Chapter 18

 

The basement was more or less cleared up, and Grandma and Sammy were busy in the yard planning a big flower garden. Mitch and Rico were watching them from the porch.

"That's more work for us, you know," Rico pointed out. "Digging, planting, making sure the plants don't die."

"We'll manage," Mitch said evenly. That man wasn't afraid of hard work.

That reminded Rico about tonight. Wyatt was throwing another one of his dinner parties. He was doing barbeque this time. Rico already knew Mitch and Sammy were going. Now he let Mitch know he was too, "I'll warn you right now. I plan to be at Sam and Wyatt's tonight. They said barbeque, and I said, 'I'm in.'"

"Aha. Want a ride over there?" Mitch asked.

"Yes and no," Rico said. He was dying to spend more time with him, but he had to go to the café. "I'll probably catch a ride with Grandma." With that he went off to collect her so they could get going.

 

In the car Grandma sighed. "I thought we might find something interesting down there."

Rico looked at her. "Like what? A mummy? A forgotten Rembrandt? A series of shallow graves?"

"The things you come up with," his grandmother said with distaste. "I mean something about Harry Dunbar."

"We did find those old family albums you're sending off to his niece," Rico told her. In truth they weren't all that interesting though.

"I mean something scandalous. See, Harry's niece told me that there was a letter of apology that he left with his will. He wasn't apologizing to her. The letter said he hoped he would be forgiven, but he doesn't say what he's sorry for. By the sound of it, Harry regretted something that might come out, ruin his good name. Harry's niece asked me if I knew anything about that. I did not. He didn't spend much time here after he moved away. I hardly knew the man."

"And you say I'm crazy to talk about skeletons in the basement," Rico said. "But seriously, we didn't find any signs of a secret life."

"That was all his parents' stuff down there, and I already checked over the rest of the place when I bought the house. Not a scrap of anything exciting. The only halfway interesting thing is that bit of paper Mitch found," Grandma said. "Oh well. Some secrets get buried with the dead."

Rico made a noncommittal noise. He was only half listening, already thinking about the barbeque at Sam and Wyatt's. Sam had invited him, saying, "Of course you, Mitch and Sammy are coming."

He said it the same way Rico might say, "Sam, Wyatt and the boys," like they were inseparable. But as far as him and Mitch were concerned, that was so far from the truth.

It did have a nice ring to it though.

 

That evening, Rico was back at his grandmother's. He had showered then stood in front of the mirror with only a towel thrown over his shoulder. He tried to see himself with Mitch's eyes, but that was impossible. He never knew what that man was thinking.

Rico had a little bit of beard coming in and wondered if he should shave or cut his hair, or shave and not cut his hair, cut his hair and not shave. Ugh. What was Mitch doing to him?

He would bet anything Mitch wasn't obsessing about how to make himself more attractive to him. Rico needed to be more like that, play it cool and not act lovesick.

 

When Rico arrived in front of Sam and Wyatt's, the first thing he noticed was that Mitch's car wasn't there. He and his grandmother walked around to the back, where the action was. As he went over to greet Sam, Rico saw that he was looking over his shoulder.

"You didn't come with Sammy and Mitch?" he said.

"We aren't joined at the hip," Rico claimed.

"Is that right? I guess we think of you all as a package deal," Sam told him with a sly smile.

"Don't encourage my delusions, man," Rico warned him.

 

It wasn't long before Mitch and Sammy were there too. Sammy went off to run around with the boys and the dogs, and Wyatt showed off his grill to Mitch.

"I bought this monster of a grill, so I had to put it to good use. I'm still testing out my new barbequing skills though," Wyatt said.

"Thanks for inviting us," Mitch told him then he leaned over to see what he was cooking up. "Vegetables?"

"They taste really good from the grill. I'll just have to see if I can get the kids to eat them," Wyatt said as he scooped up green beans from a foil tray into a serving plate Sam held out for him.

Watching them work together hosting this dinner, Rico was so jealous. Of course he and Mitch sort of hosted a cupcake party, but it was hardly the same thing. Sam and Wyatt were so sure of each other, so in love, and they needed to stop flaunting it right now.

