A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 1

The bonfire crackles and sparks, throwing hot embers into the sand surrounding the fire pit. The heat dances off my skin, warming only the front of my body. I take a deep breath of crisp autumn air laced with smoke and exhale it all out.

“Ah, I love campfires. Reminds me of far-school.” I pull my knees up and rest my arms and head on top. I glance at Saif sitting next to me and remember another campfire we sat around many years ago. Just the fact that he’s here with me is such a surprise. I expected him to leave, to be gone from the madness of my family and me.

He smiles and lifts his mug of mulled wine. I tap my mug against his, and we drink. Ah, Vivian makes the best mulled wine.

“Your cousin throws quite the fall festival party,” he says, snaking his arm over my shoulder and pulling me to him. I try not to blush at the public display of intimacy, but the fire is hot, and my cheeks are already flush. Besides, I’m not modest. Just unused to this. “I haven’t been to one of these in years.”

We both smile at the laughter that erupts on the other side of the fire from Vivian’s relationship network and extended family. Little Ilaria sleeps in a carrier on Mat’s back, and he lightly bounces to keep her quiet. His hands flash with USL. I wish I knew USL. I can only fingerspell, and Mat is too fast for me.

Everyone is here tonight. There are six identical bonfires across the property. All the workers and staff enjoy the night with their families. A few years ago, Vivian couldn’t hold this festival party because she had lost the farm. Then she couldn’t hold the event because they were too far in debt. Now, things are looking up.

I shrug. “I’ve never been to one.” I press my lips together as I look around. “Seems like it’s a good time.”

Saif pulls away from me. “This is your family.”

I laugh. “It is, indeed. Still, I have never attended a fall festival.” I look away from him. “You know why.”

Because every time I asked to go, Dominic grounded me and sent me to bed without dinner, or, my favorite, shamed me into submission. Eventually, it was easier not to ask. I sip more mulled wine.

“Did the dads keep you from this, too?”

Saif is still learning about the depths of my childhood abandonment. I don’t think he really believed me at first, but it’s beginning to sink in.

I jerk my head at Vivian. “Ask Vivian. Go ahead.”

She obviously hears her name because she spots me and dances around the fire to us. I snicker at her swaying hips and silly arm pumping. She’s a dork, and I adore her. Especially since she’s made a home for me here.

“Ask me what?” She plops down next to us.

“Have I ever been to a fall festival party here?” I ask.

Saif says, “Please don’t say no.”

“This?” Vivian waves her hand in the air at the party atmosphere. “No. Sorry. Skylar has never come. I invited her every year, but… you know.” She shrugs, and Saif nods. I drink even more mulled wine. “I just wish I had realized what was going on back then. Maybe…” Her voice dies. “Anyway, it’s nice that Ana could attend too.”

We all lean forward to look at Ana, sitting in a camping chair and talking to Lia a little farther away from the fire than everyone else.

“Thanks for inviting her.” I nod to Vivian before dropping my eyes to the fire. She didn’t have to invite Ana. Hell, I have serious guilt about being here myself after everything we’ve gone through in the last two weeks. But I’m trying to let people forgive me. I’ve decided to let people in. I don’t deserve the kindness though.

I try to relax into Saif’s side, let him hold me, or just be the wall I lean against. But my body is stiff, remembering all the times I stayed on the family ship as a kid instead of doing the things I wanted, longed to do.

“She’s welcome here any time.” Vivian reaches over and squeezes my knee. “I hope your room isn’t too small. It used to be a closet.”

I shrug. “It’s bigger than the room I grew up in.”

Vivian pulls her lips in and presses them closed.

“I know, I know,” I tell her, trying to stop the onslaught of questions. We should probably talk more about it, but now is not the time.

“Hey, I have a great idea.” Vivian’s eyes are bright with mischief. “Your birthday is coming up soon. Let’s have a party.”

All the heat I had banked up sitting in front of the fire zips away.

My birthday?

“Ah, no,” I say, clearing my throat. “That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll be knee-deep in mud and fucking terrified for my life in the jungles of Rio.”

Saif’s eyes widen, and he inhales. “I love birthdays. Love them.” He nods at Vivian. “Yes, let’s do it.”

I open my mouth, ready to launch into all the reasons I don’t want a birthday party, when Ana is suddenly standing over us. With the brightness of the fire and the darkness of the surrounding areas, I didn’t see her get up.

“Mom’s here. With Dom,” she says.

“What?” I spill my mulled wine on the ground as I stand up. “Where?”

Ana points, and there, two bonfires away, Mom is stalking across the lawn with Dom in her wake.

