38. Chapter 38
Dom
The Partners’ Party surrounds me, with its hundreds of guests spreading through a large park. The luncheon is themed after an old-school, Gatsby-esque event. It fits the venue well, with its large main building and expansive garden at the back.
It was a risk to host the party outside in the winter, but the team's prep paid off.
Several heated tents cover the space strategically, to sprawl over the lawn between trees.
Low bushes add to the landscape, the kind that would pop into colorful blooms in the summer, but stay deep green during the Christmas season.
Colorful, handmade garlands hang from every surface.
From what I hear, the kids who will benefit from this event made them all by hand.
Due to my crutches, I stay in the large center tent that holds the auction items. The lawn isn't my best friend while I have to use mobility aids, and there's enough room to chat around the paintings, antique books, and signed sports paraphernalia.
There are some festive decorations here, too, hanging from the white edges of the canopy.
Mistletoe, pine garlands, and children's drawings are the perfect accents to celebrate the holiday.
So far, the event seems like a success. I would congratulate Pen and Evie again, like we did at the start of the luncheon, but the group has moved on to other topics.
My friends and their significant others, and even Saint's parents and twin sisters are here.
The young girls run around with Sofi, Rafa's daughter, pulling balloons and ribbons behind them and watching them dance in the air.
Sofi's presence is a shock to us all. Most shocking of all, is that Rafa has a plus one with him.
"Mina!" Sofi calls her. "Look! Got one for you. It's your favorite color."
The child gives Rafa's guest a bright green balloon. They chat for a beat, while Nat leans close to Rafa.
"I thought her name was Lorena," she whispers. "And that we should call her Lori."
"Call her Lori," Rafa says. "'Mina' is what Sofi calls her. Short for Madrina— Lori is Sofi's godmother, but the word was too hard for her to say when she was younger."
Sofi ends up pulling Lori's hand and taking her away to look at something.
I glance around the garden, trying to catch sight of Mariana. I don't see her. She must be socializing elsewhere, treating the party more like a work event. As I knew she would. The fact that half her family is here is distracting her and keeping her busy.
"Right, right," Evie says. "So if I got this right, Lori was your wife's best friend, and is Sofi's godmother, and took the role seriously when Gabby passed."
Whenever we talk about Rafa's late wife, we try to keep it casual.
He asked us to. It's hard enough to be a widower parenting your young child, to also have to carry the awkwardness that can take over conversations like this.
He said he's done the work to come back from his grief.
He doesn't want us to bring it back by making it a thing.
"Yes," Rafa explains. "She lives a couple of hours away by plane, but tries to be present for her and visits a couple of times a year."
"We didn't know any of this," Bear says.
Rafa shrugs. "I don't know why I would have had to tell you."
"And she's staying with you for the holidays," Saint comments. "As friends. Even though she's your plus one. And you said you might be interested in dating."
Something passes behind Rafa's eyes, but he answers calmly enough. "I'm lucky she's around and can be a part of Sofi's life."
"I didn't expect this," Logan says, "but Rafa is clearly deflecting."
I catch sight of Mariana and lose track of everything else.
She's talking to her parents and Selena, and looks great in a knit, lilac dress that is a beautiful mix of modern with a touch of vintage.
She doesn't seem nervous, but I know her stomach is probably tight.
This event is important to her and her plans to impress her parents.
Lori comes back to the group. "Sorry everyone. Sofi wanted to show me a flower she liked."
"You visited the TD yesterday, right?" Damián asks.
"I did!" Lori says. "Rafa heard Saint's parents were taking the twins so he arranged for us to be able to go as well. Neither Sofi or I had ever been."
"It was a lovely surprise to get Rafa's request," Evie says with a mischievous smile. "Rafa has been very private to date."
"Understandable, right?" Lori says. "But Sofi has been talking about making this year's Christmas special, so we're trying to make it very special."
"We love a good dynamic duo," Saint says. "Nice team you guys have going."
As much as I'm listening to the situation around me, I'm also keeping track of Mariana in the distance, until Cora comes and takes her away.
