Page 76 of The Love Simulation

As she walks away, Principal Major walks up to us. He nods in acknowledgment to Roman. Their relationship has been evolving since Roman resigned. At first his dad was furious. But little by little, Principal Major has come to accept that Roman has his own plans for his life and career, and they’ll never include being a vice principal. He wants to repair their relationship, and Roman has decided to meet him halfway.

Roman realized his dad was neveruninterested in his life growing up, he just didn’t know how to express his happy emotions. He didn’t know how to feel. When Roman went into teaching, Principal Major saw it as an easy way to finally bond with his son. However, he went about it the completely wrong way by driving away many good vice principals and wasting thousands of dollars on unnecessary football fields, and he has a lot to atone for.

“What do you think?” Principal Major asks Roman.

“I think it’s wonderful,” I answer.

I never knew how spot-on I was when I told Principal Major to get used to seeing me. Of course, then I meant for him to get used to seeing me at school, but it’s a great form of poetic justice that he’s forced to see the one vice principal he could never get rid of whenever he wants to see Roman. And I love making my presence known.

“The library looks great,” Roman says.

“I’ll see you on Sunday for lunch?” Principal Major asks Roman.

“Yeah,” Roman says.

“See you then!” I say, waving him off.

He lets out a sigh, but I swear I see a little smile as he turns and walks away.

“I think your dad likes me,” I say to Roman.

“Are you just now picking up on that? You won him over a long time ago. At this point it’s about keeping up appearances.”

I squeeze Roman’s hand, and we keep walking around. “I want to make sure those boxes we brought don’t get forgotten,” I say. “You know I had some books in there about hygiene the kids need.”

As we walk toward the entrance of the library, I see two familiar figures. “Is that—?”

My unspoken question is answered by Jordan’s distant gasp.

“Did you know they were coming too?” I ask Roman, pointing to Vincent and Camille.

Roman nods. “I thought your family should be here for this special moment.”

We walk up to where Vincent and Camille are huddled together, and I pounce, wrapping my arms around both of them. “Are y’all talking about me?”

“Of course,” Vincent says, returning the hug. “We were talking about how proud of you we are.”

“I don’t know how the library looked before,” Camille says, “but this is amazing.”

They turn to greet Roman, having met him when we all got together to set up the small—but not tiny—office I’m currently running my foundation out of. Jordan steps up to us, but I’m not delusional, thinking he’s here to talk to me.

I smile, encouraging Jordan to come closer. “Vincent, I want to introduce you to my friend Jordan.”

Jordan sticks out his hand, shaking Vincent’s vigorously. I think he may be my brother’s biggest fan. Or maybe second, after Amerie.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Astronaut Rogers,” Jordan says. “Or should I say Chief of the Astronaut Office?”

I gasp. “Vincent! You got a promotion? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Vincent shakes his head. “Tonight isn’t about me. We’re celebratingyouraccomplishments.”

There was a time when I would have felt so much envy that he’s moving up yet again. But tonight it’s all gone. “I’m proud of you, Vince. You are an inspiration, and I’m always happy to hear of your accomplishments.”

As Vincent turns to Jordan to answer any of his burning questions, Camille turns to me. She reaches up to fix a misplaced braid strand and smiles. “So how are you feeling? About everything. Your new life, walking away from teaching, this amazing library?”

I look around the library, make eye contact with Roman, and my heart swells. “I feel like I’m ready to face the future.” Finally.

“Are you humming ‘Angel ofMine’?” Roman asks me as I lie draped over his chest the next morning.

---