Breaking Down

Chapter 22-1

22

Gabi

Hil showed her drawing pad. “Something like this.”

The dress was beautiful. Dark green, summery, and flowy, but a little revealing. It looked like a beautiful piece for Hil’s showcase.

Someone touched my elbow. I turned and found Gui, his face taut, standing behind me.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Apprehension pulled in my stomach. “Sure,” I muttered.

I followed my brother to the balcony. He rested his elbows on the rail and looked up at the night sky. Clouds drifted in from the ocean, covering the moon and the stars, and supposedly bringing rain tomorrow.

I stood two steps back, waiting. He had barely talked to me since Tyler and I announced our engagement. Even last week, when I was still in this apartment, he only said bom dia, tudo bem, and boa noite. Although, he had asked me if I needed any help moving. He even offered to leave his Jeep with me for the day, but I told him I had everything handled.

Finally, Gui turned to me and fixed those eyes, mirrors of mine, on me. “I’m sorry.”

I frowned. “For?”

“For being a jerk.” He sighed. “I didn’t mean to freak out last week, and I definitely didn’t mean to shut you out. I just … needed time to process it all. But I’m okay now. I mean, I think it’ll take me a little while to be totally okay with you getting engaged so suddenly and moving in with a guy I barely know, but … I’ll try to be more understanding from now on.”

A small smile tugged at my lips. “Thank you. That’s all I wanted.” I tsked. “That and a little help with pai. He’s still not answering my texts and phone calls. Even mãe seems to be a little upset with me.”

Gui hissed. “That is all on you.”

I slapped his shoulder. “Coward.”

He chuckled. “Come on! Who wants to go head to head with Luis Carlos Fernandes? Oh, yeah, Gabriela wants to.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re impossible.”

He looked at me, his shoulders relaxed. “Give them a little time. They will come around.” He shrugged. “After all, you won’t change your mind just because they are upset, certo? So eventually, they will have to reach out to you.”

At least they had stopped threatening to come here and drag me back by my hair. “Bom, I don’t plan on arguing with them.”

“That’s a good plan.”

I tilted my head at him. “Thank you.”

“I’m not done.”

“Oh?”

He fished keys from the pocket of his jeans. “This is for you.” He grabbed my hand and placed the keys in my open palm. “I know you probably can’t buy a car in your name right now, because of all the visa restrictions, so I thought I would give one to you.” He ran a hand through his hair. “As an apology present.”

I stared at the keys, then at him, then back at the keys. “You didn’t have to …”

“I know.” He shrugged. “I wanted to. Once you can have it in your name, I’ll transfer it to you.”

From the logo on the keys, I knew it was one from their sponsor, Jeep. “Which model is it?”

He laughed. “It’s parked beside mine in the underground garage. You’ll see when you leave.”

I gaped at him. “No fair.”

Turning, he winked at me. “Of course it’s fair.” He shuffled his weight. “I also transferred the money back to your account this afternoon.”

I gaped at him. “Gui, you shouldn’t—”

“Yes, I should. No matter what I said. We already established I was being a major jerk. The fact is that money came from gifts, and gifts aren’t made to be taken back.”

“But …”

He shook his head. “No buts. That money is yours. I know you don’t need it, but I want you to have it.” He stared at me. “Okay?”

I wanted to argue about it, but knew he wouldn’t relent, so I nodded. “Deal.”

He dipped his chin once, then he walked away and into the apartment.

I stared at the car keys, wanting to ditch the dinner to go check on my new car. That had been so sweet of him. I hoped now he would stop being an a*s to Tyler. Not that the two of them would ever be best friends, but Gui could at least treat Tyler like a cool acquaintance.

“Hey.”

I snapped my head to the sliding doors. “Oi,” I said to Tyler. He stood at the door, one of his arms folded behind him.

“Hilary said dinner is ready.”

I nodded. “Thanks. I’ll be right there.”

A small frown marred his forehead as he took three steps out in the balcony. “So … what was that about you playing polo?”

I let a defensive wall fall over me. “I play polo. So?”

He shrugged. “I found it a little odd, I guess. Not that I haven't seen women playing before, but I don’t think I've ever met a girl who played.”

I nodded. “Not many people do.”

“And you want to put your own team together?”

I sighed. I didn’t owe him any explanation, especially not after the snappy, jerky way he had been acting, but since he had brought it up, this was a good time to be clear about that. The more he knew about it, the better it would be. For the green card interview purposes, of course.

“I’ve been playing since I was little, and if it depended on me, I would have started playing it professionally years ago. But polo isn’t a common sport in Brazil. It’s exactly the opposite, so even the men’s division is, let’s say, lacking. That’s why the guys came to live here. Because they were too good for Brazil, and to compete with better teams, they had to spend the entire year traveling. Tired of that, they got a deal with the club here. They still travel, of course, but now it’s easier to play the tournaments in the U.S.”

“And you?”

“I couldn’t even put a team together in Brazil. My best friend, Priscila, played with me, but it was a pain in the a*s to get the girls together to train. Not to mention to convince the clubs to let us play in tournaments. None of them accepted women’s teams. And that’s one of the two main reasons I wanted to move here.”