The crowd hides her from me and I bite back a sigh.
I saw her this morning. I'm not supposed to be missing her, but I am.
It's probably because she's been too busy with the last few party details and we haven't spent as much time together as I'd like.
The thought gets erased when a group of people walk past us and we move to give them room.
My friends and I end up at the edge of the lawn.
Drinks come around, and I choose a non-alcoholic, fizzy cherry drink.
I sip from it and gaze around once more.
Mariana isn't around, but her parents are, and my eyes cross with her dad's.
I purse my lips and hold his gaze. He nods.
I nod back. Just once, so he can't say I was too rude.
That old friend, determination, shows up, and it reminds me I'll feel better afterwards if I appear unaffected.
If I hold on to my pride. I straighten and turn back to my friends.
Finding them smiling at each other, chatting about who knows what, pulls warmth from my depths, until I can ignore James and the memories he conjures up.
Especially when the twins gasp from some distance away, lanky arms pointing at us, mouth agape, and I follow their gaze to find them pointing at Rafa and Lori.
"You're under the mistletoe!" they exclaim in unison.
Yep. The pair stand under the white-berried branches hanging from the canopy.
The surprise doesn't pierce through the general affection cloaking the group. Instead, it gets infused in mirth and a hint of mischief.
I smile. Rafa and Lori stare at each other with barely-hidden panic. He glances at Sofi a few times. His daughter stares at him and Lori, then at the twins, who have started to insist they should kiss. It's tradition, they say.
The rest of us witness the moment and, for once, the group doesn't intervene.
"I don't know…" Lori tries.
Sofi studies the twins a bit longer, before a tremulous smile appears on her mouth. "It's part of the holiday spirit. Remember what you said!"
"Right. Well." He stares at Lori some more.
"Just do it," she says.
Rafa struggles for another second, before he takes Lori's face in his hands and drops a hell of a kiss on her mouth. It's short, but intense. If we were quiet before, we could hear a pin drop after.
The twins jump in excitement. Sofi laughs. It seems to relax Rafa into the kiss— until he stops it altogether. He and Lori stare at each other, frozen. I exchange glances with Bear and with Nat. So much for a simple, friendly kiss.
"I think we should go see the auction items," Saint's dad says.
He, Saint's mom, Ames, Lori, Nat, and Damián leave to peruse the different displays.
The rest of the group tightens. Rafa finally lets go of Lori, but he stands there, immobile, hands in his pockets and mouth pressing into a tight line.
Lori says nothing, limiting herself to sipping from her drink.
She doesn't hide her relief, when Sofi comes for her hand and takes her away on another adventure.
"You okay, there?" Saint asks Rafa.
"I'm very okay." He rubs his lips together. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know," Evie says. "I thought I saw some tension there."
All of us agree.
"I wasn't meant to kiss her in public like this," Rafa argues.
"What about in private?" Logan asks.
Rafa shakes his head. "That's Gabby's best friend. It's not… we don't…"
I smile. "I love getting to figure out who the next one to get an intervention will be."
"I will not need an intervention over a small mistletoe kiss." Rafa finishes his drink in one big gulp, and immediately drops it into a passing tray.
He clears his throat and crosses his arms.
"You call that a small kiss?" Pen laughs. "You hide some spice inside I never expected, Rafael."
"Excuse me," Cora says. "We'd love to say hi to everyone."
Distracted as we were with the ongoing developments, I didn't notice the Sinclair Montt family approach us. Cora, her parents, Maisie, and the wife I never met. Mariana is with them this time too, and she and I exchange a long look.
It's funny— I feel just like I did when I was twenty, and I realized Mariana and I were falling in love. Like I could walk on water. Hopeful. Awed. Complicity blooms between us, in the knowledge that there's more between us than witnesses might guess. I let a smile pull at my lips. Just for her.
"It was lovely meeting you for that first Vortex game," Alicia says to my friends. "And it's nice seeing you again."
"This is my father, James Sinclair," Cora says. "Father, these are some of the Strike's players Mom told you about."
She introduces us and we all shake hands with him. I'm the last one, and I'm not sure if that's a strategy of some sort.
