I wrap my arms around my stepdaughter and let her squeeze me tight. “Hi, sweetie.”
She hugs Victor just as tight. “Hi, Daddy.”
Victor takes the empty seat next to a man about my age, with salt-and-pepper hair and a pair of reading glasses perched on his patrician nose. I sit in the remaining chair between Kelsey and Victor and catch the scent of sandalwood and citrus. Victor's scent, the same one from that night fifteen years ago, when rain pounded against the windows and I buried my nose in his neck while…
Mother of God, I need to stop thinking about that night.
“What did you think of yoga, Dad?” Kelsey asks. There’s a hint of something in her voice as she looks between me and Victor. I flush, even though she cannot possibly read my dirty mind.
“Your stepfather’s a natural,” Victor says, unfolding his cloth napkin and draping it across his lap.
“Hardly,” I protest.
“We ordered some appetizers for the table,” Adrienne says. Her tailored linen shirt is crisp and immaculate despite the tropical humidity. “The server said they’re resort specialities.”
“And the cocktails here are incredible,” the man on the other side of Victor says, raising a colorful drink garnished with an orchid. This must be Logan, Adrienne’s law partner. He drapes an arm around Silas’s shoulders. “Silas is already talking about ordering a second.”
“It’s a celebration!” protests Silas. His blond bangs flop over his forehead, and he pushes them back, revealing startling green eyes ringed with a hint of eyeliner. “My first Broadway show is in production, and my two favorite lawyers are getting married. What’s not to celebrate?”
He holds his cocktail glass out and looks meaningfully between Logan and Adrienne until they also lift theirs and the three of them clink their glasses. Logan leans to whisper something in Silas’s ear and Silas nods. He sets his cocktail glass down and takes a sip of water.
“How is everyone liking the resort so far?” Victor asks. He was the one who suggested this resort to Kelsey and Adrienne and managed to negotiate a significant discount for the resort packages.
“The pool is amazing,” Silas says. “Logan and I spent the afternoon there, before I went to yoga.” I wonder again what Logan did while the rest of us were flowing from downward-facing dog to whatever the names are for the other poses Victor put us through.
“And the spa is fantastic,” Adrienne adds. “We booked couples’ massages for later this week.”
“Sounds nice,” Victor says. His arm brushes against my side, and when I glance at him, he raises an eyebrow.
She meant for the couples here. Silas and Logan. Kelsey and Adrienne. Victor and I are not a couple. I highly doubt that Adrienne booked a couple’s massage for her soon-to-be father-in-law and stepfather-in-law.
Though the thought of being in a massage room with Victor—both of us undressed, the tropical air heavy with essential oils, hands on bare skin—brings heat to my face.
“Dad? What are you drinking?” Kelsey asks, pulling me back to the table.
“I’ll take a Scotch, on the rocks,” I say. I’m too distracted to deal with the complexities of the cocktail menu. “Ardbeg, if they’ve got it; Glenfiddich, if they don’t.”
“Same,” Victor tells the server and I remember how we drank Ardbeg that night, glass after glass, until neither of us was thinking clearly enough to stop what I started.
The appetizers arrive, platters of local delicacies featuring plantains, ceviche, and tropical fruit. As everyone reaches for the food, Victor’s hand accidentally brushes against mine. I pull back like I’ve touched a hot pan.
“Sorry,” he murmurs, though he doesn’t sound sorry at all. Fifteen years of carefully maintained distance from Victor, collapsing on day one here.
“So, Victor,” Logan says, spearing a piece of mango, “Adrienne tells me you’re a fitness celebrity. I think I’ve seen your videos advertised.”
Victor ducks his head and smiles. “The channel’s doing well. I never expected to build such a following when I started teaching.”
“Daddy’s being humble,” Kelsey interjects. “His online classes have millions of subscribers. And he’s got celebrity clients in New York and L.A.”
“It never would have happened without your mom,” Victor says quietly. His hand brushes against me again, this time the outside of my thigh, under cover of the tablecloth. “She was the one who convinced me to sign up for my first teacher training.”
The mention of Leah brings a momentary hush to the table. Even after fifteen years, the loss of my wife feels raw in certain moments.
“She said you were a natural teacher,” I tell him. My voice comes out rougher than I intended. “She always knew you’d find your place.”
Kelsey looks back and forth between me and Victor and her head cocks at me when I say that. I wince internally. I didn’t mean to sound so pompous and judgmental. When I married Leah, Victor was a struggling fitness instructor, picking up as many personal training sessions as he could in between shifts at Starbucks to pay the bills. He’d been Leah’s best friend since high school, but he and I never seemed to have much in common. Leah chastised me more than once for not being friendly enough to him.
Of course, I doubt that by “friendly,” she’d meant for me to fuck him on our living room floor the night of her funeral.
