I nodded as seriously as I could. “Well we don’t want to keep Dinorah from her playtime.” I signaled for them to follow us to the study and as we walked I grabbed Camilo by the waist and bent down to kiss him. He beamed at me.
“Feliz Navidad, Tom.”
I smiled right back, my heart so full I had to take a moment just to look at him. “Feliz Navidad, amor.”
As soon as we sat down, Libe started dragging the gifts out from under the tree.
“Okay I got your gift, Camilo,” she said, out of breath as she ran back for another box. “Daddy! Yours is littler because I ran out of the white stuff.” She gave me a thumbs-up at this. “But don’t worry, it’s really great.”
Camilo and Dinorah could barely hold in their amusement. She got the last two presents from under the tree in one run then slumped next to where I was sitting and whispered, “Did we get something for Camilo’s mom?”
My answer was as stern as I could manage. “Si, Libertad. Sientate.” She sat down in the center of the circle of gifts she’d made. “Okay you can start opening yours and then we can each open ours.” That was all she needed to hear, and immediately she started ripping into those gifts like she was being timed.
We oohed and ahhed as she showed us her presents, and then gave Camilo and I each some homemade thing that was supposed to be a coaster. I gave Dinorah a gift certificate for a spa which she loved, and then Libe grabbed her by the hand and pulled her upstairs to the playroom. They left the room with Libe chattering about what they would build with the magnetic blocks she’d gotten from Camilo.
As soon as they were out of earshot I reached over to the table to grab my gift for Camilo, and he shyly pulled out his from the bag he’d brought.
He handed it to me and snapped, “You first, let’s get this over with, because I’m nervous and think you’re going to hate it.”
It was almost comical how unaware Camilo was of the fact that I was crazy about him. “Why would I hate a gift from you?” I asked incredulously, but he did look nervous. I tried to tease him by opening it as slowly as I could and after a minute of me taking each piece of tape off individually he ripped it from my hand and unwrapped it.
“Oh my god. Here!” I chuckled as I took it back from him.
It was a picture frame with the selfie of Libe, him and I we’d taken at the zoo. The three of us were smiling wide at the camera, with the blue sky behind us. My arm was around his shoulder and Libe’s little hand was on the side of his face.
We looked happy, like we belonged together.
“Camilo.” He made me breathless. “This is amazing.” I leaned in to kiss him and when I touched his lips with mine, I finally had to say it.
“Te amo.”
His lips turned up to match mine. “And I love you.”
He said it so naturally, like it made all the sense in the world. It felt like that too.
I went in for another kiss to seal it. To keep those words between us for a bit. When we pulled back he looked impish, and the anticipation I felt for whatever utterly Camilo thing he would say made me giddy. “Of course I reserve the right to take it back if your gift sucks.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less,” I said very solemnly.
I handed him the present, and he opened it in the same fashion as Libe had attacked hers. I held my breath because I’d taken a chance on this one, and hoped my suspicion was right.
He looked at the cover and gasped. “How did you even get this? I’ve never been able to find any of his work in print.”
It was an anthology by José Ángel Buesa, a Cuban poet who he’d mentioned a few times. I’d had my mom do a little digging in the DR since he’d lived there before he died. She came through with this copy and mailed it.
“There’s no way you stayed within the budget.”
I might have felt just slightly smug then. “Actually I did, the book wasn’t too much at all. My mom got it in the DR, the shipping cost more than the book.”
He leafed through it with a big smile on his face.
“This is amazing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
We sat there for a bit, while he read and I admired the photo. After a while, I pulled him closer. “How was the night with your mom?”
He sighed and looked up to where they’d gone, but I could hear Libe talking a mile a minute.
“Well my mom decided she needs to take some time off work, which is amazing. She says she’s been really struggling with her depression and she wants to work on her mental health. The leave is unpaid, and I just discovered yesterday her rent was increased.” He grimaced at that, glancing upstairs again. “She needs to take care of the balance soon. I still encouraged her to take the time, because she needs it.” He sounded so relieved, even though it seemed like things were not exactly resolved.
“She’s upset my dad’s sixty-fifth birthday is in March and she hasn’t been to see his grave since we left Miami. So she wants to go while she’s on leave. I wish I could take her, but she doesn’t fly,” he said, voice weighed down by the obvious strain all this was putting on him. “It would involve driving there and I can’t take time off until I’m done with the renovation.” He looked at me with a tired smile. “But I’m still happy because she’s finally taking her depression seriously.”
I knew I was going into some dangerous territory, but I had to ask. “I know you probably will say no, but can I help with some of the expenses I—”
As I anticipated, he stopped me before I could finish.
“No. Thank you for offering. But we can take care of it. Really, babe. It would make me uncomfortable.”
I withheld my frustrated sigh, because pushing Camilo on this was not the right course of action. “Okay, but please, Camilo. If you do feel like you need my help. Nothing would make me happier.”
He gave me a terse nod and said, “I know.” He didn’t have to say he was going to do anything and everything he could to make sure his mom got her time off, even if he had to run himself into the ground doing it. I already knew that.
