“God,” Ari exhaled, allowing her head to rest against her hands. “How did it come to this? Visitation rights for Tom and fuckingSasha.”
“Sasha? I don’t know about that,” Luis said with a shrug.
“What do you mean?” Ari peeked at him from between her fingers.
“Well, let’s just say I’m not having my girls start on that wedding dress anytime soon. I don’t think it would be a practical use of their time.”
“Luis—”
“Look, Ari, just talk to the man. Sort something out. Not for him, not for you, but for Reine, okay? She’s the important one. Everything else is just...” Luis paused, clearly thinking something through. “Water under the bridge?”
“Not in this case. Not water under the bridge.” Ari sighed. “It’s magic gone wrong.” Instinctively, she reached for the queen of spades in her pocket, before her fingers made contact with the hard seam of her coat and an overwhelming misery engulfed her.That’s right, she thought sadly.I tore her up.
The queen was gone.
“Ari?” Luis asked curiously. “You okay?”
No,she longed to reply.I haven’t been okay in years.
“Ari?”
“I used to like airports,” Ari said again, and now a tear did run down her cheek. She looked up to Luis with hollow eyes. “I used to like them a lot.”
* * *
There was too much noise and Tom couldn’t think.
In one ear he had Sasha buzzing, her words sharp and demanding.
“What did she mean? That kid is yours? Tom, what the actual fuck? How could you not tell me? I can’t believe how selfish you are. This is meant to bemyspecial weekend. This is not meant to be about you orheror anything else. What the fuck, Tom?”
In the other ear he had his mother, jumpy like an excited rabbit, her eyes wide.
“You spent time with her? She knows you’re her father? Oh my God, Tom, this is the best thing ever. We were so worried about her, but she was with you the entire time. You’ll bond with her, and then I will, and then I’ll have everything I ever dreamed of. This is wonderful, Tom.”
There was other noise too. The clicking of Stella’s camera as, frame by frame, she caught every uncomfortable word being thrown in his direction. Luis and Sebastian, muttering between themselves, throwing him dirty looks like he was the devil incarnate. There was a more intensive noise too, like a roaring wave in his ear, as his heart beat fast and his head buzzed with adrenaline.
“I can’t do this now,” he said desperately, breaking free from the circle of people around him and walking away. “I just can’t do this.”
“Tom!” Sasha screeched. “Don’t you dare walk away from me!”
“I just need to think,” he replied miserably. “I just need time and space to think.”
“What, eight years wasn’t enough time for you?” Sebastian asked snidely, and Tom snapped his head in his direction, regarding him warily.
“You can think what you like about me,” he said to him quietly. “It’s not your opinion I care about.”
Sebastian’s face remained sharp, dislike spread across his features. “I’m going to give you some good advice you in absolutely no way deserve. You don’t have time to think. Ari is probably upstairs packing her bags right now. Time is not something you have the luxury of.”
Tom stared at him.
“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” he said shortly. “You think I’m going to make things worse by barging upstairs and demanding she stay? I’m in no position to make any demands of her, and I’m not going to. I know this will seem unbelievable to you, but I still care about Ari.” Tom swallowed hard. “More than any of you will ever know. And I care about that little girl now too.”
“You care about them?! I don’t believe this—” Sasha began to speak, but Luis scoffed before she could finish her sentence.
“A ten-minute conversation with Reine and youcareabout her? Please.”
Tom watched as Sebastian moved closer to him, taking Luis’s hand in his own. They were a unit against one soldier, Tom realised. They were displaying their unity to him and Marnie.
