Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”
“Oof … morning, buddy.”
“Hiss …”
“Dad said to come get you. Breakfast is almost ready.”
With a quick swoop of his arms, Sergio grabs Henry around the middle and starts tickling his sides. “He did, did he?”
“Yes,” Henry says through his laughter.
“Did he tell you to jump on the bed as well?”
“No,” Henry lies, giggling.
“I think he did.” Sergio teases, tickling Henry even more before he gives him a firm squeeze and pulls him into a hug. “Did you wake up your uncle Adrien yet?”
“No,” Henry pants, trying to catch his breath after Sergio’s tickling onslaught.
“Do you want to?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Sergio lets go of him and finally sits up in bed, rubbing his face as Henry jumps off him and goes running out of the room with as much gusto as Gus—minus the hissing—and his signature enthusiastic thumbs up raised above his head.
Sergio jumps off the bed after him and pokes his head out the door. “Gently!”
Still running, Henry flicks his thumbs up even higher, then bursts into Adrien’s room.
Sergio pauses in his doorway and listens for Adrien’s sleepily uttered, “Good morning, buddy,” then goes back into his room to peek out the window.
When he catches sight of Jeremy coming out of the barn holding his morning mug of tea, he presses his fingers to the glass.
“I’m gonna get it right today,” he says quietly. “I promise.”
After holding his view of Jeremy for a few more beats, he taps his fingers on the glass one last time, then walks away and heads towards the stairs with a slight skip in his step.
Today’s the day. He can feel it. He knows everything he has to do, and his plan has already been put into motion by the time he steps into Holden and Rose’s office at the bottom of the stairs.
The room is filled with awards and remnants of their Olympic pasts.
On the wall next to Holden’s first gold medal is a picture of Holden screaming his head off in his excitement as he comes to a stop at the end of his gold medal-winning run.
Sergio took that picture. It launched his career when it landed on the cover of USA Sports.
He gives the picture a salute, then steps behind the desk and listens for the house’s usual morning sounds.
Holden and Rose are in the kitchen as they should be, and Adrien and Henry are still upstairs.
Quickly, he turns on the computer and gets to work booking a flight.
It’s the last piece of the puzzle he needs to get through today and finally wake up tomorrow. He’s sure of it.
Stepping out of the office, there’s a skip to his step as he’s feeling quite optimistic this morning, which is saying a lot for someone who has failed all too often at the simple task of getting through a New Year’s Day.
“Good morning, shithead!” Holden says as Sergio enters the kitchen.
“Good morning!” Sergio says with a bright smile on his face.
He bends down to pick up Gus before the cat gets a chance to get underfoot and trip him.
Gus squirms and hisses, trying to escape his arms. Sergio, wanting to avoid getting the absolute shit scratched out of him, places Gus on the couch with a little pat on his head.
From where she’s pulling plates out of the cabinet, Rose looks as shocked as Gus by this turn of events.
Sergio, proud of his accomplishment with the cat, beams at her. He then turns his charm up to eleven and grabs the plates from her hands. “Lemme get that,” he insists, then gestures towards the table. “Sit. Get comfortable. I’ll finish this.”
“Thanks,” she says, looking up at him with obvious suspicion before she spins around.
Sergio leans back and narrowly misses the whip of her red ponytail.
Although perhaps because she’s still a bit surprised by his behavior with the cat, her ponytail is not quite as whiplike as he’s grown used to getting smacked in the face with day in and day out.
“So, your new skater,” Sergio says, placing the plates down on the table in their designated spots. “She seems really promising. I was thinking I could take some promotional pictures of her while I’m here if you’d like. Free of charge, of course.”
Rose tilts her head in thought. “That actually would be nice. Since we’ve moved to the barn, we haven’t had the same press coverage or candid moments that we normally would. Thanks, Sergio. We’ll figure something out for later in the week.”
“No problem,” Sergio says, then goes to grab the coffeepot and four mugs that he balances by hooking them on four of his fingers to bring back to the table. He fills one of the mugs, then hands it to Rose with a wink. “Here you go.”
“Thanks …?” she says, with confusion in her voice that makes it sound more like a question. Her ice-blue eyes are only slightly narrowed at him as she grabs it.
“Sure thing,” he says and pours another cup, this time holding it out to Adrien as he appears.
“You didn’t poison this, did you?” Adrien asks as he carefully flips Henry around and places him down next to his seat at the table.