It was unchartered territory to be the “emotional support.” I was usually the one expected to take care of things, but Camilo not only didn’t expect me to take care of him, he was decidedly not interested.
“It’s hard to sit here knowing how much you’re about to take on and not be able to make it easier for you,” I said as I tightened my arms around him.
He clicked his tongue and kissed my cheek. “You being here makes it better. I don’t need you to fix anything for me, Tom. You loving me is more than enough.”
The urge to try and convince him that there was nothing I wanted more than to help was hard to restrain, but I managed. I hoped that if things got hard enough Camilo would let me help, because I didn’t know if I could just sit idly by watching him struggle.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Camilo
“I can only have one drink before I take off,” I regretfully told Ayako as we walked out of our dance class into the icy Midtown Manhattan sidewalk. As per usual these days I was rushing from one thing to the next. I was supposed to go over to Tom’s place for the night after my class, but I hadn’t been able to catch up with Ayako in a while. It was already February and the first few weeks of the year seemed to have flown by.
Ayako just waved a hand in my direction as we hurried to the warmth of the bar up the street. “Don’t worry. I’m glad you can stay for one, you’re always running lately.”
I gave her another guilty look. “I know. I can’t believe it’s already February and it’s the first dance class we’ve been able to do together since before Christmas.”
She frowned as she pushed the door for the bar. “Well you’ve been a busy bee, friend. Between kicking ass with the renovation and taking all that extra work to help your mom with the bills, you’ve been grinding pretty fuck
ing hard.”
“And trying to spend time with Tom,” I offered as we hopped onto our stools.
She grinned at my mention of Tom. “Yeah but that one comes with lots of perks.”
I chuckled at her suggestive tone. “True that. I’m tired as fuck though. But my mom has been doing so much better since she started her leave. She loves the support group she joined, and she’s going to Zumba classes.” It was hard not to smile when I thought how much better my mom looked, it made the lack of sleep and perpetual exhaustion worth it.
Ayako looked genuinely pleased to hear about my mom which was why I loved her. “I’m so glad to hear that, babe.”
I sighed, thinking that I wished my mom could take even more time off. “I think the stress from the hospital was making it worse for her depression and anxiety. I’m worried about her going back to work, but I can’t keep supporting her and me. I’m barely keeping up and it’s only been a few weeks.”
Ayako held up her finger when her phone started buzzing. “Shit, give me a sec. On-call week is so fun.” I nodded, feeling her pain, and went back to fretting about all the things I needed to do, which was my permanent state these days.
I’d started taking freelance translation work right after Christmas, which helped with my mom, but it was like another thirty hours of work a week, on top of my job. I felt drained and barely had time for anything else. I tried to see Tom as much as I could, but I’d cancelled on him a few times or had to bring work with me to his house.
I knew he was frustrated, because he had more than enough money to make this whole thing go away for me, and I refused to let him help me, even just a little bit. Rationally I knew I was letting things that happened long ago affect my present. But I couldn’t get past the memories of how awful things got with my mom and Ramon once he started helping her with money. The way he felt entitled to tell her what to do, or put her down, was something I never wanted to experience. Even though I was sure Tom wouldn’t do that. I still wasn’t ready to ask.
Ayako ended the call she’d been on and looked at me. “Why so serious, friend? You still thinking about your mom?”
I stopped talking to order our drinks and then turned to fill her in. “I’m just fucking exhausted, and I’ve barely made a dent with my mom’s back rent. I miss having more time to hang out with Tom and Libe.”
She narrowed her eyes at me at the mention of my boyfriend and his daughter, and I knew she would get on my case about not letting Tom help.
“I know what you’re going to say, and I’m just not ready to ask Tom for money, Ayako.” She opened her mouth, but I held up my hand. “We’ve only been dating for a bit over four months and miraculously the fact that he’s giving our agency literally millions of dollars has not become an issue. I won’t add another thing that could potentially mess up our relationship to the mix.” She nodded as she sipped her wine, but I could tell she was barely able to contain whatever she wanted to say.
When she finally spoke it was pretty obvious from the way she was literally biting her tongue that she was trying hard to see things from my perspective, but not totally getting there. “Okay that makes sense, especially because I know how stressed you’ve been, making sure the renovation goes without a hitch. Just don’t torture yourself too much, when you know you have a man that loves you with money to burn. Who is not only able to, but is actually desperate to help you.”
I nodded, conceding her point. “As I told Tom, I’m aware the offer is there and I will ask if I feel like I need to.”
“Are you doing that ‘oasis’ shit again?”
I once again regretted telling Ayako about the oasis thing. This was definitely not what was happening with Tom.
I scoffed at her raised eyebrow. “I won’t ever tell you another one of my deep dark secrets, Ayako Russell. Also how does that even make sense? I’m being the opposite of the oasis, since I won’t take his money and he’s dying to be my sugar daddy. Which, oh my God. Saying that just made my skin crawl.” I legit shuddered.
She just closed her eyes and drank deeply from her glass. “You’re doing too much, Camilo.”
