Page 103 of With Wine Comes War

“What, like you own it?”

“Just like that. I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”

“Yeah, how did I not know? And how did Roman know?” Whatever this was, Roman was staying out of it.

“We had a lunch meeting here one day. Roman called me this afternoon and asked if we had room for my girl, and the answer will always be yes.”

Roman didn’t mention that to me.

“Grant, would you like to have dinner with us?” Maybe I can get some information out of him about why I didn’t know any of this.

“How about if I have a drink with you, then I’ll leave you two alone.”

I nodded, giving him another hug and kissed his cheek.

“This is amazing. Thank you both for always being so good to me.”

***

ROMAN

Grant stayed for the one drink. We laughed and talked and managed to steer Alex’s curiosity away from why she didn’t know anything about this place.

“Could we maybe go out close to home and walk to a place where we can have a nice after dinner drink? I just want to do something I would normally do after dinner with my friends. I feel like my old life is so far away and I miss it a little.” She was really trying to testher courage, I see.

“I know just the place.” There was a quiet bar right next to the office that I went to all the time after work to be alone. It was the way I liked it before I met Alex. Now I think it might be a bad idea to be so alone, except with all the secret eyes on us.

“Did we pay the bill?” This girl really does worry too much.

“Do you think Grant is letting us pay in his restaurant?” She seemed a little at odds with that response.

“Really? He took care of the tab?” I didn’t want to get into a discussion about Grant that could lead up to her finding out what he confided in me.

“Yes, he took care of everything.” She looked confused and happy at the same time. I left a big tip for the staff, though, because that couldn’t have been easy to throw together on such short notice.

“What are you thinking?” I was trying to see if she was still thinking about Grant or if she was thinking about the court hearing.

“That there’s things I don’t know.”

Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all. That might not have been the question I should have asked her.

“Grant owning a restaurant?” Maybe if I play it off like it’s not a big deal, she’ll feel better.

“Yes, like that, and he said he owns a lot of other things. I’ve never even been to his house, yet I’ve always felt so close to him. It seems like he’s keeping something from me. Do you think he is?”

Uh oh, here comes old Nancy Drew again. I’m not sure how to handle this, but it’s not my story to tell, so I’ll let him do it. He’d better not get me in trouble in the process.

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him, I guess.” I need to push this back to him and let him deal with the repercussions.

I hoped that was the end of it because we had a lot more important things to think about. Tuesday was only three days away.

Chapter 29

ROMAN

What…what…what…? Oh thank God it was just a dream. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dream like that before. Lots of fighting and screaming and I can’t get to her then she’s gone and I’m standing there alone in the dark. Now I’m sitting here sweating— trying to catch my breath.

I rolled over to see she’s sound asleep next to me. She’s in another peaceful dream state, I hope, and not like the one Ijust had. It's not normal for me to wake up in the middle of the night, but then nothing about my life has been normal recently. I snuggled up next to her and she moaned but didn’t wake up. I hope I can get back to sleep.

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