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Luckily, Jesse was super relaxed about the whole thing. Actually, Jesse was pretty relaxed about most things.
Rafa dropped his voice low. “You didn’t think you should tell me that your wife has her own… is it mistresses? Masters? Side pieces? Whatever. And they all live under your roof?”
Tally frowned. “The more important question is ‘shouldn’t you have told your wife that your brother was coming to the race, so his first impression of her wasn’t that she was some kind of cheating whore, and she’d have a chance to make a good impression before you dropped the whole polyamorous thing on him?’” She hissed out the last words.
Jesse just laughed. “Man, you’re in so much trouble right now.”
I glared at him; he didn’t need to seem quite so entertained right now. “I apologize, but I just… forgot.”
Rafa looked at Tally. “He forgot.”
Tally slowly blinked in my direction. “You just forgot. Of course. Understandable.”
I was never getting laid again. “The important thing is now you both know, and you’ve met. Maybe we can just move on?” It sounded so hopeful, and just made Jesse laugh more.
“Can we just move on?” Rafa imitated me in a high voice. It always used to piss me off when we were kids, and it didn’t piss me off any less now. “No, we can’t move on. I’m going to need you to explain it to me. How does this polyamory thing work? Is it popular over here in this godless country?”
Jesse indicated to the waitress that we all needed another round of drinks, and I’d never been more thankful for a person, even if I did want to punch his smug face every time he laughed.
Tally flushed and stared pointedly at me. I just shrugged. This four-way relationship thing was her forte. After one final glare at me, she schooled her face into something a little more socially nice. “It wasn’t something I was searching out, and I wouldn’t say it is even something popular in this country, though it’s becoming less taboo.” She swallowed hard. “Jesse and Hayes were there for me when no one was. They’re best friends, who went out of their way to help me when everyone else had ostracized me. I didn’t want to repay their kindness by coming between them. Not when we could all be happy, you know?” Her eyes slipped to me. “Your brother was meant to be a business decision,” she said softly. “But he’s too fucking lovable.”
“Ti amo, Stellina,” I murmured, picking up her hand and kissing her knuckles.
Rafa made a gagging noise. “Okay, okay, enough with the mushy crap.” He looked at me like I was a stranger. “Who the fuck are you? It’s like you’ve been body snatched.”
I didn’t bother telling him he’d been exactly the same when he met Theresa. I’d made fun of him for weeks for following her around with calf eyes, but clearly, revenge was a dish best served with a side of humiliation.
“I don’t expect you to understand, Rafa. I just need you to accept that this is how it is.” I implored him not to make this a big deal, and his face softened. Rafa had been many things growing up. A typical brother who would thump me if I stole his console controllers. An asshole who definitely gave me one or two of my neuroses. But more than all that, he was the man who would do absolutely anything for me, if it made me happy.
He sighed, downing the glass of red wine the waitress had just delivered to the table. “I think we can all agree on one thing. Thank god I didn’t bring Theresa or Mamma like you suggested.”
I saluted the sky. “Grazie a Dio.”
We flew with Rafa from Tampa down to Miami, though we stayed at a resort on the beach and not at the hotel that was housing all the Formula One teams and drivers. If I could avoid them for a little longer, I would.
Instead, we took the week off to spend it as a family. I did a lot of video calls with the team about tweaks to the car I’d like, though. But I also spent hours by the pool with my beautiful wife in a bikini, and found out Bobbi-June was, in fact, part-mermaid. My little Bambolina loved the water and spent a long time splashing around, as did her mamma.
I was holding the sleepy baby now, my brother beside me under the shaded cabana lounge on our suite’s balcony, and I didn’t have to see him to know he was giving me an incredulous expression. “Would you like to take a photograph for prosperity, brother?”
Rafa laughed. “I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. You’ve changed, Rocco. You’ve grown up.”
I couldn’t pin all that on Tally and our marriage; it had started long before that, when I’d been helpless to help Lucia, because she wouldn’t help herself. When I’d been booted from the team as a bad teammate with a terrible reputation, yet it was an open secret that Mattias beat his wife. The world wasn’t a dichotomy of black and white, right and wrong, winning and losing. It was complex, and kind of a shitshow. The rose-colored glasses had been torn off and crushed beneath the heel of reality, and that had made me grow up more than anything.
“Love, right?” was all I said, though, and he made a noise of agreement in the back of his throat.
There was movement in the suite, which was probably Tally getting dressed and ready to walk the paddock. I’d avoided quali days; I was only obligated to show my face on race day, according to my manager, but I still wasn’t looking forward to it.
Rafa would be there, and I was hard launching Tally as my wife to the media that followed the elite championship around. It was a media far more interested in my relationships than the American tabloids had been.
Most of the trackside pundits traveled the world in the Press Pack. They were people who’d insinuated that I was having an affair with Lucia. They’d followed me to clubs, photographing me with random models, or falling down drunk. They’d formed an opinion of me over the previous decade, and I couldn’t even say they were wrong. I’d been a manwhore who partied far too hard, who let the fame and success go to my head. Who lost sight of what was important, just like they said.
I just hoped they didn’t bring that shit up in front of Tally. I wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d never heard of that reputation before; it wasn’t exactly hush-hush. But that wasn’t the man I was anymore.
The door slid open, and Jesse was there. “She’s nearly ready. Here, let me take Junie.” I sat up slowly, and we did a gentle handover, like she was a suitcase of uranium and not a small, sleeping baby. Giving him a mental high-five when we did it without her opening her eyes, I stood.
Rafa was still shaking his head. “I can’t wait to tell the family about this.” He frowned. “When are you coming home to introduce your wife to your family?”
I shrugged. “The next off-season, I think. They’ll love Italy. Jesse will love the food, Hayes will love the cars. Tally will love the family, if they let her.” Because there was just as good a chance that they’d reject us completely. I’d hate that, but I wasn’t going to make Tally choose between us to keep my family happy.
