CHAPTER 18

Elvis

"I used to," I said. "Not anymore. What about you?"

"I believe in love." She shrugged. "I'm just not very lucky with it."

She said it simply, like someone who had accepted a thing without fully being done with it. Before she turned back to the screen, I caught the sadness sitting in her eyes briefly.

Then a scene in the film made her laugh, and just like that, she was fully back, giggling over some engagement scene playing out on screen, her popcorn nearly tipping from the bowl in her lap.

I watched her and said nothing.

My mind drifted on its own to Paris, the night I proposed. The Tower lit behind us, a musician nearby, the ring in my palm, and Emily's face when I went down on one knee, that look a man hopes for when he's about to hand his whole life to his soul mate.

I had believed in every part of it.

"Sir."

I came back to the room.

She was watching me now. The screen behind her was dark, credits rolling quietly. The film had ended without me noticing.

"What do you enjoy outside of work?" she asked.

"Wrestling," I said. "Live matches."

Her face opened up. "That is so specific, and I love it." She pointed at me. "I'm going to make that happen. Watch this space."

I almost told her not to bother. The words didn't come.

"Thank you so much, sir." She was already on her feet and moving toward me, arms open, before I could prepare myself. "Apology fully accepted."

She was doing it again, hugging me out of the blue. My hands sat beside me, deciding whether to reciprocate the hug or not. Slowly, they lifted and crossed her back gently.

Her scent filled my nostrils, and for a brief second, my eyes closed. The chaos in my heart residue, as I stayed in the hug longer than any hug should last before disentangling.

"I should drop you off at home. It's getting late."

####

Back home, almost immediately, the rain started dropping down the roofs onto the grounds.

Tessy was sitting on the step beside my reading chair, a magazine open across her lap, entirely at home in my space the way she always was.

"Elvis." She set it down and stood. "I've been calling all day. You had me worried."

"Phone was on silent. Business ran long." I moved to the chair. "How are you? Where's Donald? His room was empty when I passed."

"He went to see his brother."

Whatever anger I carried around Jarvis had never touched what those two had between them. Watching them find their way back to each other was the one thing about this whole mess that felt like something going right.

"Donald thinks you're acting strange." Tessy came to stand in front of me, studying my face the way she had for over two decades. "He thinks you might be seeing someone."

"That boy needs to learn when to keep things between us."

"Is there something I should know?"

"Tessy."

"You drove yourself today. No, Peter."

"A man is allowed to drive his own car." I reached for my shoes. "If there were anything worth telling, you'd be the first to hear it. There isn't. That chapter closed a long time ago."

Her hand came down gently over mine. She crouched and pulled both shoes off herself, setting them aside.

Tessy had been the closest thing to a younger sister I'd ever had, over twenty years of it. I had held her through a heartbreak over a man she refused to ever name. She had sat across from me at a dinner table and told me plainly that marrying Emily was a mistake. I hadn't listened. I was too deep in it by then, too completely gone on the woman to hear anything that complicated the picture.

Tessy had been right. She stayed anyway.

"Thank you," I said.

She straightened and looked at me. "I think you should give love another shot, Elvis. Someone is probably already out there, wanting that chance, yearning for it."

She said it like she knew something specific. Like the words had a particular person inside them.

I let it pass.

I stood, stripped down to my singlet and shorts, and pressed the bell. A maid appeared, quietly collected the clothes, and left.

"Edwardo."

I closed my eyes for a moment. Only Tessy used that name, borrowed from some Philippine series, a character she insisted I resembled. I had stopped arguing years ago.

"When was the last time you had good sex?"

"Tessy." I was on my feet, crossing to the other side of the room.

She followed without missing a step. "A year? Two? You've completely lost touch with the simple things, Elvis." She paused, and I genuinely thought we had reached the end of the conversation.

"You walked in here this evening looking almost cheerful. Harmless flirt."

"I'm not flirting with anyone."

"I didn't say who with."

I looked at her. She looked back, calm and unblinking.

"I'm fine," I said.

She held it for another moment, then let it go. "I'm thinking of organizing a family picnic. Sunday afternoon. Jarvis will be there." She raised one eyebrow before I could say a word. "You don't have to say a word to him. Just be present."

"Fine."

"Can I rest now, Ma'am?" I laced my fingers together and gave a small bow.

She laughed and finally left.

Alone now, I stood at the tall mirror for a long moment.

The image that came to me had nothing to do with my own reflection, Hazel’s lips and face.

Take a cold shower. Right now, Elvis.

I did.

#########

Sunday afternoon arrived. The estate field looked open in that light, with staff arranging the fruit tray and mats spread across the grass.

Tessy's hat was wide enough to shade two people, which was probably intentional. Donald had made himself the afternoon's photographer, moving around with his phone raised, capturing everything for a social media account he barely used.

Jarvis had arrived looking exactly like himself. One thing that never changes about him is his great taste for fashion.

His mother always said his sense of style came from me. It was one of the few things Emily said that I never argued with.

I sat on the mat and watched them.

My phone vibrated. I glanced at the screen, a call from Hazel.

I stood and walked several paces away from the group before picking up.

Hazel: Good afternoon, sir. Tell me you aren't busy, please.

Me: What's the trouble?

Hazel: I just got tickets to a live wrestling match. Don't worry about how I found out. Just be at the address I'm sending you before four o'clock.

Me: Huh?

Hazel: See you there, sir.

The line went dead.

A message came through seconds later. I opened it and read the address. Looked up at the time, three o'clock exactly. The drive from the estate to that location would take about an hour if the roads were clear.

I looked back at the picnic. Tessy was laughing at something Donald had said. Jarvis stood a little apart, watching his brother with a small smile he probably didn't know was there.

The address was still open on my screen.

I stood between both things for a moment, holding them.

Leave the picnic, or meet Hazel.