A/N: Will return to edit this sometime this week.
Part V
Mia and Brian's, 3:00PM
"Mateo wants to come home. Will you come get him?"
That was how Mia had gotten Letty to come over the house. Letty used her keys to enter and dropped them when everyone she knew yelled:
"SURPRISE!"
She put her hand on her chest and breathed, "Jesus H."
"Happy birthday, Let." Mia stepped forward first and hugged her. "Did we get you?"
"You definitely got me."
A barrage of hugs and kisses followed, leaving Letty feeling extremely loved. Except one person was missing.
"Happy birthday, love." Came a familiar accented voice.
"Owen? What are you doing here?"
"Mia invited me. Asked Mateo to sneak my number out of your phone, I reckon." He smiled.
"Those two are the sneakiest little mice I know."
He pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry I can't stay long. I've got a business meeting to tend to, but I wanted to see your face."
"Here it is." She gestured around her entire head, a genuine smile gracing her features.
"Stunning." He complimented. "I also wanted to ask you out on a second date. Maybe sometime this week?"
"Yes, sure. Mateo has a game on Tuesday and he's staying at his dad's afterwards. Maybe we can grab drinks after?"
"Sounds like a plan." Owen's phone began to ring and he looked toward the heavens. "It begins."
"Go. Make money."
"Happy birthday, Letty." He grinned and leaned forward, kissing her lips. "I really wanted to do that."
Letty, in shock, pushed her hair back and let out a breathy chuckle. "I'm glad you did."
"I hope you like my gift. I'll see you this week."
"Okay. Thanks for coming."
And with that, he was off.
Letty walked through the house, mingling with the people who came to celebrate her, but she still hadn't found who she was looking for.
"Hey, Mia?" Letty tapped her sister-in-law on the shoulder.
"Everything okay?"
"I guess so."
"What's wrong?"
"Where's Dom? He never misses my birthday."
"Oh, I—. Let, I didn't invite him."
"What? Why?"
"Well, because I invited Owen. I didn't think you'd want them both here. And I thought you and Dom were working on spending time apart."
"Yeah, but—." Letty shook her head. "Nevermind."
She couldn't fight Mia because, well, she was right not to invite Dom. Mia, was only trying to respect she and Dom's wishes. It wouldn't have been fair for Dom to have to be in the same room with Owen. Although, it would have been nice for them to get to know each other, if only to get rid of any animosity.
But here they were, on Letty's birthday; an occasion that Dom hadn't missed since she'd turned sixteen. What truly saddened Letty was the idea that even if Mia had told him he wasn't invited, he still hadn't come.
He didn't even fight to be invited. Didn't fight for her. And honestly, that was the main factor in their divorce. Letty could remember a time when he literally traveled halfway around the world to find her, even though she had no memory of who he was to her.
When had he stopped fighting for her? When had he stopped caring so much?
Even when they were only separated, Letty had expected Dom to shape up and do whatever he could to get her back. To earn her respect back. But instead, he'd only conceded, giving her what he thought she wanted.
And then, when they found out how long it would take to actually get divorced, Letty thought that maybe he would finally grab her by the shoulders and tell her that he would never give up on them or their marriage, no matter how hard things got.
After all, she'd never given up on him. Ever. Even when she suggested the separation. In her heart, she just knew that Dom would make the right decision.
But he hadn't.
7:17PM
"So," Mia asked, sitting at the kitchen table across from Letty, "did you have a good birthday?"
"I did. Thanks for doing this, Mia. You didn't have to."
"I didn't. It was your son's idea. I just made the phone calls, bought the decorations and cooked."
Letty chuckled. "I appreciate it."
Mia reached across the table and squeezed Letty's hand. "I'm sorry I didn't invite Dom. I didn't know you would want him here."
Letty shook her head. "Don't be sorry. How could you know what I wanted? Hell, I don't even know what I want."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing." Letty dismissed the thought.
"No, tell me."
"He went on a date."
"You went on a date."
"I know. I know." Letty huffed. She takes both hands through her hair and held them at the base of her neck. Mia had pity on her.
"I don't know why you and Dom do this to yourselves."