 

"You hate green beans?" Mitch guessed when he caught him frowning at Wyatt and Sam.

"I'll eat anything that comes off the grill. But I don't like Wyatt's odds when it comes to making the kids have any."

Wyatt was determined to try though. Standing shoulder to shoulder, Rico and Mitch watched his valiant effort.

Clustered around the table on the back porch, the kids were all frowning over a plate of roasted green beans Wyatt had served up. "Come on guys. They're good," he tried to convince them.

"They're green beans," Riley pointed out. There was no changing that fact.

The other kids nodded, but then DJ courageously volunteered to take one for the team. "I'll try them," he said.

Not to be outdone, his brother jumped in. "Me too. I'll try them too."

"Me too," Sammy said as well.

Then all three kids bravely bit into their green beans. At first they grimaced but then their faces brightened. "They aren't bad, Uncle Wyatt," Riley said, sounding shocked that they weren't terrible.

DJ did him one better. "Uncle Wyatt, they're good."

Sammy seconded that. "Yes, they're good, Mr. Wyatt."

Then the kids saw one of the dogs run after something in the grass and they went to investigate.

"They had exactly one green bean each. I'm calling that a success," Wyatt said. "Burgers are up next."

He went off to man the grill, and Rico spotted Lara and her sister rounding the corner and coming over. Rushing ahead of them, Gloria was off to join the kids. It looked like Stella was preparing for a similar maneuver. She was about to make a beeline for Mitch when Lara steered her over to greet Wyatt and Sam first.

That didn't keep her away from Mitch for long. In no time, she was all over him. She monopolized him all through dinner too.

"You could cut in, you know," Sam pointed out.

Wyatt seconded that. "Don't give her a clear playing field. Get in there."

"I think I'll leave it up to Mitch," Rico said and resisted the urge to follow their advice. He had this idea that it would be easier to tolerate what was going on from a safe distance, not with Stella rubbing up against Mitch at close range, but it was still bad.

He had to force himself to eat so he wouldn't look pathetic and make everyone ask him if he was OK. They were all having a good time and he didn't want to be a downer.

"Ahh. He's trying to lick you," Sammy said to Riley. Rico looked over just in time to see Barney swipe at Riley's face and a bunch of groans went up.

"He likes me," Riley claimed.

"He just likes licking your face because you got burger all over it," DJ told him.

Riley wasn't discouraged. He hugged Barney. "No, he likes me."

"He likes both of you," Wyatt told the boys like settling arguments about the dogs was something he had to do all the time.

 

After dinner was done, Rico watched Mitch wipe Sammy's face so the dogs wouldn't have to. Stella hovered nearby, but she couldn't catch Mitch's attention while he was preoccupied with his kid.

"The dogs are nice, Daddy. They wanted to lick my hands clean," she told him while making a scrunched up face as Mitch wiped off some ketchup.

Mitch grumbled. "You should wash your hands, honey."

"I know, Daddy. Mr. Wyatt said we had to. We're gonna have floating ice creams," Sammy said and then she and Mitch went inside.

Lara was going to serve up some ice cream floats, but first she had to wait for the ice cream to soften and the straws had gone missing.

"I found the straws," DJ said as he ran over and held up the box.

"Good man," Lara said.

"DJ is really good at finding stuff," Sam said and smiled down at him.

"They helped us out a lot," Wyatt said. "Riley helped me by watching my every move, and every two minutes asking if I messed up." Wyatt then indicated DJ by ruffling his hair. "And this guy helped Sam set up out here."

"He was a big help," Sam said and DJ looked shy at the praise.

But then Riley had something more important to tell his brother as he ran out of the house in alarm and tugged on his arm. "Ahh! Sammy told me she's a superhero. She's The Pink Tornado."

At this news DJ grew very serious and determined. "We have to be superheroes too," he said and then the two of them ran off.

"I'll call you when the ice cream floats are ready!" Lara yelled after them then turned to Rico suddenly. "I see what your eyes are glued to over there."

