Dolce Vita

“Last box.” Roman stated as he walked into the bedroom they were converting into the nursery, Seth following behind him with a tool box.

As Roman set the box down on the floor beside the other ones Sloane looked over at them both from her spot on a pillow on the floor and joked, “You sure you know how to use those tools?”

Seth laughed and Roman simply rolled his eyes, took the tool box from Seth and walked him to the door. Once Seth was gone Roman walked back into the nursery and sat on the floor in front of the boxes. As he ripped open the box for the crib he asked Sloane, “So you really like the walls?”

She looked up at the walls, which he had painted a very light blue and nodded. She picked up a pair of baby sneakers and cocked an eyebrow, asking, “Where did these come from?”

Roman shrugged, “Seth I think?”

“Your teammates are weirdly excited for this kid.” Sloane stated as she tossed the shoes onto a box full of other things he would grow into.

She started folding onsies as Roman told her, “Yeah apparently he’s like the teams collective baby.”

Sloane practically snorted in laughter at that, and it made Roman smile widely at her. He watched her place a onsie into a pile of other ones and Sloane looked up at him, catching his smile. She smiled back and then said to him, “You have weird teammates.”

“Truth.” Roman said, making her laugh.

They fell into silence as Roman started arranging all the crib pieces on the floor, he looked to and from the pieces to the instructions. Sloane continued to look up at him every so often as he assembled the crib they had picked out together two days previously on a random trip to a baby store where Roman had picked out the dark wood crib. With it came the dresser with the changing table top, which Roman and Sloane were both unsure of why they needed it but according to two different sales people they did, and a dark blue plush rocker which was already assembled and in the corner by the window.

Nearly an hour later Roman stepped back to take a look at his handy work, and Sloan reached out, grabbed one of the railings and gave it a good shake. When Roman shot her a look she shrugged, grinned and told him, “What? Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t gonna fall apart.”

“You know I’m useful for more than just hockey and eye candy.” Roman muttered, making Sloane laugh. He caught her take a totally obvious look at his butt as he bent down to grab the cardboard from the floor.

Sloane shrugged and told him, “That remains to be seen.”

“Watch it.” Roman warned her as he put all the recycling in the one big box from the rocker. Once he turned to face her he told her, “I’ll stop building things.”

Sloane shrugged and without looking up from the pile of clothes she was folding and organizing told him, “I’ll just ask Colin to come finish it then.”

“Sometimes you’re just… I try so hard and I can never piss you off.” Roman muttered, making Sloane let out a light and airy laugh that made him shoot her a pointed look and say, “See!”

She shrugged and told him, “You should just stop trying, I’m like the worlds hardest person to piss off.”

“I’m beginning to notice that.” Roman told her, watching as she smiled to herself.

He kicked the box full of recycle toward the door and Sloane slid a bag full of bedding his way, telling him, “Put all this on the crib please, I’d do it but it would take me a year just to get up.”

Roman let out a chuckle, glanced at her large stomach and said, “Yeah…sorry.”

“You should be, it’s your freakishly large genetics that did this.” Sloane told him, and he shrugged, putting the mattress cover on and putting it in the crib, as well as the crib lining. He unfolded the Preds hockey blanket his parents had sent them, putting it over the crib as Sloane told him, “I told you it would look good.”

He rolled his eyes, recalling how he had worried the colors in the blankets might not look good with the colors in the nursery. He tossed the bag in the garbage and told Sloane, “My mom wants to come out…you know… when he gets here. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with that.”

She looked up from what she was doing and asked him, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He wasn’t too sure how to broach this topic with her, which was why whenever his mother asked if he talked to Sloane about it he told her that he hadn’t had the chance yet. He didn’t want to upset either of them, this was the first time that he had to worry about pleasing two women in his life and he was sure he was failing miserably at it. Finally he told her, “With your mom and everything. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable or upset or anything because I thought maybe my mom being here when your mom isn’t would… I don’t know. You know I’m no good at this stuff.”

Sloane smiled up at him, curled her finger to motion him toward her. He crouched in front of her and she put both hands on the back of his neck to pull him down to kiss her softly. When they parted she reached out and wiped the lip balm from his upper lip and told him, “I appreciate that, but I’m turning over a new leaf. If she doesn’t want to be in our lives then I don’t want her in them. Your mom can come whenever she wants.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded and even laughed as he kissed her quickly again before she told him, “Yeah, she’s your family Roman you don’t even have to ask.”

“Yeah but now I have a new family too and I just want to make sure that you’re comfortable with everything. It’s really important to me that you’re comfortable with everything, including my parents. You mean more to me than I think you know Sloane.” When he said this her eyes got watery and he joked, “If I knew that was gonna make you cry…I would have said it a long time ago.”

Sloane rolled her eyes, gave his shoulder a shove and wiped her cheeks, informing him, “So I’m a little emotional lately.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“You are just asking for me to throw something at you.” Sloane told him with a look of warning.

He grinned, “I’d like to see you actually hit me from here.”

Sloane waited until he was all the way across the room before she hurled one of the shoe’s Seth bought them at Roman, hitting him square in the back of the head. When he turned around slowly and gave her a look of surprise Sloane shrugged and stated, “I played softball in high school.”

“Have I ever told you how much I dislike you some days?” Roman mumbled as he started ripping open the box for the dresser slash changing table.

Sloane mused with a happy smile, “You couldn’t possibly hate me and you know it.”

Roman let out a loud, dramatic sigh and told her, “Unfortunately you would be correct.”

“It’s because I’m so cute and lovable.” Sloane informed him, adding, “You wouldn’t be the first to fall victim to my cuteness.”

