Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”
“Oof … morning, buddy.”
“Hiss …”
“Dad said to come get you. Breakfast is almost ready.”
“Mmm … breakfast. Can’t wait,” Sergio says with sarcasm that Henry is thankfully too young to catch dripping off his tongue.
If Sergio never has to eat another pancake or slice of bacon, it’ll be too soon.
The same goes for turkey burgers at the lodge or whiskey and bulk champagne at the New Year’s Eve party.
He’s suddenly struck with an idea. “Hey, Henry. Do you think you can ask your dad to make me an omelet?”
Henry looks at him with his eyebrows pinched together. His lips move as if he’s silently trying the word omelet out in his mouth for the first time. He tips his head to his shoulder. “What’s an omelet?”
“It’s like scrambled eggs with vegetables and stuff inside.”
Henry pulls a disgusted face that causes his nose to scrunch up. “Why would you want that instead of pancakes?”
“In the mood for something different, I suppose.” Sergio laughs. “Could you ask him?”
Henry shrugs, flipping his hands up at shoulder height. “I guess so,” he says, then runs out the door with his thumbs raised enthusiastically in the air above his head.
“Thank you!” Sergio calls out after him, listening to Henry’s thundering footsteps as he goes careening down the hall past Adrien’s room and then down the stairs.
Stretching, Sergio sits up in bed and swings his legs out from underneath the covers.
From where he’s sitting, he can see out the window; the sun is already shining brightly between the high aspen treetops and reflecting off the higher mountains glimmering behind them.
He lets out a light breath, and a soft smile lingers on his lips.
It’s quite peaceful here. He could even consider staying permanently.
As long as he’s not trapped in this godforsaken loop.
He rises from his seat and steps closer to the window, taking in the full scene.
As he’s scanning the horizon, the barn comes into view, and with it, Jeremy Owens standing right outside the main door with his mug of hot tea in his hands.
He looks serene as he takes a sip. Sergio touches the glass with his fingertips, trailing Jeremy’s outline like he’s a picture on a screen. A photograph frozen in time.
“Are you coming?” Adrien asks from the doorway.
Sergio hastily removes his fingers from the glass, but he keeps his eyes on Jeremy for a second longer. “Yeah,” he says. “I’ll be right down.”
“You think you can order off-menu while you’re here?” Rose chides, her voice clipped and snippy when Sergio and Adrien step into the kitchen. She’s finishing setting the table and is on her way to grabbing the coffee pot.
“It’s no big deal,” Holden says as he flips Sergio’s requested omelet in one pan, then a pancake in another. “I’m a man of many skills.”
“That may be true,” Rose says and kisses him on the cheek as she walks past with the coffee in hand. “But it still doesn’t mean Sergio gets to make demands.”
“Pfft … you should try working for him,” Adrien says. “Some days I wish an omelet were all I had to procure.”
Sergio, used to the two of them picking on him, ignores them and grabs the coffee from Rose to begin pouring everyone a cup.
She steals the first one for herself, so he offers the second to Adrien.
He saves the third for himself and gives the last to Holden as he places the made-to-order omelet down in front of Sergio at the table.
“Thanks, bud,” Sergio says. “This looks perfect.”
Holden stands a little prouder. “I do make a mean omelet.”
“Is that omelet going to be mean to Uncle Sergio?” Henry asks, looking concerned.
“Of course not,” Holden assures him right as Adrien says, “God, I hope so,” and takes a sip of his coffee.
“Why would I need my food to be mean to me when you and Rose already do such a good job of it?” Sergio asks as he begins to dig in. He may be trapped in this day and doomed to repeat it tomorrow, but dammit if he’s not going to enjoy this omelet. Chewing, he turns to look at Holden. “Delicious!”
“Don’t mention it,” Holden says, clapping him on the shoulder with a crisp crack. He gestures to the table. “Eat up! We’re gonna need all the calories we can get for the slopes today.”
On the slopes, after enjoying new food in his belly, Sergio is feeling rather optimistic about his plight.
Well, not necessarily optimistic about anything along the lines of him being released from this loop, but he is capable of appreciating some of the finer things about his predicament.
Most notably that by the time he and Adrien make it down to the basin after this last run for the morning, he will be well on his way to seeing Jeremy and hopefully kissing him again.
He smiles to himself in anticipation and starts kicking his feet, causing the chair lift to gently sway forward and back.
“You’re oddly chipper right now,” Adrien says, eyeing him out of the corner of his eye.
“Am I?”
