Page 79 of Rat Park
Dominic was already shaking his head, but he conceded, “Tonight?”
“Yeah. I kind of sprung it on you last minute so that you didn’t work yourself up for too long.”
“Don’t think that’s going to work.”
“Yeah, I can see that. But I’m going to prove your fears wrong.”
Despite Flor’s assurances, Dominic arrived at the Romeros’ that night feeling like he was arriving at his own execution. He sat alone in the car for a few minutes, gathering the pieces of himself that wanted to rattle loose, before going inside.
Dominic must not have been able to hide what he was feeling as well as he used to because he caught Cat and Esteban sharing concerned glances. By the time they were all seated around the table, Dominic had gone numb with worry, and Cat was looking at him with a concerned frown on her face. Flor squeezed Dominic’s thigh lightly under the table, having sat next to him.
“So,” Flor started, and Dominic almost bolted from the table, but all his joints had locked. “We kind of have some news.”
Cat and Esteban looked at each other with a little smile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Um. So, Dominic and I are dating,” he said with a half-hearted ‘Ta-da!’ movement. Before Cat and Esteban could respond, Dominic jumped in.
“Nothing happened before he was eighteen. I swear.”
“And we commend you for fending off this one for so long,” Cat said ruefully. “But it really is about time you told us.”
Dominic gaped at her. “What?”
Esteban snorted. “With the way Flor followed you around everywhere…”
“Hey! I didn’tfollow him around,” Flor protested.
“Honey. You would take the bus all the way to the other side of town after school to watch him bag groceries.”
“I would go over and say hi!” Flor spluttered, cheeks going red. Dominic blinked. He’d never thought about how strange it was that Flor would be buying candy bars at the grocery he worked at, or how quickly he realised he’d switched jobs.
“Between that and the puppy eyes Dominic started giving you right before you went off to college, I’m finding it a little incredible that you only started dating now,” Cat said.
Esteban snorted. “A littletooincredible.”
“We just made it official,” Dominic promised, still reeling from their reaction.
“Well, we’d welcome you to the family, Dominic, but you’re already here to stay,” Cat said.
Dominic sat there for a while, processing. He almost wanted to protest. He’d made up all these arguments in his head to appease Cat and Esteban, to promise them he’d be good to Flor, that he would disappear from all their lives the moment Flor or any one of them wanted it. This easy acceptance felt almost anticlimactic.
“Are you…sure?” Dominic couldn’t help but ask. Flor frowned at him, but Cat just smiled at him kindly.
“Am I sure of what, Dominic? That I’m happy my son is with a responsible, hard-working, kind man? Yes. I’m sure.”
Dominic looked down at his plate, not being able to take any more of that loving look. Under the table, Flor’s fingers threaded with his.
Dominic squeezed his hand back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dominic wasn’t an idiot. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Flor, but Dominic knew what college was like. Not from experience, of course, but the media had enough to say about the experience. About how you were suddenly untethered from your parents, free to experiment. He also knew what people were capable of when they were inebriated, and he didn’t think even Flor would be exempt from that.
According to what Cat and Esteban had insinuated, Flor’s attraction to Dominic wasn’t new, and that almost made it worse. Flor was, perhaps, under a childish spell. One day he would wake up and see Dominic wasn’t everything Flor had made him out to be. Flor would come across someone actually responsible, without the threat of relapse hanging over their head, and he’d be wise to choose them instead.
Dominic wouldn’t try to stop him. As much as it would hurt, he wanted to see Flor happy.
Dominic knew the possibility of Flor finding and sleeping with someone else was high. Dominic considered suggesting an open relationship, but the thought curdled his stomach.