"I recognize the names," he says as he takes my hand tight. "And a few faces."
"Hello, James," I say.
His sharp, ice-blue eyes consider me carefully. I'm the only one calling him by his name and skipping the more formal Mr. Sinclair.
I didn't do the same with his wife when I first saw her again, and he must understand my intentions in establishing this familiarity from the start.
We are the same, I'm telling him.
"It's been a long time, Dominic," he responds.
Several years, in fact. I have not seen him since he told me to let Mariana go.
He shakes my hand with a firm grasp that I echo.
"We're glad to hear you're recovering well," Alicia tells me. "We asked all about it at the Vortex game last night."
I steal a glance at Cora and Mariana. This is the first time I hear about them asking about it again. Cora can only tell them what's already official through the normal team channels, but Mariana could have told them a lot more.
It seems they were not satisfied with whatever Cora told them the first time.
"Thank you," I say. "My plan is to be back in time to help my team win another championship."
"That's the kind of ambition we believe in," Alicia says. "Good for you, Dom."
I got to hear them talk about it all those years ago.
Telling their children that in ambition they'd find success and a life worth living.
They told their daughters that working in philanthropy would give them meaning and integrity, because the world wouldn't let them become pro athletes and let them go far like with the boys.
And to their sons, they said they'd get all doors open, and they had to prove they deserved it if they wanted a good career post-retirement.
They didn't want any of their children wasting opportunities to do right by their family, their ethics, and their own goals.
Being a professional athlete was never ambitious enough for their children, but it can be for a guy like me.
And with my injury now, and how it can block me from participating in a new championship win…
how it might rob me from the glory of being an active part in a team doing something as rare, and as thrilling as two championship rings in a row after a long dry spell…
Good for you, she said. To my ears it sounds condescending.
They move their attention to my friends, and chat politely with them. Mariana and I exchange a couple of long looks, but don't talk. In her parents' eyes, we're not close.
A rebellious part of me wants to invite her for a short stroll, even if I have no good excuse to bring her aside. All I want is to provoke a reaction from her parents. Fill them with questions. Even worries, perhaps. But Mariana would take the brunt of their doubts, so I hold back.
Restlessness itches right under my skin. It costs me to bite my tongue, but I make myself remain quiet, until the group leaves a short time later. I watch them walk away and eventually join another group.
"That was a power move," Bear says my way.
Logan nods. "Subtle, but effective."
"What was?" I ask.
Evie arches an eyebrow. "Calling him by his first name."
I lift a shoulder. "I don't mind that you guys noticed that."
Back when I first met this family, I don't remember getting into this defensive mood so quickly. It must be the ghosts of the past, haunting me again.
"I did notice a few other things," Evie says. "Like how ramrod straight you got."
"Did I?"
"Or how clipped your words were," Pen adds.
I still have a few days to go using my crutches, but I put my weight on my legs, rest my aids on a post nearby, and stretch my hands and arms. Splayed fingers go into a fist, on and off a few times. When curled tight, I tighten them more.
"That part wasn't on purpose," I finally reply.
"You don't like them, do you?" Bear says.
I sigh. Thoughts multiply in my head. I'm not sure how much to tell them.
"You all know I have history with them." I sigh again. Deeper, this time.
And even all these years later, me being a fully grown adult, I expect they want to give me another talking to. I almost wish they would, so I could say everything I wish I had said back then. The number one being to leave Mariana and me alone.
"It's funny," Bear says. "Of all of us, I didn't expect Dom to be the one with the most obvious chance to change history."
I frown. "What do you mean?"
"Falling in love is a battle between your hopes and your fears." He smirks. "And if you last long enough in the struggle, you eventually get a chance to not only build a bond, but choose it over and over again."
"So wise," Pen smiles. "And so right."
"You have a past with Mariana," Bear adds. "If your bond to her is a string, it's been plucked since she joined the team. Right now it's singing. The question is, will you listen to it?"
"Downright poetic," Logan says. "And correct."
"Wait." Evie latches to Logan's arm. "Is this… an intervention?"