solo / carlos sainz

twenty-eight

By the time summer break comes around and Carlos is finally able to take some time off, Elsie's been out of school for the entirety of July and I'm very ready for a holiday.

The only thing is, I have no idea what he's planned.

Beyond being told to pack enough for two weeks of warm weather, I know nothing. He's even gone as far as enlisting Amira to pack Elsie's bags, assuming I'd figure out the destination if given a list of what our daughter would need. 

Caco wouldn't give it away when pressed, a disappointing change from how easily my family members crack under pressure.

Amira's been ignoring me, insisting I'll have fun and to leave it at that.

What's even worse? Carlos had the foresight to inform the flight crew of his plans so even when I asked them what was happening, I was given nothing.

It isn't until we land that I realise we haven't gone far enough to leave Spain. My suspicions are confirmed when the tarmac crew greets us in Spanish as they load our bags into the car. By this point, I'd given up trying to figure out what was going on and had resigned myself to simply 'going with the flow'.

"¿Vamos a la playa?" Elsie asks, yanking at her seatbelt as soon as the car's rolled to a stop in front of a beautiful villa.

I reach across her to undo the belt, timing it so Carlos has opened the door as soon as Elsie's been set free.

She takes off in a flash, sprinting over to where Caco is helping bring our bags inside. "Tío! Tío, Tío, Tío, ¿vamos a la playa? Vamos! Vamos!"

"She sounds like you after a good race," I joke, taking Carlos's hand as we walk through the front door and into what could only be described as an island paradise of a home. "You gonna tell me where we are anytime soon?"

"Bienvenidos a Mallorca!" A woman shouts, rushing across the house to pull Carlos into a crushing hug. "Oh, mi niño, te he echado tanto de menos."

Carlos is all happy smiles, hugging the woman tightly. ""Mamá, esta es Mara y..."

"Mara y Lucía! Dios mío, ¡eres preciosa! Carlos, ¿cómo es tan guapa? Y Lucía, oh, se parece tanto a ti." His mother kneels in front of Elsie, briefly looking up at me with a smile. "¿Puedo presentarme?"

I nod, bringing a hand down to pat Elsie's head. She looks up and back at me, giving me a confused smile. "Elsie, this is Carlos's mummy. Saluda, por favor."

"Hola." She doesn't try to hide behind Carlos this time. Instead, she takes a step forward, slowly reaching her arms around the woman's neck for a hug. "¿Cómo te llamas?"

"Reyes, pero quiero que me llames Lita, okay?"

Carlos wraps an arm around me, bringing me closer as Elsie has a moment of quiet conversation with her grandmother. "Lita?" I whisper, not recognising the name.

"Short for 'abuelita'. I call mine the same thing."

I mull over the name in my head, finding myself smiling at the idea of Elsie finally having a good relationship with her extended family. "We should tell her."

"Now?"

Elsie is beginning to wander off with her Lita, asking once again if they can go to the beach. "Elsie? Ven aquí, porfa." She turns around at the calling of her name, running back to Carlos and I with a toothy grin. "Elsie, Carlos has something he'd like to talk to you about."

"Mhm." She's distracted, her focus ping ponging between Lita and myself. "¿Qué?"

Carlos kneels on the ground, lowering himself to Elsie's height the same way his mother had. "Do you know why my mummy told you to call her Lita?" Elsie shakes her head, "It's short for 'abuelita', which is what in English?"

"Grandma."

"That's right. Do you know why you can call my mummy your Lita?"

Elsie mulls over the question, eyes drifting toward the sky the same way Carlos's do when he's thinking of an answer with the media. As she sits in silence, thinking, I reach down, carding my hand through Carlos's hair as reassurance.

He briefly presses into my touch, turning his head to smile up at me as Elsie had just a few minutes ago.
"Cause you're my dad?"

I blink, shocked Elsie's saying this so casually when I'd expected it to throw her into a crisis. Instead, she's looking at Carlos and I like we're idiots. "You already know?"

Elsie nods. "Uh huh." When I start to ask who told her, Elsie sighs in frustration. "Oliver said so at school."

Oliver's a fucking gossip. "Okay...well, um," I kneel beside Carlos, taking his hand. "Is that okay? Do you want Carlos to be your dad?"

"Yes please!" She's turning away again, this time managing to run off a few metres before turning back to us to give a wave. "¡Vamos!"

Carlos and I share a look of bewilderment, rising off the floor and slowly following her outside as if she were pulling us along on a leash.

She brings us out to the backyard, where the rest of Carlos's family has congregated in an attempt to give us some privacy.

Elsie's bouncing around, dragging her Lita to and fro as she introduces herself to everyone, asking if they'll come with her to the beach. Two women that I assume are Carlos's sisters volunteer to take her down the steps to the small private beach attached to the villa, giving me a wave and a promise to chat at dinner.

"How did it go?" Caco's approach catches me off guard, my mind having drifted elsewhere.

I shake my head, trying to dislodge myself from whatever blank headspace I'd just gone into. "She, um, she already knew."

"What?"

"Yeah. Um, some kid in her class, this little twat named Oliver apparently told her...at some point."

Caco looks to Carlos, then, just as confused as us. "She's been out of school since Silverstone, no?"

"Since the end of June," he corrects, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Which means she's known for a month and just...not said anything." Caco laughs, a full bellied noise that usually draws me into a fit of laughter as well.

Right now, though, I think I may be in shock.

"She's just like her father, eh Chili?"

Just like him.