He nodded. “To be with your family and to play polo.”

“Sim. Women’s polo isn’t great here either, but it’s much better than in Brazil.”

“That’s … cool, I guess.”

I felt a smile spreading over my lips. “It’s what I love. Truly, truly love.”

One corner of his lips tugged up. “I can see that.” He gestured to my face. “You’re glowing, just speaking about it.”

My cheeks heated up and I could bet I was turning red. “Bom, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

He let out a low chuckle. “It’s cool.” Then, his grin faded. “I’m sorry I was a little cold today. Again.” He shook his head. “It seems I’m always apologizing for my behavior. I don’t have any excuses other than I had a crappy afternoon, and I let my mood get the better of me. So … I’m sorry.”

“I get it. I mean, everyone has a bad day here and there, right?” I frowned. “Just … try not to be a jerk to me all the time. I understand this isn’t the ideal situation. For you or me. But I gotta live with you for the next two years. I might murder you if you keep acting like a jerk.”

The lopsided grin was back. “I’ll try.”

Silence fell over us while we stared at each other.

“Hey, aren’t you two coming?” Hil asked from the balcony’s door.

“Hm, sim,” I answered, glancing at her. While staring at Tyler, while thinking about his cocky smile and his handsome eyes, I had forgotten about dinner. “We’re coming.”

Hil disappeared inside the apartment.

Tyler offered me his hand. “Come on. Let’s put on a show.”

I slipped my hand into his and let him take me into the apartment.

The club wasn’t too full at nine in the morning on a Tuesday, which was great. I wasn’t in the mood to greet someone every three steps I took.

During the dinner at my brother’s apartment on Saturday, I thought Tyler and I had made a breakthrough in our relationship. I thought we would finally find a common ground. Even when Bia started pushing everyone to go clubbing, and one by one, they accepted it, I thought Tyler would say yes. But then he came up with a lie of having to work early Sunday morning, so we left right after that. And since then, we had barely spoken to each other. In fact, I had barely seen him the last two days. Sunday, he was buried in his bedroom for a long time, then he spent a couple of hours out in the evening. And Monday, he left for work early and came back super late. He ate a quick snack for dinner and went to bed.

And this morning, I saw as he left for work, again way too early.

I sighed, pushing thoughts of Tyler back.

I knew the guys would be getting ready for practice at the main field, so before doing what I had come here to do, I went to say hi.

Ri was the first one who saw me approaching. “Look who is here!”

The other guys and tio João Pedro turned and waved at me.

“What are you doing here?” my brother asked.

I halted beside them. “Came to talk to Mr. Helms, the polo director. My first step to try and get a women’s team running.”

“Oh, so that’s your plan,” Ri said, nodding. “I like it.”

“If you need someone to vouch for you, I’m here,” tio João Pedro said as he tapped on his iPad.

“That’s great, thank you.” A little more hope snaked into my chest. “I’ll let you know if I need any help.”

“Did you bring your gear?” Leo asked as he zipped up his boots. Usually, they started practice with stretches then a cardio workout of sorts for an hour before playing, but once a week, they only stretched and did a few exercises, which took no more than twenty minutes, then played the rest of their allotted time.

“It’s in my car.”

“After your talk, you should come practice with us,” Pedro said. He looked a little better than the last times I had seen him. I guess polo would do that to him. To all of us.

I smiled. “I’ll see how the conversation goes and how my mood is after that, but I’ll certainly come back here, even if it’s just to say tchau.”

Gui put on his helmet and offered me one of his teasing grins. “What? Are you afraid of getting your a*s kicked?”

I snorted. “As if! You all know if I had been born a guy, I would be on that team instead of you.”

Leo, Ri, and Pedro uttered “ooooh” while tio João Pedro chuckled.

“Is that a challenge?” Gui asked, standing tall in front of me.

Because of his height, I had to look up at him. So, I stepped on a bench and looked down at him. “Name the place and time.”

“All right, you two,” tio João Pedro called out, hiding a smile. “We can settle that next time Gabi joins us for practice. For now, guys, on the field.”

They said tchau to me as they went get their horses, then tio João Pedro turned to me. “Good luck in there.”

“Obrigada,” I whispered.

He nodded then followed the guys.

I watched as the guys jogged across the field to where their horses were secured, tio João Pedro on their heels, and sucked in a deep breath. Droga, how I wanted to be them, to do what they did, to jog across the field with my own team, my own girls.

I took another long breath, then left the field and walked into the club’s administration building.

I stopped by the main reception.

“Good morning,” a woman wearing a nice suit said. “How can I help you?”

“Hi.” I placed my hands on the tall counter between us. “I’m here to talk with Mr. Helms.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“Hm, no. I called last week and he was out of town. I was told to come by sometime this week. So, here I am.”

“Oh-kay.” The receptionist glanced at a computer screen. “I’m looking here at his schedule and it seems Mr. Helms isn’t coming to the club today.”

My shoulders deflated. “Oh.”

“Do you want to schedule an appointment with him?”

Did I have another option? “That would be great.”

She clicked on the computer mouse a couple of times, and then finally looked up at me. “The first time I have available is on April twentieth.”