Page 21 of Sweet Somethings

"You should not be talking to that man," Martha said.

"Why? What happened? What did he do?" she asked.

"So many things," Martha said. "I don't know where to start. As soon as he came to town as a teenager, there was nothing but problems. He got into fights. Good kids were following him down bad paths. He even started a fire that burned down Phil Marson's house. The poor family had to move. He caused nothing but pain and misery, and I can't believe he had the nerve to come back here—or that his grandfather would let him. I don't know what Vincent was thinking."

She was taken aback by the spew of nastiness coming from Martha's mouth as well as the barrage of incidents that apparently had Roman's name on them.

"We don't really know if Roman did all those things," Cecelia put in, giving her sister a pained look.

"Of course we do," Martha said. "Vincent should have sent him back where he came from as soon as he realized there was a problem, but he didn't want to see what was right under his nose."

"You've said enough, Martha," Cecelia said, giving Juliette an apologetic smile. "We'll be going now."

"You'll stay away from him if you know what's good for you," Martha added, sending one last parting shot before her sister urged her down the street.

She considered Martha's words. The man she'd met didn't seem quick to anger or explosively violent, but it was certainly possible he'd changed since he was a teenager. Martha wasn't the only one who had a problem with Roman; Doug Winters did as well.

But she'd make up her own mind about Roman. She wasn't going to let Martha dictate her actions. She also wasn't going to let the butterflies in her stomach distract her from seeing him for who he really was.

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