“Why’s that?”
“Because Mom and Dad always tell me to say sorry when I do something bad.”
“Do you do bad things often?”
“No.”
“Me neither,” Sergio says and ignores the niggling sense in the back of his head that’s telling him maybe Henry’s right. Besides, no one wants to take advice from someone who can’t tie their own shoelaces. Especially when the advice is regarding a mishap that will eventually blow over. This insignificant blip will be irrelevant in a matter of days, maybe even hours. He gives Henry a firm squeeze. “Did you wake up your Uncle Adrien yet?”
“No.” Henry laughs as Sergio tickles his sides.
“Do you want to?”
“Yes.” More laughing.
“Good.” Sergio lets go of him and finally sits up in bed, rubbing his face. “Go get him and make sure you wake him up the same way you did me, okay?”
“Okay!” Henry yells as he jumps off the bed, throws two enthusiastic thumbs up into the air over his head, and goes thundering out the door and down the hall.
Sergio waits until he hears the telltaleoofof Adrien being woken up in Henry’s special manner before he rises and exits theroom, smiling and laughing to himself, clad in the sweatpants and T-shirt he fell asleep in.
Once downstairs, the reception Sergio gets from Rose is best described as chilly. She moves around, refusing to look in his direction.
Holden, however, is his usual jovial self with his bright smile and exuberant greeting. “Good morning, shithead!”
Rose brushes past him to open a cabinet without a word, and he’s pretty sure Gus is trying to trip him by getting underfoot. He smiles and turns on his charm, an attribute of his personality that has never failed him.
“Lemme get that,” he says, sidling up to Rose and taking the plates she pulled from the cabinet out of her hands. “Sit. Get comfortable. I’ll set the table.”
“Thanks,” she says, her tone crisp. She avoids making eye contact, then spins around and whips him across the chin with her full red ponytail. It smells like orange blossoms.
Sergio looks to Holden for help. All he gets is a subtle, apologetic shrug that feels more like an indictment of Sergio than an apology for Rose’s well-aimed strike.Alright, she’s still pissed,Sergio figures, so he tries a new tactic.
“Where’s Jeremy?” he asks, purposely lifting his voice to exaggerate curiosity.
Rose, looking at him for the first time, glares. “Avoiding you, obviously.”
Sergio turns his back to her and winces, then takes a breath and tries to break through her defenses again. Taking a seat and leaving the dishes she handed him on the counter, he asks, “So your new skater, she’s really promising, huh?”
Rose looks across the table at him with her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. “Do you actually care?”
“Yeah,” Sergio says, stung. After all, Rose is family. Of course, he’s interested in what she’s doing. Same as he assumes she’sinterested in what he has going on in his career. Which, speaking of … “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. Her eyes are penetrating as she stares at him, and she appears to be at war with herself as she weighs her options as to what to do with Sergio’s offer. Finally, her gaze softens slightly, and her head shifts upright. “That actually would be nice. Since we’ve moved to the barn, we haven’t had the same press coverage or candid shots that we normally would. Thanks, Sergio. We’ll figure something out for later in the week.”
“Yeah, no problem,” he says, smiling as Holden drops off the dishes Sergio hadn’t bothered to bring over, along with a pot of coffee. Sergio pours himself a cup.
“But don’t think this means you can openly flirt with Allison while you shoot,” Rose says. She reaches and takes the cup of coffee Sergio poured for himself and enjoys a pointed sip. Her eyes focus intensely on him over the brim of the mug.
Without flinching under her intense, warning stare, he pours another cup. “I’ll be strictly professional,” he promises her.
“A strictly professional pain in the butt,” Adrien says as he enters the kitchen with Henry dangling upside down from his shoulders, laughing gleefully. “Did he volunteer us for work?”
“Only himself,” Rose assures and takes the second cup of coffee Sergio poured for himself and holds it out to Adrien as he places Henry back down on the ground.
“Thanks,” Adrien says as he takes it.
Sergio pours yet another cup.