“Yes.” Adrien laughs. “You’re kicking your feet like a school kid with a crush. But I know that can’t be right.”
“You think so little of me, huh?”
“When it comes to things like feeling a connection with someone? Yes.” Adrien laughs again.
With Jeremy still on his brain, Sergio shrugs. “I’ll prove you wrong one of these days.”
“Doubtful,” Adrien says and looks off into the trees.
Despite it being a futile effort, as all traces of today will be gone tomorrow, Sergio pulls out his camera and takes a picture of his brother looking contemplative.
Sergio can practically see the gears grinding in Adrien’s head.
He turns the camera so Adrien can see the picture on the screen. “For Daphne.”
Adrien smiles, but it doesn’t meet his eyes. “Thanks, that’s a good one.”
Sergio recognizes something in his brother’s sad smile that he’s starting to feel in himself.
A longing for someone else. In some ways, Sergio has it easier.
Jeremy is not only in the same town, but he’s also staying on the same property.
Adrien’s longing has to travel a far greater distance.
It requires translation into another language.
It needs to be quenched in a bolder way.
Sergio must only walk to the barn. Adrien requires a slow slog through TSA lines and border customs after an eight-hour flight.
“You miss her, don’t you?”
Adrien shrugs. “I don’t know. We spend so much time apart that I think I’m always missing her. It’s kind of our standard.”
Something clicks inside of Sergio, like a puzzle piece finding its home.
Having always been single and never wanting to share himself or his life with anyone, it was easy to overlook.
But now that he pines for Jeremy like this forest of needle trees, he has a newfound understanding of his brother’s needs outside of their familial relationship.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
Adrien rolls his eyes and looks at him straight on for the first time on this particular lift ride. His expression is blank and tired. “Don’t tell me you have a solution.”
“I think I might,” Sergio says, knowing exactly what he needs to do.
He braces himself for the end of the lift coming and dismounts effortlessly, then waits at the top of the mountain for Adrien to join him.
Once standing at his side, he continues, “Adrien. You know I love you, but I think it’s time for you to stop working for me. ”
“Are you firing me?” Adrien asks, his face lighting up in a genuine smile that bursts the bubble of tension that’s been festering between them for all these days.
“Afraid so,” Sergio says, then takes off down the mountain, feeling almost as light as he did the first time he kissed Jeremy. Maybe things are going to be alright between him and Adrien after all.
“Did you guys have fun?” Holden asks them once they all find each other on the bunny hills.
“Tons. I fired Adrien,” Sergio says as he skis past Holden to get to the bottom of the little hill to catch Henry who is already calling out for him.
“Uncle Sergio! Look!” Henry shouts, then zooms down the hill before flipping forward to a stop onto his rump. “Did you see?”
“Hell yeah, Henry! I saw!” Sergio picks him up and slaps him a high five. He then places him back onto his feet before bending down to release Henry from his skis.
“You fired your brother?” Holden asks, appearing behind Henry.
Sergio looks up at him and hands him Henry’s skis. “Yeah. Are you surprised?”
“Sort of,” Holden says, looking confused with his lips twisted to the side. “To be honest, I figured he’d quit first.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t wager on it.” Sergio rises to his feet with Henry in his arms.
Holden looks at his feet.
“Wait,” Sergio says. “Did you make a bet with someone?”
“Well, the thing is, Adrien kind of mentioned it to me that he was unhappy and that he was thinking about quitting, and then I told Rose and really, she was the one who wagered a bet with me.”
“Huh,” Sergio muses. “So Rose thought I’d fire Adrien?”
Holden cringes. “Not exactly. She guessed Adrien would quit on you today, while I wagered he’d wait until the week was over.”
“Good. So, neither of you wins, then,” Sergio says, feeling smug as he walks away, carrying Henry to the lodge for lunch.
After lunch, where Sergio ate a Cobb salad instead of a turkey burger, everyone is standing outside, saying their goodbyes.
“You need help with him, Jeremy?” Rose asks, eyeing her sleeping son in Jeremy’s arms.
“No.” Jeremy shakes his head, smiling softly and directing Henry’s head to rest on his shoulder. “I got him.”
“Okay, well, we’ll see you later,” Rose says and waves goodbye, prompting everyone else to do the same.
Everyone but Sergio. “Mind if I come back with you?” he asks Jeremy, and everyone stops in their tracks. He can practically hear a record scratch as they all turn to look at him.
Jeremy shrugs as much as he can with a forty-three-pound sleeping child in his arms. “I guess not.”