“Fuck,” I breathe out. I close my eyes. “Could I not get one party without her bullshit?” I set my mug aside. “I guess that’s too much to ask.”

My chest tightens as I gauge her mood. Like a fine wine left out in the sun for twenty days, Mom’s expression is sour. Her mouth is pinched, and her eyebrows have a permanent trough between them. Hauling trash for two weeks aged her by ten years.

I wish I could say I was sorry about it.

“I’ll go deal with her,” Vivian says, grasping and squeezing my arm.

“Stop,” I tell her. I can see Vivian’s network across the fire, and Gus and Jinzo have caught on to the tense situation without us having to say anything. “I’ll deal with it. It’s my problem.”

“It’s our problem,” she insists. “I’m the one that cut off the gravy train two days ago. I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to get here.”

I sigh and try to pull myself together before Mom is in front of me. Vivian had said she was moving to cut Mom off from the family funds, but I didn’t think it would be something that affected me. I figured she would take the blow, understand instinctively why it happened, and then slink off into the stars.

No such luck.

“Skylar, Vivian,” Mom says, arriving in front of us. I glimpse movement from across the fire and find Vivian’s network moving in our direction. Saif stands by my side. Lia and Carlos are back in the shadows. “Thanks for inviting us to the party.”

My eyes flash to Vivian, but she shakes her head. We did not invite her.

“Can I speak to you both in private?” she asks.

“Mom,” I start with a huff and a sigh, “I didn’t know you’d be here, or I would have prepared Saif ahead of time.”

“Who?” she asks, her voice touched with annoyance.

I glance at Saif, and his face is the picture of grace with the hint of a practiced grin. I hope he’s not offended by Mom and her low-key bitchiness.

I school my voice and tell it to stay steady. “Mom, this is my… boyfriend” — I force the word out of my mouth — “Saif Bhaat. Saif, my mom, Fusako Kawabata.”

Saif holds out his hand to shake Mom’s, but Mom stares at him with an open mouth.

“You have a boyfriend? Since when?”

I close my eyes against the anger in her voice. I knew ‘boyfriend’ was the wrong word to use as soon as it left my mouth. Not because I don’t want Saif to be my boyfriend. I sound like a damned teenager, but I want a committed relationship, even if I try to run from it.

It’s just that I should have known Mom would latch onto any label as a way to question and badger me.

“She doesn’t have boyfriends,” Dom pipes up from behind. “She flies and fucks. Don’t listen to her.”

Saif’s hand drops. My body heats another hundred degrees, and not from the fire.

“Hey, now,” Jinzo says, stepping in front of Dom. “Don’t speak to Skylar that way.”

Dom steps into Jinzo’s personal space, and my heart races.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” Dom asks, staring down at Jinzo. Jinzo is not the tallest of Vivian’s men, but he’s her number one for a reason.

“I’m talking to a dead man if you keep this up,” Jinzo replies.

Tingles wash down my back, and fear sucks away all the heat I had built up. I will never forgive myself if something happens to Vivian’s network.

This was such a great night, and now…

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I warn, holding up my hands. I huff a laugh and pull a smile from thin air. “Guys, this is unnecessary. Put your dicks away.”

Mom rolls her eyes and scoffs at me. “Skylar, language.”

“Oh shit,” Saif mumbles.

But no, I will not take the bait here. I should tell my mother that no one gets to police my language anymore, not even her, but this situation is already tense. I reach over and squeeze Saif’s arm.

“It’s fine. I’m going to take Mom to the house for a chat.”

I’m prepared to tell him he doesn’t have to come with me because that’s what Saif does. He inserts himself in pretty much everything I do. I’m slowly getting used to it.

But he nods.

“I’ll save your seat by the fire.”

I let go of a held breath and shake out my shoulders.

“Mom, let’s talk in the house.” Dom turns to join us. “You’re not invited, Dom,” I say to him as we walk past.

“I go where your mother goes,” he replies.

Of course, he thinks that, but I’m not having any of it. I stop in my tracks, Mom by my side.

“No. You don’t. I just told you to stay here, and that’s where you’ll stay. You’re not in charge.”

Behind seething Dom, Vivian lifts her chin.

“Skylar’s right.” She steps forward next to Dom. “This is my house and my land. Skylar will go with her mother by herself to the house.”

Dom’s jaw works back and forth before I see the resignation in his eyes. He can’t throw his weight around here, and I am not going fucking anywhere with someone who threatened to kill me only a week ago.

Turning my back on him, I sweep my arm out at the lantern-lit path to the house.

“Let’s go, Mom.”