“Papi and I are trying pickleball for the first time with our friends Sally and Ed. It’s why I can’t have you all stay for a sit down dinner, we’re meeting them in half an hour. I did all of this meal prepping though and wanted to make sure everyone got some.”
I hug her as I tease her. “When was the last time you picked up a racket?”
She scoffs, “I have to start somewhere.” She hugs Tania. “What about you, Mija? Are you going to tease me about trying pickleball?” She’s grasping Tania’s shoulders with pure affection though and it makes me melt.
Tania holds her arms up in surrender. “I’ll leave thejokes to your son, I am NOT getting in the middle, but I think it’s a great sport to play,” she says on a laugh. My dad comes out then and slips his arm around my mom’s waist. He’s in joggers, a moisture wicking shirt, and baseball hat.
“No making fun of my little number cruncher for trying to be athletic for once,” my dad says, kissing her temple while she swats him. “Come get your food. What’s new with you two?”
“I don’t think I got to tell you both, but I did end up getting into art classes at the community college. I’m excited to start in the fall.”
“That will be fantastic, mijo,” my dad says. He’s looking at me with a ton of pride for the first time in a while. This is all he wanted, and we were both too stubborn or proud to get to this point before. It gives me even more motivation to spend more time on my art. I’ve been sketching so much lately, and it completely soothes my restless brain and body. I credit the amazing woman next to me as the inspiration, it was her encouragement that had me pick up my pencils again after way too long. She brings out the best in me and gives me the courage to show all of my many facets, not just the fun and goofy side. With a big hug, my dad hands me the food containers, and then my mom is shooing us out the door. She hugs us both fiercely before saying, “Wish me luck making a fool of myself on the court!” I kiss her cheek.
“All jokes aside, I love that you’re trying new things, Mami. You’ll do great.” Tania echoes me, and both of our cheeks get a pat before we head home. Home. The home that feels so full of love and life now that it makes my heart want to burst. I have the woman of my dreams, those two adorable furballs, food made with love from my mom, and approval from my dad. My job isn’t fancy, and maybe I’m not the smartest or most accomplished, but I feel like I’m the goddamn richest man on earth with everything I have.
Chapter 22
CARLO
whyyyy is rosa such a good dancer
My girlfriend is apparently a really sentimental and soft drunk, and her texts are so fucking entertaining. She, my sisters, and Lyra are out for the girls night they planned. Judging by the hilarious amount of pictures and texts from her and my sisters, they’re having an absolute blast at an 80’s themed club up north. All of them are decked out in different neon colors, their shirts torn and off the shoulder, big bows in their teased out hair, and lacy fingerless gloves. There are drinks the size of fishbowls, and by my count Tania is on her third. Taran is here with me for our own little guys night at the apartment. He’ll sleep in the guest room, while the women all met at Taran and Lyra’s house and will crash there when their rideshare drops them off. Damn am I going to miss sleeping next to Tania, it’s our first night apart in about a month. I smile like crazy when she follows up her text with a video of Rosa doing some incredible moves to Borderline by Madonna. She’s letting her hair down tonight, too.
She’s the best dancer in the family, it’s always the quiet ones sweetheart
i love your sisters and lyra sm and i love U sm
I love you so much, too, mi sueño. Glad you’re having fun
so much fun, i never had a big girls night like this before and it makes me happpyyyy
She’s so goddamn adorable it hurts. Watching her tough outer shell soften as she gets the love and attention she deserves is something I’ll never get tired of. Then I see a text come through from Luce in the group thread with my sisters. It’s a selfie of all of them holding their fishbowl drinks, looking giddy, arms up like they’re dancing, smiles blinding, and it makes my heart do a dance with them. Taran glances over at me as he swigs his beer, pure amusement on his face. The cats are bookending us on the couch, a long empty pizza box is on the table, and we’ve got video games going on the TV. With our phones blowing up, the games are on hold.
“My bride-to-be is smashed, her texts are almost unintelligible. I love that she’s comfortable enough with your sisters and Tania to let loose like that, she never gets drunk.” I smile at this amazing girl gang of so many women I love, showing Taran the picture Luce sent me. His face goes so soft and warm looking at Lyra with the rest of the women, pure affection in his eyes.
“I’m going to be marrying that woman later this year,” he says, his voice filled with awe. I get it now. It’s how I imagine I look like when I talk about Tania.
“I want to make Tania my bride-to-be, too. I want thatwith her,” I quietly confess to my best friend. He looks both floored and pleased.
“You two are already at that point?” I tilt my head up to the ceiling, take a swig of my own beer, thinking of how I want to respond.
“I won’t speak for her. With her past, she may need some time to be that certain of me. I know I’ve wanted her since the day I saw her, and living together really sped things up, what can I say? We’ve dropped the three little words.” He lets out a little whoop, clinking his beer bottle to mine.
“That’s amazing, man. She must be certain enough of you to say I love you, so I don’t think she’s far behind you. I’m so happy for you both.” He looks at the two cats. They’ve both kept their distance from him, probably because they can smell Brody and Lilly on him. “You two are little matchmakers, huh? Had to resort to destroying an apartment to get them to live together?” Tish walks over me to get to him, delicately placing her front paws on his leg at his almost baby talk. Then she leans up and meows fiercely right in his face, as if to say, “yeah, we did that,” before jumping off and streaking down the hall. Taran cracks up.
“Holy shit, they’re hilarious. I haven’t been around cats much before.”
“It’s not so hilarious when one of them steps right on your balls early in the morning because they want breakfast, but they’re too adorable for me to worry about my sperm count.” He slaps my shoulder in sympathy.
“Pet parenthood at its finest, my friend.”
We pick our controllers back up and start playing Smash Brothers again. I’m always Kirby and Taran is always Link. This is one of our fight to the death 99 stock tournaments, and the first to run out of their 99 lives loses.Things get heated as both of our life counts start getting into the 30s, and we’re throwing everything we’ve got at each other. Taran swears colorfully when I grab a poké ball and unleash Blastoise, taking another of his lives. It’s complete flashbacks to our video game marathons as stupid high school kids when we played it on GameCube and I love it. We haven’t done this in a while. He ends up winning, though, and we decide to check in with our women one last time to say goodnight. Tania beats me to it as I pull up our thread.
gnite baby!! I’m passing out soon at Lyra’s, we’re all here safe and sound. I have to play with the dogs now, bye Ily!
Even though she shared her rideshare with me so I could track it, I still sigh with relief that they’re all back at the house safely.
Love you too, sweetheart. Sleep tight, I’ll see you in the morning. Make sure you drink water and take an aspirin