AA sponsee’s mental health, so he was tempted to go into the darkness and have some words with him right now. But that was all likely Roman’s tired mind playing tricks, so instead he moved down the small stairwell, with its lights glowing along each step, and began searching for his very alive wife.
He spotted her immediately as he went downstairs into the lobby. The space was empty aside from a few dim lights strategically placed throughout it, and Celine, who was gazing out the window from her spot in a squashy chair. “Couldn’t sleep?” Roman asked as he approached.
“No,” she said, not even a little startled as he spoke. “You?”
“Just long enough to miss you leaving.”
He sat down in the chair across from her and looked outside too. There was an explosion of stars across the midnight sky, lighting it up just the way they did back home. “How are you feeling?” Roman asked.
“Tired,” Celine admitted. “And I know you’re swallowing down that ‘I told you so.’”
Roman was absolutely swallowing down an ‘I told you so’ and had been since she got back to the Countess yesterday. She hadn’t been as out of it as before, but he’d noticed the lack of energy after she’d once again put hers to work to fix (or in this case, change with consent) something within Noah’s. It had been successful, even if it was another thing that made him cringe.
He wasn’t even going to think about wanting to put a stop to this whole thing – that would be a height of selfishness that even Roman had never achieved – but it made him desperate for this to be over before it took something that Celine couldn’t replenish.
They sat quietly for a few minutes, continuing to gaze silently out at the front of the inn. Roman wanted to be sitting on the stoop at their own house, looking out over the small front yard and the woods on the other side of the road. He wanted the lousy gutters, the leaky mud room door, the washing machine that needed a smack sometimes to start running.
He wanted to go home.
“I’m really scared.”
Celine’s voice was quiet, but clear in the silence. He looked over at her, but she was still looking outside. “It’s funny,” she continued. “I’m not as scared about solving the curse. We’re so close. But I’m scared of after. Both what it’s going to do to everyone and just where we go from here.”
“How bad is the shop?” Roman asked, knowing exactly what she was getting at.
Celine sighed. “The exterior is all smashed,” she said. “The windows are gone and the sidewalk is torn up. It’s going to be a lot of money to fix.”
“And we don’t have a lot of money.”
“No. We barely have enough to stay open right now. Me and Charlie were hanging plywood and sweeping. And I knew when Noah woke up because he immediately called to see what needed to be done. I told him not to come over, but it was just me and Charlie for a few hours. We don’t have the money for the repairs. And insurance isn’t going to cover it. We would probably qualify for a loan, but that’s a big if. And another payment each month.”
“That’s been keeping me up too,” Roman admitted. “You know, along with the curse and the threats to the kids, and so on and so on…”
He trailed a hand theatrically through the air and Celine laughed, then grew serious again. “I want to hurt him,” she said. “I thought it had to be empty threats, even the kids, honestly. But with the Limerick… even if he didn’t know Andrew was inside, Baxter still burned down his home and hurt him. And he’s still out there because apparently the entire town council is covering for the asshole. But this means that even if they don’t actually plan to do anything stupid, they do it anyway.”
“Between that and Roland just wrecking shit like usual, I can’t see any way to keep the kids safe there until both the curse is lifted and Baxter is finally brought to justice. And babe? Solving the curse is the easier part.”
Celine laughed softly. “That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,” she said. “He’s no different from Vivien.”
Roman shuddered and shook his head. “Speaking of Vivien,” he said, “I’m scared for Noah. That kid is crashing again and he won’t let me help him.”
“He’s got a support system,” Celine reminded him. “They’re there too.”
“I know, but he’s heading toward another relapse,” Roman said, watching the blinking of an airplane move across the sky.
“How are you doing?”
Roman hadn’t expected that, but he really should have. “Me?” he said. “Fine, I guess. I could use a cigarette.”
Celine laughed, reaching for his hand and catching it easily despite the darkness. “No, really, I’m fine,” Roman said. “I’ve honestly been good. I mean I get cravings and sometimes I have to really breathe through them. But I’m not in any more danger of relapsing than I’ve been in a while. I’m more focused on staying calm. Partially because I’m a dick when I’m not and partially so my heart doesn’t explode again.”
Celine shook her head, but he could tell that she wasn’t mad. “We’ll see what tomorrow brings,” she said. “We’ll figure out the shop, there are ways. We’ve been tight before. Never this tight, but things are in motion now.”
“Should we sell?”
“Let’s not do anything too quickly,” Celine said. She’d clearly been thinking along the same lines because she didn’t seem shocked that he brought up the possibility. “But maybe it’ll be something to consider.”
They’d owned the House of Pizza for a decade now. Roman could barely imagine what they’d do without it. “As long as the kids are safe,” he said softly.
Celine squeezed his hand and Roman turned back to look out at the stars.
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