"Do what?"
"Continue to break your own hearts."
"Fuck, Mia." Letty slipped her leg under her bum. "I don't know."
"Mom," Jack interrupted with Mateo right behind him.
"Yes?"
"Can Mateo stay over? We're so close to beating a record on Fortnite." He pleaded.
Mia looked at Letty, who shrugged.
"Yes. Lights out by eleven. We have church tomorrow."
"Yes! Come on, Mateo!"
"Hey! You're welcome!" Mia called behind them.
"Thanks, Mom!" Jack shouted back as he and Mateo thundered upstairs.
"Sometimes, I wonder how is it that when something as amazing as Jack happens, what is there to argue about?"
"The little things."
Mia leaned her elbows on the table. "And they somehow become the big things." It wasn't a question. She was telling Letty that she understood where she was coming from. There was obviously a little trouble in the Brian and Mia paradise.
"Exactly." Letty tilted her head to the side. "Everything okay?"
"It will be." Mia waved a hand to change the subject. "I still think you two should think about family therapy."
"Is it worth it? He's moving on."
"Yeah, because you are. Or at least that's what he thinks. Doesn't mean either of you are happy. And that's what's really important."
Letty heard what Mia was saying. Dom's little sister always rooted for Dom and Letty even when they were separated.
"Listen," Mia reached over the table and grabbed her best friend's hands, "go home, have some wine, maybe run a hot bath. Relax and enjoy the rest of your birthday, kid-free."
"Thanks, Mi."
Letty's, 9:3y2PM
The doorbell rang, followed by two quick knocks.
It was Dom.
Letty muted her tv show and stood from the couch, heading to the front hall. She opened the door and her lashes fluttered. Dom stood there with a gift bag in one hand and a bottle of their favorite blended whiskey in the other.
"Hi." She greeted, softly.
"Hey." He responded. "I couldn't let today go by without celebrating your birthday."
Letty smiled, moving aside to allow him entrance.
They made their way back into the living room, where Dom sat everything down on the table.
"I'll get the glasses."
"Wait. First," he gestured to the bag before shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, "open your gift."
Letty gave him a cheeky grin. "What did you buy?"
"Well, not so much bought as found."
Her curiosity was definitely peaked. "What is it?"
Dom hadn't seen her face light up with such a childlike smile in such a long time. Last time he saw it, they were driving down a coast in the DR mere moments after they'd gotten married. The wind was in her hair and her hand was out of the window, the white material that had been her veil floating as if it were made of water.
"You'll have to open it to find out." Her happiness was contagious. Dom's lips turned up into a smile and he laughed as she quickly grabbed the small bag and pulled out the tissue paper. Finding the jewelry box at the bottom, Letty pulled it out. She handed him bag and opened the box up. A gasp escaped her throat and she put her hand over her heart. Letty fought with all of her might to push back the tears beginning to brim along the waterline of her eyes.
"Dom," Letty said around the lump in her throat.
It was a cross necklace. Not just any cross necklace. No, it was the silver chain that had been a symbol of their lives for as long as Dom could remember.
Tony had given it to Dom when he was fourteen at his confirmation. Dom had given it to Letty on her eighteenth birthday at a family cookout. He'd never truly asked her to be his girlfriend. He had given her the chain, pulled her down into his lap and everyone just knew. The message was loud and clear: no one messes with Letty, she's mine.
The necklace was there through every moment of their lives. When it wasn't around Letty's neck, it stayed in a glass jewelry box on their dresser. When Letty needed to talk to Dom about something important, she left it on the pillow on his side of the bed. It's how they talked through arguments. It's how Dom found out that Letty was pregnant with Mateo.
Jack was about three years old when she found out, so Letty and Dom found their own house about twenty minutes away.
In the process of the move, however, the cross necklace had been lost. Both Dom and Letty had assumed it was either dropped somewhere or stolen by the moving company. They retraced their steps for hours looking for it, but it never turned up.
She finally looked up at him and shook her head in disbelief. "Where did you find it?"
"It must have slipped out of the box for the armoire and into one of the boxes meant for the attic."