Sergio laughs. “Adrien, you are the last person on this earth I would want to poison.”
Adrien takes a slow sip. “Doubtful.”
“Seriously. I would be lost without you,” Sergio says with complete sincerity. He pours another cup of coffee and places it down in Holden’s spot.
“You take that. I’ll drink the sludge at the bottom of the pot.”
“You sure?” Sergio asks, even though he already knows what his disgusting answer will be.
“Yeah,” Holden says, grabbing the pot from Sergio and pouring himself the last remnants of the coffee. He takes an exaggerated sip from his mug and smacks his lips after he swallows. “Ahh. Delicious.”
“You’re disgusting,” Rose, Adrien, and Sergio say in unison as everyone begins to grab food, filling up their plates.
“So …” Sergio starts once everyone is eating. He takes a forkful of pancakes and chews while he waits to have everyone’s attention. “I wanted to apologize for last night … well, most of yesterday, really. It wasn’t my best showing.”
Holden claps him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It’s all water under the bridge.”
“To you, maybe,” Sergio says, looking over at his best friend. “But I know I hurt Jeremy last night.” He takes his gaze to Rose. “And you as well. So I am sorry. I’ll be sure to let Jeremy know that today first chance I get.”
Rose points at him with her fork, which has a piece of pineapple hanging from it. “You better,” she says. “Because I’m not smoothing this one over for you.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“What? No apology for me?” Adrien asks, eyeing Sergio over the brim of his coffee mug.
Sergio wipes his mouth with his napkin. “I owe you more than an apology,” he says, nodding in Adrien’s direction. “I hope by the end of the day, I’ll have managed to make that clear.”
“I’ll be sure not to hold my breath,” Adrien says and takes a loud sip of his coffee.
He eyes Sergio with suspicion—a look to which Sergio has grown accustomed.
A look his brother has perfected over the years from being the younger of the two.
The look that implies whatever game Sergio might be playing at, he’s on board even if his words say otherwise.
Rose checks her watch and rises from her seat. “I’ll take the rest of this to go,” she says and kisses Holden on the cheek, then heads for the back door. “You boys have fun.”
“Will do!” Holden calls out after her. “We’ll see you for lunch.”
Alright. So far, so good, Sergio thinks. No one is fighting. No one is glaring daggers at him. And he has a full belly of food to conquer the first half of his day.
“Take shotgun,” Sergio says to Adrien, holding open the passenger side door of Holden’s Range Rover for him.
“Are you sure?” Adrien asks, as he climbs in, not bothering to wait for an answer.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Sergio shuts the door behind him.
He smiles and taps the door panel with his fist twice, then climbs into the back seat next to Henry.
With one hand, he shuts the door, and with his other, he waves Holden off, stopping him from buckling Henry in.
“I’ve got it,” he says, then winks at Henry.
Henry hard blinks back at him and starts kicking his feet in his seat.
After getting into the driver’s seat, Holden turns on the car. “Who’s ready for some skiing?”
“Me!” Henry yells and throws up his hands.
“Me too,” Adrien says.
“Been looking forward to it all year,” Sergio says, catching Holden’s eyes through the rearview mirror.
Holden puts the car in reverse and looks over his shoulder at Sergio as he backs out of the garage. “I’m thrilled you’re both here,” he says. “I missed my brothers.”
“We missed you, too,” Sergio assures him.
“Yeah,” Adrien says, eyes forward as he gestures with his thumb over his shoulder in Sergio’s direction. “You have no idea how hard it is to wrangle this one by myself.”
Holden turns back around and hits the button to close the garage door. “Way more than a full-time job, I’m sure.”
“I should be getting compensated for pain and suffering,” Adrien says, reaching for the radio and turning it on, bringing forth the sound of Wicked Game, once again through the speakers.
Sergio smiles to himself, knowing that the next hurdle of his day ends with Adrien’s freedom, making his comment inconsequential. Besides, how can he be upset when this all too familiar song is accompanying the perfect moving picture Sergio has in his head of Jeremy gliding across the ice.
On the chairlift and enjoying the gorgeous view of the mountains and the trees covered in pristine white snow, Sergio is feeling confident.
Not in a Sergio of old sort of way. For the first time in his adult life, his confidence isn’t coming from how many people are fawning over him.
This confidence is more aligned with that of a well-practiced figure skater whose muscle memory knows their routine so thoroughly that they could never trip up.