“Seriously though. I’m one-hundred-percent real with Tom at all times. It’s incredible really, because he’s totally into it,” I said unable to hide my genuine bafflement.
“Fuck, you’re straight up disgustingly in love.” She stuck her tongue out at me.
I waved her off and tried to redirect towards something less mushy. “Okay, now let’s talk about how amazing the class was and what you’re doing for Valentine’s.”
She cut her eyes at my change of topic suggestions, but conceded. “I assume this year I’m on my own in our traditional boycott of Hallmark holidays?”
“Yes, but not for the reason you think! I told Tom I refused to engage in any sort of romantic bullshit on a made up holiday.”
I got a chuckle for that. “Of course you did.”
“But Libe asked me to come over and help her prepare Valentine’s gifts for her classmates. They can bring a little gift for each kid and she wants to make them homemade cards. I’ve been recruited to help select and apply stickers.”
“Okay that’s completely adorable and you’re clearly gunning for boyfriend/future stepdad of the year award.” She smiled wide then and squeezed my knee. “Have I told you how fucking happy I am for you, babe?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even have to try hard at sounding exasperated. Because there wasn’t a single person in my life who wasn’t stanning Tom to an unhealthy degree. “My love life is the stuff of legend and fairytale. I love Tom and his kid so much it scares me, and I continue to be deeply obsessed with his enormous dick.”
That got us a few looks from the other bar patrons which I ignored, then tried to steer the convo away from me for a bit. “Let’s talk about you. What’s the word on you and Henock?”
Her eyes got shifty as fuck and she took a big gulp of wine before answering. “Nada. I told you we’re friends. There’s nothing there. He’s really cool and we have a lot of things in common, but that’s all.” I gave her some side-eye, because I wasn’t buying it, but I let her get away with her bullshit story for now. I looked down at my phone and saw I had a text from Tom, which of course had me cheesing, because I was that person now.
Ayako looked at me like I was a lost cause.
Tom: Hey, amor. I just got home from my meeting. Are we still on for tonight? Are you done with your mysterious dance class?
I fired back a text right away.
Camilo: Yes and yes. I’m having a quick drink and catch up with Ayako and after I’ll head up to yours. Also my classes are not mysterious, Thomas. I’ve told you about them a million times.
Tom: But I’ve never SEEN them. I’ve got to sneak into one of them sometime, so I can see what you two get up to over there.
He was ridiculous.
Camilo: You can come anytime. *eyeroll emoji* These classes are at the New York Bodies studio, not at the shelter. None of the clients come to this one, so there are no confidentiality issues. Anyone can come, and that includes nosy ass boyfriends!
He responded with a gif of a dude leering.
I laughed and showed the phone to Ayako. She grinned when she read his texts and then perked up. “Send him the video! We signed waivers for this one, so they’re probably putting the clips up on Vimeo. They usually upload them right away. Here, let me look.” She grabbed my phone and pulled up the studio’s Vimeo account. “Oh man he’s going to flip when he sees it. Tonight’s class was lit.”
I was one-hundred-percent into this idea. We’d danced to “Dangerous Woman” for the class and the choreography was super sexy. Ayako and I had taken it a few times because we loved it so much. I knew the video of the group doing it together would be fire.
I nodded enthusiastically as she tapped on my phone screen like she was on a mission. “Okay that’s a fantast
ic idea. I’m running the risk of getting mauled in the hallway of Tom’s house. But I can live with the consequences of that.”
Ayako smacked my arm, her eyes still focused on what she was doing. “Don’t brag about the hot sex you’re going to get while I go home to watch Netflix with my cat.”
I laughed at her grumbling. “It’s not a guarantee it’ll be hot.”
“Nobody likes a show-off, Camilo,” she protested as she opened the link and we watched it in silence. The video was basically a full minute and a half of the entire class writhing, gyrating, straddling chairs, hair whipping and eye-fucking the camera with complete abandon.
We looked pretty fucking hot.
Ayako gave a husky chuckle when the video ended. “Prepare to be attacked as soon as you get to his house if you send him this thing.”
I took my phone back from her, and proceeded to do exactly that. “Oh I’m sending it right now. Then I’m finishing my drink to give him time to really work up a thirst before getting my ass in a Lyft. I’m broke as fuck right now, but the fifteen bucks will be worth it.”
Ayako dipped her head in agreement. “You’ll want to get there as soon as possible.”
I opened the texting app again after copying the link for the video and sent it off.
Camilo: Here’s the link to a video the studio posted from the class. See you soon!
Ayako grinned again. “I give him three minutes before he’s asking you when you’ll be there.”
“He can wait,” I said primly, before sipping my glass of wine.
The text came after two. It was only the one word.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
My feelings exactly.
Tom
Camilo Briggs was going to be the death of me. I’d watched the video he’d sent of his dance class three times already and was now sitting downstairs hard as a rock waiting for him. He’d texted he was on his way like ten minutes ago, but I was so revved up I was afraid I’d come before I had a chance to get my hands on him. Still, I played the video again.
American Fairytale (Dreamers) Page 22