8:00 AM - Breakfast
When I came downstairs the next morning, Gloria was in the kitchen with a tray of arepas and a pitcher of hot chocolate. Jay was at the table, newspaper open, with an expression I couldn't tell was hangover or resignation. Javier sat beside him, coffee cup in hand, with a smile that seemed not to have faded all night.
"Where's Manny?" I asked.
"Sleeping," Gloria said. "I let him rest. Last night was long."
"It was good," Javier corrected. "Long and good."
They talked for a while longer. Javier was leaving, but he promised Jay he'd come back in the afternoon to go out with his baseball friends together. And Jay, surprisingly, waited expectantly at the door. But Javier didn't show up. Gloria and Manny went to the door for Jay that afternoon and cheered him up. There I realized that Javier's attempt to be a present father had shifted to being a friend to Jay, and in the end, his absence hurt them both.
10:00 AM - The Message
My parents picked me up at ten. I checked my phone. There was a message from Alex, sent at 8:30.
Alex: "My dad's fine. They did the surgery. He's home. My mom apologized for the firefighter thing. At least according to Haley. But then I don't know what happened at the hospital, and now Mom's the one who's annoyed. Because he asked her to cut his sandwich into triangles. She cut it into rectangles. He said triangles were for the weak. They laughed. I think they're okay."
Me: "I'm glad."
Alex: "And you? How was it at my grandpa's?"
Me: "Weird. Javier stayed. They played pool. Went out on the motorcycle. Came back at three in the morning. Gloria was mad."
Alex: "My grandpa hasn't gotten on a motorcycle since he met my grandma."
Me: "This time he did."
Alex: "And Manny?"
Me: "Manny's fine. He beat me at chess. Said the knight was his favorite."
Alex: "The knight is an interesting piece. It can jump over others."
Me: "That's what he said."
Alex: "What else happened?"
I thought for a moment.
Me: "They were both supposed to go out, your grandpa and Javier. But Javier stood him up. It was sad. Although Gloria and Manny cheered him up."
Alex: "That's important too."
I put the phone away. Outside, the sun was starting to warm the street, and the leaves of the trees moved with the wind.
I arrived home with the taste of Gloria's arepas still in my mouth and the echo of Javier's motorcycle in my head. My parents followed me into the living room, shoes off, faces tired from hours of smiling at a work dinner. Susan saw me come in and her face lit up.
"How was it at Gloria's?"
"Good. Weird, but good."
"Weird how?"
I sat on the couch across from them. Mark had the newspaper open on his lap, but he wasn't reading. He was waiting.
"Javier, Manny's dad, showed up with a motorcycle and a box of lobsters. Jay got mad. Then they played pool. Went for a ride on the motorcycle at three in the morning. Gloria got mad. Then Javier said he was going to come back to go out with his baseball friends. But he didn't come back. Jay waited for him at the door. Gloria and Manny had to go get him to tell him he wasn't coming."
Mark closed the newspaper. "And how was Jay?"
"I don't know. He was sitting at the door, looking at the street. Gloria put her hand on his shoulder. Manny too. And the three of them stayed there, waiting."
Susan looked at me. "Did something happen to you, Leo?" she asked.
"No. It's just... Javier promised he was going to try. And then he left. And Jay stayed waiting."
"And that made you think of something?"
I fell silent. I didn't know how to say it. And even more, I didn't know if I wanted to.
"Leo," Susan said, her voice softer. "Do you want to ask me something?"
I looked at her for a long time. And then, without knowing where the words came from, I said them.
"What was my father like? My biological one."
The silence that followed was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Mark put down the newspaper completely. Susan set down the cup of tea she was holding.
"Why are you asking now?" she said, her voice barely a thread.
"Because I saw Manny waiting for Javier. And I saw Jay waiting for Javier. And I wondered if I had someone waiting for me too. Or if someone was waiting for me."
Susan got up from the couch. She walked to the window, looked at the empty street, the lights of the houses on. For a moment, she didn't say anything. When she spoke, her voice was different. Lower. Older.
"His name was Joey," she said. "Joseph Tribbiani. But everyone called him Joey."
"What was he like?"
"He was..." She paused, searching for words. "He was tall. Taller than Mark. Darker. With the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. And a smile that... I don't know how to explain it. When he smiled, everything seemed easier."
"How did you meet him?"
"At an acting workshop. A one-day class. I was twenty, in college, and a friend convinced me to sign up. 'To clear your head,' she said. 'To do something different.'"
"And him?"
"He was the one who made everyone laugh. Told jokes, made faces, stood up and acted out entire scenes without a script. The teacher hated him because he didn't follow instructions. But everyone else loved him."
"And you?"
Susan smiled. It was a smile I hadn't seen before. Younger. Freer.
"I loved him too. From the first moment. From when he stood in front of the class and said his name was Joey and he was going to be an actor. And that if anyone wanted to be his partner for the final scene, they should tell him after."
"And did you tell him?"
"I did. He said yes. He said he wanted me to be his partner because I was the only one who didn't laugh at his jokes. And that meant I took him seriously."
"And after class?"
"We went for coffee. Talked for hours. He knew he had seven sisters, that his dad was a plumber, that he'd grown up in Queens, that he was trying to make it as an actor. He didn't know much about me, but I told him everything. My family, my studies, my plans. And he listened. Really listened."
"And then?"
"Then..." She paused. "Then he left. The next day, he called me on the phone. Said he had an audition in Los Angeles. That he didn't know when he'd be back. That he didn't know if he was coming back. And that he didn't want me to wait."
"And did you wait?"
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