"I swear we looked everywhere."
"I thought we did, too."
Letty shook her head and swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. It was always meant to be yours." They gazed at each other for a few moments. He took the necklace and placed it over her head and pulled her hair from underneath. He wanted so badly to put his hands on either side of her face and kiss her soundly.
Instead, he grinned and nodded his head towards the table. "Whiskey?"
"God, yes." She started back towards the kitchen to grab glasses and ice. When she returned, he was cracking open the bottle.
"It's nice out. Not too hot. Want to sit outside?"
"Definitely."
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on Letty's stoop, three shots deep and dying of laughter. The alcohol was beginning to take effect.
"Then I yelled at Vince 'she'll never date me now'! And I just remember him saying something like 'chicks dig scars'. I'm like ''not on themselves!'."
"Say you swear." Letty said through laughter.
"Oh, cross my heart." Dom crossed his heart and then held his hand up as if he were taking an oath.
"I never knew that."
"You were never supposed to know."
Dom had just finished telling her how he had freaked out after giving Letty the scar on the inside of her wrist.
"We were badasses." She commented.
"The worst; gave our parents hell."
"I'm shocked Mateo's so good."
"Give it time." Dom chuckled. He poured them each another drink. "Any birthday wishes?"
He asked her every year. And every year, she said the same thing:
"It wouldn't come true if I told you."
And yet every year, she'd tell him anyway.
"C'mon, Let. How am I going to make it come true if you don't tell me?"
"But since you asked," she knocked back the shot, "I want us to work on being better co-parents to our son."
Dom's eyes shot to Letty's, trying to gauge exactly what she was saying.
"Our bullshit shouldn't affect him. Sometimes I think he's the parent and we're the kids."
"Maybe," Dom rubbed his bald head, "I don't know, we could try family counseling? Something that gives us a platform to talk about what we're feeling. And with someone who's not biased."
Letty's heart seized in her chest. She'd wanted to hear that from him for so long. Even if it was a little too late, something Tony had once said to her rang in her ears:
"Better late, than never."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not? Mia's been saying it works for her and Brian."
"Wait, they're doing family therapy?"
"Yeah, apparently it's been helping too."
The conversation she had with Mia earlier flashed through her mind.
"So, they're not perfect as we suspected?"
Dom chuckled. "Is any relationship?"
"They come pretty close."
"Yeah, but they're still human. They fuck up, too."
"True. Well, if you think it will keep us focused on becoming better parents."
"We're awesome parents, Let. Maybe this will help us become better individuals, period."
"Maybe it will."
Dom poured them both one last shot. He knew his limit and he still had to drive home.
Holding up his glass, Dom smiled at his ex-wife. "To new beginnings."
"To new beginnings." She agreed. Their glasses clinked together and they took the shot in unison.
"I'd better get home. I've got to get Mateo early tomorrow from Mia's." He said and suddenly Letty didn't want him to go.
"Okay."
He stood from the step and pulled Letty up with him, embracing her tightly. She had to admit, it felt nice to be in his strong arms again. And Dom took the opportunity to bury his face in her hair. He pulled away first, looking down at her, hand gripping her chin.
"Happy birthday, Letty." Dom kissed the small expense of flesh where her cheek met her lips. They both froze and gazed at the other for a split moment, faces close enough to kiss.
"Through all the bullshit, I'll always love you. You know that, right?"
He smelled of blended whiskey and everything that was so purely Dom. She nodded.
"I know."
She shouldn't have said anything more, but with the whiskey clouding her judgment, the brunette confessed:
"I love you too."
It was no secret. It never had been and never would be. They had their issues, but the love they shared was different. And both knew they would never find it anywhere else.
Until they could figure out what had made them toxic, however, it was best that they parted ways.
So, even with Dom's hand on her face and her "kiss me" eyes, Letty put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him away.
"You should go."
"I know." The "but I don't want to" was implied, but never spoken aloud.
He leaned his forehead against Letty's for three heartbeats before pulling fully away and turning to jog down the stairs and towards the street to car.
Letty watched until his car turned the corner before she gathered the glasses and bottle of liquor and went inside.
