Page 34 of Big Stick Energy
Darcy
I approach Eric’s table carefully, so the plates I’m carrying don’t topple. But I’ve just struck gold at the appetizer buffet.
My date is alone, but he has the strangest look on his face. It’s almost angry. “Eric?”
He startles like a rookie caught napping during a video session. He turns toward me, and his face is flushed. “Oh, hi.”
“Hi yourself.” I unburden myself, setting two plates down on the table. “Look what I found! Mini tacos, kebabs, and tiny tuna hand rolls. There’re also veggies and these good-looking homemade potato chips with crème fraîche dip.”
He looks down at the plates and frowns, like he’s never seen food before.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He clears his throat. Then he picks up a pretty cocktail and hands it to me. “Let’s have a toast—to free drinks and difficult families.”
“I can drink to both of those things.” We touch glasses. Andthen I sip my cocktail, holding his gaze. He still looks tense. “Thanks for being my plus one, Captain. Have you found Maribel yet?”
His gaze sweeps the room, and he shakes his head. Then he plucks a mini taco off the plate and takes an angry bite.
“Any good?” I help myself to one. “Mmm!” I say a second later. “Magical. There’s something about tiny food that makes your brain go ‘this is special, this is precious.’ You can’t wolf down a mini tart the way you’d demolish a regular slice of pie. You have to savor it. It forces you to be present in the moment.”
His eyes warm, and he grabs one of the napkins on the table. “Did I mention how great you look in that dress?”
The compliment catches me off guard, and I glance down at it. I love this dress. Forty bucks in a secondhand store on the Lower East Side, and it fits me like a glove. “Are you just saying that because Tessa gave me shade for buying vintage?”
He looks away. “Nope. It’s just true.”
What’s gotten into you, Tremaine?These are my thoughts as a squeak of joy rings out in our direction. And then a super cute woman with a shiny ponytail flings herself at Eric. “You came!”
He catches her with a widening smile and briefly lifts her off the floor. “Maribel! You look fantastic.” He sets her down and plucks teasingly at the strap of her pink A-line. “I mean… you’re even dressedfancy.”
She cracks up. “I know, right?”
“Otherwise, you could still pass for the high school soccer player who spent every weekend in our kitchen, doing your homework and stealing all my sweatshirts.”
Maribel shrugs. “Fashion is still not my thing,” she says with a bright smile. “For the wedding weekend next month, I’m justwearing whatever Theo’s twin sister tells me to. It’s easier that way.”
At the mention of Tessa, Eric’s expression instantly tightens, and I’m fascinated.
“She does enjoy giving advice,” I say lightly. And when Maribel turns to me, I hold out my hand. “Hi. I’m Darcy. I’m the other sister.”
“Oh, wow!” Her eyes widen. And then she lunges forward and hugs me. “I can’t evenbelievewe haven’t met yet. This is fantastic!Theo!” She calls to her fiancé, who I spot across the room. “Darcy is here!”
He pivots at the sound of Maribel’s voice and crosses the room with a smile on his face.
It’s easily been a year since I’ve seen my brother, and he looks different in a way that I can’t quite place. He has a suntan, and he’s neatly dressed in a seersucker jacket and khakis. But it’s not just that. He looks livelier than usual as he approaches the table. Like someone has switched a brighter light on inside him. “Darcy!” he says, and his smile seems awfully genuine for someone who doesn’t return my calls. “So glad you’re here.”
“Me too!”
Unfortunately, his harpy of a twin materializes a split second later. They both converge on our little group, but only Theo leans in to give me an awkward hug. “Glad you could make it. And Eric, nice to see you again…” He extends his hand to shake.
Eric is still throwing off tension that I don’t quite understand. He gives Theo the kind of macho, bruising handshake that isn’t really Eric’s style. “Happy to be here,” he says, even if his body language says otherwise.
Theo doesn’t pick up on it, though. Still wearing a grin, heglances between Eric and me, and then back again. “You two came together? Oh, wait—Darcy works for your team, right? I never put that together.”
“Sure she does,” Eric says. “We’ve worked together foryears.” Then he steps closer to me andslides an arm around my shoulders. As if that’s a thing we do. “The Legends couldn’t even function without Darcy. And neither could I.”
Wait, what? My stomach suddenly does several flips. Like Simone Biles is in there with a tumbling mat.