Roman let out a laugh and told her, “That’s probably true but I better be the last one.”

Putting her index finger to her chin Sloane made a thinking face before telling him, “I promise not to use my super power of cuteness on anyone unless it’s to get what I want…on occasion.”

“That’s fair I guess.”

She grinned, “Better be.”

- - -

It was nearly midnight and Sloane found herself sitting in the rocking chair in the nursery in the dark. She had pulled the curtains open just enough to let a little bit of light from the street and other buildings in, and pulled a blanket across her lap, resting her feet on the puff ottoman. She glanced around the finished nursery, and found once again that she hated being here alone when Roman was on the road. She contemplated calling Kim and asking her to sleep over like she had during the last road trip, but she knew Kim had to work in the morning.

So instead she put her arms around her stomach, placing both her hands on each side of it and leaned back in the chair. It was odd, how different her thoughts about this whole situation had gotten over the last few weeks. She had started out terrified and honestly unsure of whether she really wanted to do this or not, and while she was still beyond terrified of what was to come she found herself excited and happy. Having a baby at twenty-four with a guy she hadn’t known for more than six months wasn’t exactly the dream but she was learning to let go of that, to stop caring what other people might think. Roman was just about as perfect as you could get, and she knew that he would always take care of her and protect her and that was the most comforting thing ever to Sloane.

Sure her mother not coming around and refusing to speak to her or come to Nashville when the baby was born was a hard pill to swallow and Sloane wasn’t sure she would ever get over that but she was learning to live with it. Roman was right, she had a hundred other people in her life that actually wanted to be there, and she had Kim and Roman and the two of them were the only people she really needed in her life if she was being entirely honest.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone started ringing, and then she laughed upon seeing a FaceTime request from Roman. She hit accept, reached out to turn the light beside the chair on and pulled the blanket up to her chin as he showed up on the screen. He was outside on what looked like it might have been a balcony off his hotel room but Sloane wasn’t sure. He ran a hand through his hair and asked, “I didn’t wake you did I?”

She chuckled and told him, “You know I don’t sleep when you’re gone.”

He smiled, “Yeah we have to do something about that.”

“Move Kimberly into the guest room.” Sloane stated with a shrug and a smile.

“Okay.”

When he said with Sloane looked at him through her phone and asked him in surprise, “You’d actually do that for me?”

“I’d do just about anything for you Sloane, if Kim being there when I’m gone makes you comfortable and makes you feel safe then I’ll move her in when I get home.” Sloane grinned to herself, and Roman asked curiously, “Are you in the baby’s room?”

Sloane nodded and said, “You did a good job in here.”

“We did.” Roman told her with a pointed look that made her smile again.

Her eyes drifted around the room, now that the light was on she could see everything, her eyes landed on the large letters above the crib that spelled out the baby’s initials CWJ, and then her eyes moved over to the dresser, where ‘Carter’ was spelled out with various pieces of license plates. Her step father had made the little artwork piece and sent it to her the week previous when she had finally caved and told him the name she and Roman had picked out. He had gotten a little choked up when she told him that his middle name, William, was after him, and that reaction from her step dad made Sloane nearly cry as well. She laughed when she remembered the look of pure confusion and concern when he walked in on Sloane sitting on their bed, on the phone in tears.

“What are you laughing at?” Roman asked her curiously, watching as she turned her attention back to him.

She shrugged and said, “Nothing important.”

Roman nodded and they sat in silence for several minutes. Finally he asked her, “Is Kim there?”

“Nope.” Sloane told him, and when he shot her a look that said he didn’t believe her she laughed and told him, “Really she’s not, I’m trying to tough it out and spend a full road trip alone here.”

“I’m impressed. You’ve made it two full nights already.” Roman joked, and when Sloane narrowed her eyes at him he let out a chuckle and then said, “You can call her, I don’t care and if it makes you feel better that’s all that matters.”

Sloane stared at him for a few silent seconds, and when he raised his eyebrow she responded with, “You are far too perfect for your own good.”

Roman shrugged and told her, “I don’t know about that but I’ll take it.”

Sloane rolled her eyes, “Like you don’t know how amazing you are.”

“Contrary to your belief I’m not this egotistical monster.” Roman stated, laughing when Sloane made a face to look like she was contemplating his words.

She shook her head at him and told him, “You’re not, but I still find it hard to believe you really honestly just say the shit you do like its second nature to be the single most perfect guy in the world.”

“Yeah well you girls aren’t so hard to figure out you know.” When he said this Sloane raised her eyebrow and he told her, “The way to please a woman is to make her feel beautiful, safe and taken care of. If you can do those three things you’re basically golden.”

“And uh, where exactly did you learn that?” Sloane asked him curiously, he was far too good at this. It wasn’t fair, he knew all her secrets and she didn’t know any of his.

“Your column.” He informed her as if it was no big deal.

She asked in surprise, “You read it?”

Roman nodded, “Of course I do. I don’t usually understand half a thing you write but I like reading what you write. It gives me these little insights on what makes you happy and what pisses you off and what kind of things you like. It’s a really great tool to help me figure out how you work so I can use it to my advantage.”

“Of course.” Sloane muttered, making them both laugh. Once they stopped laughing she told him, “Stop using my job against me because I can’t use yours against you.”

“That’s debatable.” Roman told her, and when she raised her eyebrow he informed her with a smirk, “Nothing is hotter than you in my jersey and or you talking hockey.”

“Really?” She asked him curiously and when he nodded she told him with a straight face, “You played like shit yesterday.”

Roman let out a loud laugh and said, “Not nice, or fair.”

“All is fair in love, war and… hockey?” When she said this Roman laughed again.

“I’m gonna remember that one.”