Page 14 of Every Breath

Chapter Eight

The momentwe make it to the hotel, I can tell something big is about to happen. What it is, I have no idea but I can feel the excitement vibrating from Dyami himself. That’s the thing with eleven-year-olds. They still have a bit of innocence in them that even best-kept secrets don’t stand a chance.

“Your dad’s here, isn’t he?” I ask, unable to contain my excitement.

“Mom, just enjoy the surprise, okay?” Dyami says, sighing. “I honestly have no idea what’s going on. Tito Dax just told me to give you that card and come here with you.”

He takes my hand and guides me through the lobby, past the guests who seem split in the middle between locals and tourists. None of them look like Benny.

We head toward one of the rooms usually reserved for small parties and my heart thunders inside my chest.

Calm down, Sarah. You know he’s working. Like Dyami says, just enjoy it.

But I can’t help it. Surely all these surprises can only lead to one thing. If not, I’ll throttle Dax myself because surely this has to be his idea.

“Hey, sis, you made it,” the brother I need to throttle says as I step through the entrance leading to the private alcove, its walls filled with artwork featuring Navajo and Pueblo people.

But I can’t throttle him just yet because he’s not alone and he’s got his namesake in his arm. Dax, Jr. or DJ for short, is a carbon copy of his dad.

“Whatever happened to that cartoon mashup you were talking about?” I ask, rolling my eyes. “Curious George and Guppies.”

“Bubble Guppies,” he corrects me as DJ holds out his arms toward me. “Anyway, just a change of plans. This is way better, don’t you think? All of us in one place to celebrate the cheesiest holiday of the year?”

I take DJ from Dax’s arms. “You know you don’t believe that.”

“Nope,” he says as Harlow with DJ’s twin sister Anita Pearl (or Ani-Pea for short) comes up behind him. Next to him, Nana steps forward to hug me first.

“I’ll get you later for this, Dax,” I say as Harlow pulls me in her second hug of the day.

“He really put his heart and soul into this thing. It was like Def-Con 4 at the house,” Harlow says, laughing.

Gabe is here, too, together with two of his nephews who rush to Dyami the moment we arrive and whisk him to the far end of the room where I overhear them talk about some latest strategy for a video game. Sawyer, Alma, Drea, and Tyler are here, as well, along with Todd, Sawyer’s older brother, and he’s the last person I get to hug.

By this time, I’m confused. I honestly thought it was going to be some romantic rendezvous, not a family gathering. But I’m also feeling too overwhelmed to demand an explanation. When Harlow hands me a glass of wine, I take it without question and almost finish it in one gulp. After the day I’ve had, I need it.

Still, I need to know what’s going on. Surely we can’t all be just standing around drinking wine all night. But I don’t need to wait too long for everyone turns toward the door and Dad walks in.

Wearing a heather gray turtleneck under a dark blazer, dark blue jeans and Chelsea boots, he could easily be in New York, but he’s not. He’s right here.

“Dad? What are you doing here?” I ask in surprise, but before Daniel Drexel can answer, Benny walks in behind him wearing a white button-down shirt and his favorite jeans, his jacket slung over one arm.

I’d like to believe that after the scavenger hunt of the last few hours, of course, I’d expected to see Benny. It made sense. After all the suspense, why wouldn’t he show up toward the end?

But I also know about his dedication to his work, the people working with him, and the protocol surrounding toxic spills like the one he’d been asked to consult. Those things took days. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing prepares me to see Benny walking into the room. After twelve years, he still takes my breath away.

“Let me hold your glass,” Harlow says as I hand her my wine glass and rush into Benny’s arms. Two steps is all it takes and I’m crushed against his chest, his arms wrapped around me.

All questions disappear from my mind in a flash, completely forgotten, the lengthy suspense and surprise staged by my family and friends forgiven. I’m not even going to throttle my brother. All that matters is Benny being in the same room when he said he couldn’t make it. Maybe I’ll throttle him instead for putting me through all this suspense.

The twins escape their parents’ grasp and run toward their grandfather, their happy squeals filling the air. From the corner of my eye, I see Dyami excuse himself from his cousins to say hello to Granddad.

“I can’t believe you lied to me,” I whisper as Benny kisses me lightly on the mouth. “So everyone was in on this except me? Even my dad?”

He laughs. “Wouldn’t you know it? I should have known when I called him at five in the morning my time thinking he was three hours ahead of me and I woke him. Turns out, he was in Vail with buddies, skiing. You could call it Fate, I guess. If it weren’t for him, I’d still be on the road trying to make it to you right now.”

“His plane does come in handy sometimes, doesn’t it?”

“Can you believe he said he was actually working? While skiing?” Benny says, chuckling.

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