way she banded her arms around his torso to pull him out of the fight, to the way she tenderly cupped his cheek to check for bruises.
Acting was reacting, and they’d taken their cues from each other, even as Ashton had dug deeper and deeper into himself to pull out Victor’s pain. Jasmine matched him beat for emotional beat as Victor had raged himself into exhaustion. The quiet moments between them after the fight were probably some of the best acting he’d ever done.
But by the end of the week, he was ready to drop, and homesickness was like a lead weight in his gut. On Friday night, he went straight from the studio to the airport, and from the airport to the apartment he kept in San Juan, where he caught a few hours of sleep. In the morning, he drove to Humacao, to the condo where his son, father, and grandparents lived full time in a secure gated community.
Keeping an eye out for any suspicious figures, Ashton parked in the driveway, then let himself into the blocky peach and terra-cotta house. Even though his family had moved after the Incident, his sense of safety had never fully recovered. Inside, Ignacio approached him with una taza de café con leche while Ashton reset the security system. Ashton greeted his father and gratefully took a sip of the coffee.
“¿Yadiel está durmiendo?” Ashton asked, following Ignacio into the kitchen.
“Sí.” Ignacio sat at the table and put his reading glasses on to resume his perusal of the newspaper. “He’ll be happy to see you when he wakes up.”
Ashton took a seat, but he felt jumpy. “Everything’s okay? Nothing weird?”
Ignacio put down the paper and sent Ashton a bland look over the top of his glasses.
“If there were something weird, don’t you think I’d tell you?”
“Of course.” Ashton didn’t fully believe that, but no point upsetting his father this early in the morning.
“When did you arrive?”
“Late last night.”
“Ah. You stayed in the apartment?”
“Yeah.”
Ignacio just raised his eyebrows and kept reading about the latest political protests. He didn’t have to say anything, because they’d already had this conversation multiple times. He thought it was silly for Ashton to pay for two homes in Puerto Rico and an apartment in Miami, but he knew why Ashton didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the house.
“And how long are we supposed to have Yadi’s teachers and friends sign NDAs?” Ignacio asked pointedly.
Ashton just sighed. “Stop exaggerating.”
“You’ve kept him secret this long,” his father went on, his tone mild. “But you can’t do it forever.”
Ashton knew that, but he’d convinced himself it was possible. He was saved from having to come up with an answer by the sound of feet on the stairs. Setting his cup down, he stood as Yadi entered the room in his Spider-Man pajamas.
“Papi!” the boy screeched, then launched himself into Ashton’s arms.
Ashton picked him up and held him close. Yadi was small for his age, and Ashton wouldn’t be able to do this for much longer. He wished, not for the first time, that he could be here every day when his son woke up.
Yadiel clambered down and greeted his grandfather, then went to pour himself a glass of juice.
“Well, since you’re here, I’ll go get an early start at the restaurant,” Ignacio told Ashton. He set down the newspaper, open to the entertainment page. “Looks like your friend Fernando Vargas is doing well.”
Ashton glanced at the paper and groaned. His “rival” from El fuego de amor had booked a big role in a movie Ashton hadn’t even been called to audition for.
Yadiel drained his juice and grabbed Ashton’s hand with sticky fingers. “¡Ven, Papi! Come look at the castle I built in Minecraft!”
Ashton let his son consume his thoughts that weekend. They spent every waking minute together while Ignacio and Abuelita Bibi and Abuelito Gus were at the restaurant. Ashton even kept Yadiel home from Sunday mass, which did not thrill Abuelita Bibi.
Ashton set up a badminton net in the backyard, and they played for hours until they were both sweaty and hot. They swam in the pool, with Yadiel showing off how he could pick up brightly colored rings from the bottom. And they watched countless animated superhero movies, with Yadiel helpfully filling in any character backstory Ashton might be unaware of.
On Sunday night, after Ashton put Yadiel to bed, Ignacio pulled him aside before he left for the airport.
“The show is going well?” Ignacio asked.
Ashton shrugged. “Well enough.” He’d spent the