It feels anything but fine.
Jeremy turns his attention to Holden. “What time are we leaving tonight?”
Sitting beside his brother in the back of Holden’s Range Rover, Sergio replays yesterday's disaster apology attempt to Jeremy in his head. He has to try something new.
“Can you grab Henry from Jeremy?” Rose asks Holden when they pull into the garage after yet another day on the slopes. “I need to get cleaned up and start getting ready for tonight.”
“Sure thing,” Holden says, then turns to look at Sergio and Adrien in the back seat. “Do either of you want to come with? Maybe Jeremy has Henry up and on skates. You should see him. He’s terrible.”
“Yeah, I’ll come.” Sergio nods.
“Adrien?”
“Nah. It’s almost midnight in Paris. I’m gonna call Daphne and wish her a Happy New Year.”
“Alright, send her our love,” Holden says and exits the car.
“Actually, do you mind if I go do it? Alone?” Sergio asks Holden, following him towards the garage exit.
“Sure.” Holden shrugs and turns around. “It’s your funeral.”
Rose stops in her tracks on the garage steps leading into the house. She looks at Sergio skeptically. Her eyes narrowed in. “Why do you need to go alone?”
“I’d like to apologize to Jeremy,” Sergio says with urgency. He figured out yesterday that having Holden there doesn’t help. He doesn’t need Rose standing in his way, either. He raises an eyebrow at her in challenge. “And I don’t need a chaperone.”
“Fine,” she relents, opening the door and stepping through. Over her shoulder, she calls out, “But I swear to God, Sergio, if you hurt him again, I will kick you in the nuts.”
Under his breath, Sergio says, “Don’t worry, your son’s already done that multiple times for you.”
“What was that?” Holden asks.
“Nothing,” Sergio says as he exits the garage in the opposite direction and heads towards the barn. The entire way there, he reminds himself to stay calm and not to make any movements that might lead to Jeremy falling or comments that might cause Jeremy to shut down.
Pulling the door open, he hears the familiar crooning of Chris Isaak. Despite his nerves, the song pulls a sense of calm and comfort over him like a blanket. Even through its haunting and cut-throat lyrics, which are accurate to his predicament, he’s beginning to crave the song. Then, same as he’s done the other times he’s walked in on this sight, Sergio pauses at the rink's wall and watches the way Jeremy moves. It’s beautiful in its simplicity.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly makes his way over to where Henry is sitting, watching Jeremy glide around the ice. Not wanting to startle him or pull Jeremy’s attention away from hisskating, which he is obviously enjoying, Sergio stays quiet. Once he reaches Henry, he carefully sits beside him and pulls him into his lap. He rests his chin on Henry’s head. “He’s great out there, isn’t he?”
“The best,” Henry says, then looks up at Sergio to amend, “After mommy.”
Sergio lets out a soft laugh and whispers, “Yeah, after Mommy. Of course.”
Jeremy’s skating has taken him closer to where Sergio and Henry are sitting and when he loops around in his choreography, he slows in his tracks, gracefully dropping his arms to his sides and coming to a stop a few feet away, blushing. “I thought Henry was my only audience.”
“Sorry,” Sergio says, realizing now he could be seen as an interloper. “I snuck in. I didn’t want to disturb you. You look good out there.”
“Don’t tease,” Jeremy scolds.
“I wasn’t teasing.”
Jeremy bites at his lip, looking like he doesn’t believe him and like he wants to change the subject to anything besides talking about himself. “Where’s Holden? I figured he’d grab Henry.”
“I told him I wanted to do it instead.”
“Well, I won’t hold you up,” Jeremy says as he steadies himself against the low rink wall and slips a blade guard on one skate, then steps off and does the same with his other before he begins to walk away.
With Henry still in his arms, Sergio awkwardly rises and steps to catch up with Jeremy. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”
Jeremy pauses and looks over his shoulder. “Really?”
