Cards of Love: Knight of Swords

Thirty-Three

Juliet

School was finally out for the summer.

Mrs. Shields had returned from her trip, which meant I needed another way to keep myself out of the house for as many hours a day as possible.

As Roman predicted, my “interview” at Jericho Two consisted of a brief meeting with Uncle Dex’s friend where he asked me a few questions before handing over a pile of papers to fill out. His way of saying I was hired.

“Ice Cream shop closes right after the second movie starts,” he explained. “You’ll be responsible for wiping everything down and cleaning out the machine with the flavor of the day. I’ll handle the registers in the morning.”

That suited me fine, I didn’t want to be responsible for counting the money.

He glanced at the open doorway. “I understand you’re Roman’s girl. I can trust you two to behave, right?”

My cheeks heated. He wasn’t asking in a creepy way, more of the way a father who actually cared about his daughter might warn.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m kidding, sweetheart. Just don’t do anything to get your uncle pissed at me.”

I’m pretty sure Dex suspected how close Roman and I were. We didn’t discuss it, but he’d gone out of his way to help Roman find this job. According to Roman, Dex also threw other side jobs at him. Although when I asked him for details he refused to elaborate.

Either way, I appreciated this opportunity, and I had no intentions of squandering it.

After my very first shift, Roman and I climbed into Mrs. Shields’ car together.

“She’s still letting you borrow her car?” he asked.

“Just to go to work. She said she doesn’t drive at night and she didn’t want me taking the bus.” I still felt guilty about using her car and wasn’t sure how Uncle Jared would tolerate this new found independence of mine.

“She’s a really nice woman.” Roman cranked down the window on his side and stared into the night.

“She is. I want to do something to thank her, but I haven’t decided what yet.”

“I’ll help you figure out something.” He glanced around the car. “We could take it to get it detailed.”

“It’s not that dirty.”

“Maybe some of those hanging flower baskets she likes for the front porch.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! I can run over and water them in the mornings for her.”

“Perfect.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I’ll help you pick them out this weekend.”

It would’ve made more sense to drop Roman off first, but he wouldn’t allow it. I parked the car in Mrs. Shields’ driveway and he walked me home, refusing to leave until I was safely inside. Then, he’d walk home by himself.

“What if someone mugs you?”

He snorted. “Good luck with that.”

He had a point. I felt sorry for anyone who thought they could take Roman on. All the manual work around the movie theater had added a lot of muscle to his already large frame.

Still, I worried. I ran up to my room and watched him walk down the street until I couldn’t see him anymore.

As soon as he was able to, he always sent me a text.

Home safe.

“Are you still hanging around with that boy after I told you not to?” Uncle Jared’s voice reminded me that in my eagerness to watch Roman walking him, I’d forgotten to close and lock my bedroom door.

I turned and faced my uncle. “Yes. He’s good to me.” I wouldn’t bother explaining that I loved Roman. Or that we were soul mates. Or that after high school we planned to get married. He didn’t deserve to know those things.

He stepped into my room and fear knotted my stomach. He hadn’t been in here in a very long time.

“Where’s Aunt Susan?” I asked, backing up against the window.

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Asleep.” He jerked his head toward the window. “You fucking him?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Like fuck it’s not. I’ve been taking care of you for years. You owe me some damn respect, girl.”

I braced my hand against my nightstand, my fingers brushing against a pair of scissors I’d left there earlier. I curled my hand around them and brought them to my side.

Uncle Jared didn’t miss the movement. He smirked. “What are you gonna do with those?”

I straightened my spine and stared back. “Do you really want to find out?”

That seemed to give him second thoughts.

I’m not a scared little girl you can bully and trick anymore.

Slowly, he backed out the door. As soon as he was gone, I raced over, closed and locked it. Still not feeling it was enough, I tucked my desk chair under the door handle.

I needed out of here. Where could I go? I couldn’t tell Roman. I had no doubt he’d go after my uncle if he knew…certain things. And I wouldn’t be responsible for Roman getting in trouble.

Mrs. Shields might let me move in with her. But if Aunt Susan made an issue of it, Mrs. Shields might have to go to court and I didn’t know if I could ask her to make that kind of commitment.

My eighteenth birthday had never seemed so far away.

Thirty-Four

Roman

The summer was ours. Juliet and I worked as many shifts together at the movie theater as possible. Ulfric put me in charge of collecting money at the gate. He said I was scary-looking enough that no one would try to sneak in any extra people on my watch. I think it was supposed to be a compliment.

After a few weeks, Juliet was promoted to night manager of the ice cream shop. She had a knack for handling multiple orders with speed, grace, and a sweet smile for every customer.

Once the first movie started, and the carloads of people entering slowed, someone else took over at the gate for me. My job was to walk the grounds. Make sure nothing nefarious was happening in one of the drive-in’s many dark corners. When that was finished, I was supposed to help clean up in the ice cream shop.

You can guess what part of the night was my favorite.

Juliet and I raced to get the work done so we could sneak over to the darkest corner of the lot where her car was parked. We’d slip inside and frantically tear off our uniforms, sighing and groaning as we came together.

We fogged those windows up every night. Even left handprints on the back windows. Maybe a footprint on the ceiling of the car.

When we were spent, we’d crawl out of the steamy car, spread a blanket over the grass, and watch the end of whatever movie was playing second that week.

It was almost the perfect fantasy life. Except for the end of the night when we had to go to separate homes.

One night, near the end of the summer, we talked about how we’d change up our shifts once school started back up. After Labor Day, the theater would only be open on the weekends. The ice cream shop was still open every afternoon, so Juliet’s job was safe. I’d have to look for something else though.

“Chris is leaving to go back to college. Maybe you can take his shifts,” she suggested.

“Maybe” I hated that guy. He’d tried asking Juliet out right in front of me on his first day. Never did it again once I’d made it clear who she belonged to.

She rolled her eyes, knowing where my thoughts had gone. “Get over it, Roman. That was months ago. He has a girlfriend now.”

“Get over it? Get over it?” I reached over and pulled her into my lap. I tickled my hands over her ribs and kissed her neck. “A man doesn’t get over another man hittin’ on his woman. He gets even.”

“You’ve terrorized him enough.”

I reached down and squeezed her butt through the tiny denim cutoff shorts she was wearing. She placed a finger over my lips. “You’re the only man I want.” Her eyes narrowed. “And don’t think I didn’t notice Jessica flirting with you the other night.”

I buried my face against her neck. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. But I do enjoy your jealousy.

”

She lightly smacked my shoulder while I shook with laughter. We teased and joked around with each other all the way home. I hated saying goodnight, but I did it.

Eyes on the prize, I kept reminding myself. I had a good nest egg saved up. More than enough for first and last month’s rent on an apartment near the college Juliet was thinking of attending. My eighteenth birthday was a couple months away, but I wouldn’t graduate until next June. I was hoping that as long as I stayed in school, I could move into my own place and still be eligible for the scholarship, Ms. Simpson had told me about.

She hadn’t checked in with me in weeks. That wasn’t unusual. I hadn’t noticed because I’d been too wrapped up in work and Juliet. But I should probably call her soon.

A counselor I didn’t recognize met me at the front door.

“You’re late.”