Over the last few days, whenever she’d made her mind up to put an end to what would surely only go wrong sooner or later, Gabriel had done something so right it had turned her stomach into a flock of butterflies. Maybe she’d let her own stupid fears of rejection get in the way of going all in, she decided now as Javi was finally called into the arena with Savio. And who could blame her? Not all men had it in them to handle her independence and her ambitious, unstoppable nature, let alone her disability, but somehow all that seemed easy-breezy to Gabriel.
And now, here they were at the pawrents’ day. She was actively abandoning her duties at the clinic to be with them both again: did that make her a stand-in parent of sorts? It was everything she’d always said she would never do—put a man between herself and all she’d worked for, and a child too for that matter—but secretly she was absolutely loving it. So what was she supposed to do?
Pretty soon, Javi and Savio were performing the tricks they’d practised nightly like a well-oiled machine. As soon as the whistle blew, they dove straight into their routine. She watched in awe, listening to Gabriel’s proud fatherly words of encouragement as Savio responded to each of Javi’s commands with speed and accuracy. The dog leaped gracefully through an obstacle course of hoops and tunnels, then stood up on his hind legs while Javi commanded him to salute, do a barrel roll and then a paw-shake, much to the roar of the adoring crowd.
‘Woo!’ Gabriel let out the hugest cheer when Savio’s fluffy paw touched Javi’s hand, and Ana couldn’t help going one better by wolf whistling. Several people turned to look, including Gabriel, and she shrugged.
‘Something you have to learn when you can’t move very fast,’ she told him. ‘Sometimes I need attention.’
‘Like the attention you demanded from me last night?’ he whispered seductively into her ear, and her whole ear turned red and tingled. He left a hand resting on her shoulder and she sighed in contentment. She had definitely been over-thinking this whole thing—why could she not just be happy to be in this new, wonderful situation?
With each trick that Javi and Savio performed, the audience clapped and cheered even louder. Savio started to spin round in circles, and Javi kept up with every twist and turn, till they were doing their own orchestrated dance. Ana’s eyes widened as she watched this display of teamwork between boy and dog; it was almost too cute for words! Then, before she knew it, she was being called to demonstrate the trick they’d all mastered together.
‘I believe in you,’ Gabriel said now, feigning total seriousness before dropping a kiss to her lips. Suddenly a little nervous, she almost latched onto him like a monkey, but Javi was looking on and clapping in encouragement, so she broke away and made her way into the circle. Soon, Savio was running across the grass from Javi straight onto her lap in the wheelchair, and Javi was pretending to control her chair to reel them both back towards him on an invisible rope.
When they’d finished their routine, the audience erupted in more applause, and she bowed from her seated position, half-embarrassed at all the attention, but proud of Javi. Ana could see the tenderness in Gabriel’s gaze when it wandered from Javi to her especially when, moments later, the judges announced he and Savio the winners and placed a huge, shiny gold medal around his neck in the shape of a paw.
‘Amazing!’ Gabriel enthused at them both, high-fiving Javi, then her. She was just about to suggest he join them for the team photo with the other parents, the kids and their dogs when she realised his phone was buzzing with the sound reserved for Ines. Watching him reach for his pocket at lightning speed, her heart sank on the spot, but this time she just couldn’t hold her tongue...
Gabriel knew he’d messed up just from the look on her face. ‘You don’t have to always pander to her! She knows Javi is fine,’ she said.
‘I know that.’ He frowned, retracting his hand, surprised at her acerbic tone. ‘She just wants to...’
‘To what? To remind you of something you already know, like the fact that she’s collecting Javi in twenty-five minutes in the car park by the basketball court? We all know that.’
Gabriel bit his cheek and sighed through his nose. OK, so it annoyed Ana that he was constantly answering to Ines, but this was the first time she’d been snappy about it—not that he could blame her.
‘I’m not answering,’ he said as his phone continued to demand his attention. He could almost picture Ines scowling in annoyance at the other end of the line, probably in the car somewhere. She loved to call from the car. Ines would hold this against him as being a mark of disrespect. Maybe she’d use it later as evidence for her keeping Javi in her full custody.
‘I’m not answering,’ he told her again, and she nodded, even though she still seemed upset.
‘Hey,’ he said, reaching for her hand. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I know you are,’ she said, and her ensuing silence burned. They’d been having such a nice time, but of course this must have been getting on her nerves for a while. He always put Javi first, and with that priority came a whole lot of Ines. But Ana had to come equal first now. This new relationship was just as important to him. Ines did probably just want to remind him that she was due to pick up Javi soon, as if he didn’t have the place and time drummed into his skull already. He was increasingly embarrassed at how he was always forced to talk to her and reconfirm all these arrangements in front of Ana.
