Page 135 of The Replay

"What?"

Her parents are almost within reach.

"I know you need to leave. If you must, go now. But I need to talk to them. And you might not like everything I have to say to them."

"Like I would leave you alone with them!"

"Then if you won't promise anything else, promise me this. Whatever they say or I say— you and I will figure it out."

In the second that follows, she studies me carefully. I project as much severity as I can muster.

"Yes," she says quickly. "Yes. I promise."

Her parents stop right next to us. I ignore them for a couple extra seconds and lean closer to Mariana. I speak quietly into her ear.

"I'm going to fix something with your parents now." I take her hand. "It's what I should have done six years ago."

"Dom…"

"Let me talk, okay?" I give her a kiss on the cheek and whisper my next words. "I love you, Mari."

She turns into a statue. All she does is gaze up at me in shock. It pulls out another smile from me, small and hesitant, because this wasn't how I wished to tell her. But I need her to know if I'm going to stand up to her parents. I caress her face with my knuckles and hold her hand, and her eyes for a second longer.

I straighten and face her parents. "Hello, Alicia. James. I hope you're enjoying your evening."

They respond with simple nods. The greeting is only a formality— or a way to delay what's to come.

Alicia has an arm around James' in a formal way, rather than affectionate. Their eyes switch to an immobile Mariana to my side, then to me, back and forth.

"You look good together," Alicia finally says through tense lips. "Like maybe this isn't new."

"When were you going to tell us?" James asks.

I take a deep breath. "There's a world where you never learned of it."

Mariana steps closer to me and holds our linked hand with her free one. The gesture strengthens me. I glance at her. Just enough to show her I'm grateful for what she's doing. In front of her parents, it's how she tells me she's on my side.

"You weren't going to tell us? At all?" Alicia asks.

Hurt is threaded to her words. The genuine kind. Her eyes are a bit sad, too, and the view hits me more than I would have thought. Mariana has her eyes, and I can't help but empathize with the emotion swimming in them.

I swallow. "You discovered it before we chose to share it. I'll admit to that."

"Mariana…" Alicia's tone is one of disappointment.

"We don't owe you explanations." I hold on to Mariana's hand tighter. "Or any details of what we're doing or what we might do."

"I would simply appreciate knowing what's going on in my daughter's life," Alicia says.

James nods in agreement. His face is more serious than his wife's. His eyes are way more severe.

During the break, in my moments of hope, I imagined this moment. It didn't look like this, not at the gala, and with all of us wearing fancy clothes and counting on borrowed time. I glance at Mariana. Anxiety shades her eyes, but not as badly as I thought it might. I give her a nod I hope reassures her.

Her parents look gravely at me, though Alicia's eyes are a bit more knowing.

"We have history," I tell them. "I could tell you all about how much I regret letting you convince me to let Mariana leave, back in college. But this is about my future with her."

It's no surprise that I feel younger than I am. I'm thinking of who I was nearly seven years ago, and how hard I tried to do right by Mariana and me. The younger me did his best, but made a mistake he'd have to carry until this very moment. I'm fixing things for him, too.