She smiles softly, but also a bit sadly. “I remember the first time I saw your father.”
“Did you know he was the one?”
“I knew I had sworn off men and that that man over there could ruin what I referred to as a C-word diet.”
“Bekah Steel,” I mock gasp. I mean, she’s all mom and southern charm, but let’s face it, I have seen pictures. I know she has a different side to her than all that she gives us.
“I wasn’t ready for him, but he wasn’t giving up, and I’m so glad he didn’t.”
“Yeah, well, like father like daughter.” I look back at Matteo, who is having a very deep conversation with a very flustered Zandor Steel.
“I’ve got to get back to the VIPs. I just wanted to see that he was okay.”
I walk toward him and hear him say, “I’ve yet to say the words to her, but I am telling you, I love her to a level I’ve never felt, one without reason and unknown recourse. I promise you, I will not disrespect her or treat her any way but with love.”
Mom grabs my hand, squeezes it, and smiles again sadly, but it’s still the kind of smile that I know she’s genuinely happy.
Dad asks, “You’re not walking away from this, are you?”
He shakes his head. “Not until my heart no longer beats.”
I wrap my arms around him from behind and hug him. “That’s not going to happen for a very long time.”
He turns and looks down at me. “There will never be enough days. Yet, if the world stopped turning now, there is no place I’d rather be. And, Tris Steel, I’m going to show you that, even if that did happen tomorrow, it will last an eternity.”
“I lo—”
He puts a finger over my lips. “Not this way. You go. We have—”
“An eternity.”
“And how lucky are we to have found that in this lifetime?”
“The luckiest people in the world.”
I love when he presses his forehead to mine, and the fact that it doesn’t mean the same as it once did. It’s not followed by a taunting look. It’s sweet. Never having been the sweet one, always the troubled one, always the spice, I didn’t know if I could ever feel that … almost adored feeling, but God, how he gives it to me, and Lord, how I crave it.
“Are you tired?” I ask, knowing he is. I can see it in his eyes.
“A bit, but—”
“You by any chance staying at the Regency?”
He shakes his head and smiles. “Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“We are, yes. Go back and rest. I’ll find you when I’m done.”
“You don’t mind?”
“No.” I laugh. “Not at all. Because, after this, after tonight, I get to be with you.”
“Are we not staying for the show? And dinner afterward with …” Mom stops and looks at me.
He pulls out his phone and hits the app.
“Too much translating?” I ask.
“Un poco—a little.”
“Then go.” I smile as I watch the app translate my words.
Entonces vete.
He kisses the top of my head. “Diviértete. No voy a ninguna parte— Have fun. I'm not going anywhere.”
“You’re going to rest, too, aren’t you?”
“Rest, sí.”
From behind us, Rain yells, “Seriously, Tris, make it a quickie. I want to see Dad’s show.”
“Oh my God, Rain.” I laugh. “It’s not even like that.”
“Better not be until she’s eighteen,” Dad warns.
I give it right back to him. “Still not a virgin, Dad.”
“I’m going to make you feel as if you have never been touched before,” Matteo promises softy.
Dad looks at Mom like he may explode. “The hell did he just—”
Mom grabs him and pulls him away. “I’m sure it was just a misinterpretation.”
“I thought that—”
“Trust me?”
“Yes, from the first kiss.”
He smiles. “Go.”
Sitting at the dinner table between My and Brisa, who are caging me in because, yes, the cousins formally known as the hoe twins decided to come to see my show. What Brisa and My don’t get is I honestly don’t give a damn. It’s been two years since they helped fuck up my life.
I look down at my fully charged phone when it vibrates on my lap and smile when I see his name. I hit the message and see: You inspire me.
A drawing pops up next. It’s a face, my face, smiling and looking up at the clouds—storm clouds, I think, in all shapes and sizes.
Another message.
Your strength astounds me.
I type back: I want to see you. What’s your room number?
He replies:
Eat, Mi coraźon. I’ll see you later.
I quickly reply:
Room number.
His reply:
I shouldn’t have interrupted. Forgive me. I’m going to rest for a bit.
My response:
You have done nothing requiring forgiveness, Matteo. Message me later.
“This has been a blast,” Fawn says in a chipper voice.
I look up from the table at her to see she’s beaming. She and her sister are possibly the most beautiful girls in the world, like, seriously beautiful. “Tris is a freaking rock star ending a world tour in front of what, like, a hundred thousand people? Who’d have thought?”
“Not Pinkertits,” Rain, who’s down a few seats, laughs.
“Oh my God, how do you know about Pinkertits?” Fawn giggles.
“We all know about Pinkertits,” Francesca, who is sitting next to her, says, and every single set of eyes on the table fall on me.
I look at them all. All of them. “What?” I wave a hand toward Francesca. “She’s the tittie, not me.”
She rolls her eyes, eyes I have wanted to scratch out a million times. “I should probably apologize for that.”
“Oh God, no. Then I’d have to dig real deep and try to construct an apology for the ‘Feast of the Roses,’ and I just don’t have the energies or any fucks left to give to put on that performance right now. Come to think of it, probably not ever, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.”
Amias is shaking in silent laughter beside me.
“Cessca, chill. Tris’s new man has been known to play on both sides, too.” Antionette smiles at me, and it’s fake as fuck, before she continues, “That was so like two years ago. Over it.”
“Everything can go back to normal then, right?” Dromida asks. “Like the last couple weeks at school, we can sit together and stop getting pulled in one direction or the other? Graduation parties won’t be awkward. Can this division really be over?”
Brisa leans forward and smiles. “Tris is coming home for Amias and my grad party. It’ll be okay.” She looks at me. “Right, Tris?”
I nod as I pick at my salad, “Yeah. All good times ahead.”
“Hey.” Kiki leans over my shoulder and gives me a big, loud kiss on the cheek. “You killed it tonight. So proud of you. Like, seriously, Tris, I wanna write with you.”
“I’m sure she’ll need someone else since Patrick is going to go to college in Boston after this,” Justice says from the end of the table.