“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 theroom 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 ofUSA 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.