‘Your mama’s going to come get you soon,’ he told Javi, feeling Ana’s eyes on him, as if she knew damn well he was itching to pick up the phone still buzzing angrily in his pocket.
‘What? Already?’ Javi didn’t look pleased. He bunched his red T-shirt at the bottom in his fists and his eyes clouded over with a sudden frustration and helplessness that jarred Gabriel.
‘You must be excited to show her your medal? She’ll be so pleased you won,’ Ana assured him. She pulled out a treat for Savio and petted his fuzzy head affectionately. ‘She’ll want to see Savio, too.’
‘No, can’t we stay with you again?’ Javi pouted, playing with the medal around his neck.
‘Not tonight, but soon,’ she said kindly, and Gabriel felt the dismay behind her words as she looked at him. Damn; his phone was ringing again.
‘Yes, we’ll do that again soon,’ he confirmed.
‘When? Why can’t I stay tonight? I don’t want to go home!’
Gabriel looked at his son in despair. Javi had been saying this quite frequently lately, but had never said why. On one hand, it was nice, knowing Javi wanted to spend more time with him, but what the heck was going on with Ines? He would have to talk to her, but not today. Ana came first, before his issues with Ines, he decided. He was going to take her out to dinner tonight and ask her to be his girlfriend officially. The thought filled him with nerves, but that was what he had to focus on now. He thought about the cosy, candlelit restaurant he had chosen and how romantic it would be—as long as she said yes.
Flustered, he said, ‘Javi, how about we go for an ice-cream before we leave? Come on, I bet they have chocolate mint. Ana, do you want one?’
‘I’ll stay here with Savio,’ she said, and on hearing his name the dog leapt for her cheek with a big lick. She laughed and Gabriel instantly felt better. ‘We don’t want to tempt him with ice-cream, he might knock the stall over. He’s not that well trained yet, are you, boy?’
He left her talking to some of the other parents and ordered their ice-cream at the stand, trying to imagine what might happen this evening at the restaurant. Maybe he would wait till after the starter, so he could ask her before the mains arrived. Then they could toast each other with champagne.
Glancing back at her, he watched her laughing with a woman in a blue dress, patting Savio as though the dog had always been hers. She loved that dog as much as Javi did, he thought, unable to stop the silly grin from taking over his face as the guy behind the ice-cream stall handed him his cones.
‘Mint choc-chip for you, sir,’ Gabriel said, swinging round to Javi. But Javi wasn’t there. What? He’d been standing right next to him just seconds before and now...where the heck was he? He couldn’t have simply disappeared. Anxiety seized Gabriel’s heart as he frantically scanned the crowd for his son. Stumbling forward, he promptly handed both ice-creams to a bewildered young boy and headed for Ana, fear taking over his confusion as he imagined all the ‘what if?’s. His mind spinning a million miles a second, he couldn’t help imagining the reaction Ines would have if anything happened to Javi on his watch.
Ana seemed to sense something had happened and rushed up to him in her chair, her eyes wide with concern. ‘What’s wrong? Where is he?’
Gabriel tried to keep it together. ‘He’s gone—I don’t see him. Did you see him?’
‘No, he was with you. Try not to panic, Gabriel, he can’t have gone far. Savio, can you help find Javi?’ she said to the dog, who was still trailing them, wagging his tail as if they were embarking on some grand, exciting adventure. Unfortunately, though, Savio hadn’t been trained to locate missing people any more than he’d been trained not to beg for ice-cream.
‘Oh God, Javi...’ Gabriel groaned, gripping his hair, every muscle tense beneath his shirt. All around them people were enjoying themselves, kids running here and there, but he felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest with panic. All he could feel was the coldness of mounting dread as he and Ana searched every corner of the park for Javi’s small figure, calling out his name.
‘Where did he go, Ana?’
‘I don’t know.’ He felt a chill run down his spine as she said it but just the look on her face kept him together. She was concerned, but still dead calm. Despite what was happening, she carried herself with a confidence that he drew from as he sucked in breath after breath after breath. People came to him with emergencies every day and he couldn’t deal with theirs fast enough...but this was Javi.
The minutes passed like hours, until finally Ana grabbed his arm. ‘Let’s split up. You go that way, I’ll go this way with Savio. Keep your phone close.
‘Come, Savio boy, let’s find Javi!’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
