Page 11 of DadBod

ELIZABETH

“What?”I jerk awake, having fallen asleep watching a show on my old laptop, the sound of my phone ringing from somewhere in my apartment.

Repeating my routine from this morning, I stumble out of bed in search of the damn thing. The second my hand touches the phone, it stops ringing. “Of course.” Picking it up, I’m about to look at my missed calls when it rings again, Jeriann’s name appearing on the screen. Pressing the green button, I bring it to my ear and ask, “What’s wrong?”

The reason I ask that is because it’s only nine o’clock. She’s still working, and Rome has a tizzy if any of us make calls during our shift. No matter how busy we are. It’s annoying, but I get it. Well, the exception to the rule is Gianna… She’s family, and I guess family has its privileges.

Whatever.

“Jeriann?” I ask again. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” She’s panting. “OMG, Beth. You won’t believe what happened.”

Part of me is excited to hear what she’s got to say, but the other part isn’t, because from the tone of Jeri’s voice, I’d say this information she’s about to give me isn’t good.

I was right.

“It’s Rome…”

“What?” A feeling of panic hits me right in the chest. “Is he okay? Is he hurt?” I’m not sure why, but the thought of Rome James hurt or worse is too much.

“No. Not Rome. His ex-wife––”

“Tina? What about her?” I’ve met her a couple of times when she came back to Chicago with the kids. I think I understand why it didn’t work out between them. Rome and Tina are very different. She’s the quintessential California girl, having grown up in Laguna or someplace like that, and Rome grew up here, in Chicago. That’s not all though. Tina’s, well, she’s high-maintenance. At least that’s what my dad calls people who are “too much work in the self-centered department.”

As soon as Tina filed for divorce from Rome, she moved back to California, taking the kids with her. It always bothered me, you know, that Rome would let her just take his kids like that, but Jackie heard that he agreed to it since he spends every day, all day, at the restaurant. Plus, he wanted his kids to have a normal life. Whatever that means.

It’s not like he doesn’t see them. He gets them every summer, and they alternate holidays. His mom and sister, Ophelia but they call her Phee, help him out with them although Phee’s job has her traveling a lot so it’s mostly Rome’s mom. When they’re here, they spend a lot of time at the restaurant; I’ve gotten to know them some. His youngest, a boy named Calvin, is seven now. He’s the cutest kid. I hit it off with him right away and always love it when he eats at the restaurant. His daughter, Ryann, is around fourteen. She and I don’t have the same sort of friendship, probably because she’s a teenage girl and I’m not.

“What happened? Is Tina there?” Whenever she stops into the restaurant, she’s always very critical. Of the food, whoever has the misfortune to wait on her, and the restaurant itself. Yeah, she’s not an especially nice person.

“No.” Jeri sighs, and I think I hear her sniffle.

“Jeez, Jeri. Spit it out. Where is she?”

“She’s––she’s dead.”

“Dead?” I screech. I blink a million times and ask again. “Dead?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Car accident.”

Oh my God. “The kids? Calvin?” If something happened to Calvin…

“She was alone.”

Thank goodness.If Calvin had been hurt, or worse… it would have broken my heart. He’s a special kid. We’ve got a bond, I’d guess you’d say. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because I’ve got brothers; I know how to make them laugh. At least, I’ve always been able to make Calvin laugh. Maybe, if they come back here, I’ll spend a little time with Calvin and Ryann. I could take her to lunch or to a movie or something. She’ll need a friend.

“Did it happen in California?”

“Apparently. Mind you, we’re getting this intel from Gianna.”

That means it could be wrong information, because Gianna isn’t that engaged in reality. “When did it happen?”

“Last night.”

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