As we got on the road back to Manhattan, Dinorah started talking excitedly. “I’m so thrilled for this show. This is my first time seeing Juan Luis in concert. I’ve been wanting to for so long. Have you ever seen him, Tom?”
I nodded from the front seat. “Yes, I have, but not in a really long time. He gave a free concert in Santo Domingo my last year of high school. That was the first time I saw him. Then maybe ten years ago I saw him with my parents and my brother in the DR. He’s great live. It should be a good night. Especially with the venue. There are going to be a lot of excited people in that theater tonight.”
Dinorah clapped her hands at that. “It’s going to be wonderful to have him right there in front of us. I love going to live music shows, there’s so much amazing energy. Too bad we won’t be able to dance.”
I smiled at that, and winked at Camilo, who was busy rolling his eyes again. “Don’t count the Dominicans out, we’re not above dancing in the aisles once things get going.” Dinorah giggled from the back.
Camilo chuckled too and shook his head.
“Don’t get too excited about how close he’ll be, Mama. Our seats are in the balcony. We will be in the same building, but it won’t be up close and personal with Juan Luis or anything.”
I stiffened when he mentioned the seats and figured this was probably the right moment to mention I’d gotten them tickets to sit with me down by the stage.
“So when I was looking for my tickets I found a group of three together.” I looked over at Camilo whose eyebrow was already higher on his forehead than I necessarily wanted to see. His voice was a little chilly when he answered me but not fully pissed off.
“But we already have tickets, Tom.”
I tried to go for a conciliatory tone. I should have anticipated Camilo was not going to be into me buying him expensive concert tickets without telling him.
“I know, babe.” I flashed a pleading look in the mirror hoping to get some help from Dinorah. “I knew you had tickets, but Ithought it would be more fun to sit together. I’ll make sure your tickets don’t go to waste. I’m sure we can return them at the box office. If not there’ll be people outside needing tickets.”
Dinorah threw me a bone from the back seat.
“I’m glad we’ll be able to sit together. I think you’re right, someone will take those tickets off our hands. Juan Luis is so popular. Right, Milito?”
Camilo was still looking at me with narrowed eyes, but he nodded at his mom and gave me a tight smile.
“Sure, that’s fine. It’ll be nice to sit together.”
I let out a breath and tried to distract us out of the tense moment by putting on some music. I hoped our night wasn’t spoiled by my going overboard.
The ticketswerepretty easy get rid of. As soon as we got to the theater, we ran into multiple people outside asking if we had extras. Within minutes Camilo handed them off to a group who were extremely grateful to get them at face value. After some curbside money exchange, we walked into the theater.
Camilo and Dinorah had never been to a show at the United Palace so they moved slowly, their heads swiveling as they took in the place. The United Palace was an institution in New York City. It was right in the heart of Washington Heights, which had one of the largest Dominican communities in the city. In addition to being a music venue, it was also a functioning church and a cultural arts center.
It was a place with a lot of history and had hosted some of the greatest Latinx musicians of the last century. I’d been here a few times for shows, but it’d been a while. I’d forgotten how beautiful the architecture was, and about the elaborate woodwork all overthe building. It was also amazing to be in a venue full of Latinx. Everyone was dressed to the nines and walking around excitedly as they filed into the building.
As we got up to the entrance of the theater, I felt a little nervous. These seats were a lot closer to the stage, and likely much more expensive than the ones Camilo bought. As I handed the tickets to the usher, I started to feel like I may have seriously misjudged his reaction to my gesture. The woman scanned them and waved her hand toward the orchestra, “You’re on the third row from the stage. Orchestra Right. Enjoy the show.”
Camilo’s eyes got so big when he heard the location of our seats; I was sure he would say something. But he just gave me another icy look and walked in. Dinorah, on the other hand, was having a moment.
“Tom, you got us seats down by the stage!” She put her arm in the crook of her son’s elbow as they made their way down the aisle. “Milito, we’re going to be so close.” Camilo smiled tightly and I could tell he was trying to be excited for her. When we got to our seats, Dinorah let out a bona fide squeal. The seatswereamazing, only feet away from the center of the stage. I attempted to lighten the mood with Camilo and put my hand around his waist, pulling him close to me. He was a little stiff, but he still managed to give me a lopsided smile.
“Are you going to dance with me tonight, Camilo?”
He shook his head, bemused. “In a theater?”
“Right here,” I said gesturing to the aisle we were standing in. He laughed and I kissed him on the cheek before pulling away.
He looked around. “I’ll admit these are pretty good seats, even if someone got them without asking first.” His tone wasn’t exactly friendly, but then he looked at his mom, who was chatting with the couple sitting next to her. “But my mom is in heaven right now, so thank you.”
I bent down and kissed him again.
“So you’re not pissed at me for getting the tickets?”
He narrowed his eyes at me again so that they were almost slits but this time the humor there was obvious. “You’re hard to resist, especially when you’re clearly doing it to impress my mom. Just chill out next time, okay? You don’t need to do any of that.”
I nodded, a bit mollified. “I know. I just wanted to make this night amazing for you. I know how much your mom was looking forward to it.”