As soon as Mitch stepped outside, Stella latched on to him. Forcing himself to look away, Rico groaned. "This is where you all tell me I have nothing to worry about," he prodded them.

"Probably not," Sam said weakly.

"That girl is a damn barracuda," Lara said.

They weren't reassuring at all.

 

***

 

Mitch had helped Sammy wash up, and now she and the other kids were running around the back yard with what looked like pillowcases tied around their necks like capes. Mitch watched them and their capes flying behind them, but before he knew it, he had Stella by his side once again.

She took care of ninety percent of the conversation, and all Mitch had to do was nod and throw in a word or two. While he was pretending to pay attention to Stella, Mitch found his eyes were drawn to Enrico. Mitch kept glancing his way, wondering what he was thinking, if he was jealous.

That wasn't something Mitch should have been worrying about. For one thing, Stella was saying something about wanting to go to Ashbury again, but she didn't have her car. Before she could ask him for a ride, Mitch quickly excused himself. "Sorry. We'll probably have to go soon, and I wanted to talk to Wyatt and Sam. It was nice seeing you."

Mitch didn't really have anything he needed to talk to them about, and he wasn't good at making conversation. It turned out he didn't need to. Wyatt started asking him about his work on the Dunbar house. When he heard they were going to be doing a lot of planting, he pointed to Sam. "That's his department."

"You helped me plant the back garden," Sam told him. "And I heard you talking to the plants back there when they were just coming up."

Wyatt denied it. "You're crazy."

"He told them to grow because it would make me happy." Sam laughed but he was obviously touched.

"How did you two meet?" Mitch wondered. It seemed like some kind of miracle to him that they found each other in this small town and were so happy together.

Wyatt answered him. "The boys picked Sam to be their new dad, so I had to seduce him."

"That is not what happened," Sam interjected.

"Dad?" Mitch said since Wyatt was the boys' uncle.

"We're adopting the kids after we get married. We talked to them about it, and they were thrilled. They adore Sam. And they kind of like me too," Wyatt said modestly.

"You're not too bad," Sam told him then looked shy when Wyatt gave him a big grin.

"I'm so lucky. Sam is the perfect human being and he's all mine," Wyatt said and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh, my God. You're so embarrassing," Sam complained as he blushed, but he couldn't stop smiling the whole time as Wyatt put an arm around his waist and held him close.

"My vows are going to say 'promise to love, cherish, and embarrass this man till death do us part.'" Wyatt said it jokingly at first, but then he got tears in his eyes and spoke like he was really saying his vows.

"You two are really something," Mitch told them.

Seeing that some people were leaving, the two of them went to see them off. Enrico was on the side of the house by himself, watching the kids playing with the dogs, trying to get them to be their sidekicks. As the last of the evening light disappeared, shadows lengthened across the grass, and Mitch went to join Enrico.

"I don't think Sam and Wyatt could be more different," he said to Enrico. "For one, Sam doesn't seem like the type to enjoy being teased."

"He is when it comes to Wyatt. You jealous? You want some of that?" Enrico asked with a wicked grin and a challenging stare.

The insinuating look in Enrico's eyes made Mitch turn away. He could see Sam and Wyatt with their arms around each other as they talked to someone. From every look to every kiss and touch, Wyatt felt free to express his feelings for Sam. Did Mitch envy him? Did he want to gaze at Enrico like the rest of the world stopped existing? Did he want to claim him with a casual touch, or an arm around his waist, a hand low on his back?

"Sam and Wyatt seem like they belong together," Mitch said just to say something.

"Yeah," Enrico agreed. "It's sickening, isn't it."

Mitch made a noncommittal noise. He could have guessed Enrico wouldn't be into something like that, something lasting that would tie him to one man forever. That thought gave his insides a painful twist.

The two of them were standing near the corner of the house, not far from a small thicket of young trees. Before he could think, Mitch pulled Enrico into the shadows.

Holding him close, inhaling his scent, Mitch didn't know what the hell he was doing. He only knew he needed this, just to steal this one moment of holding on, of feeling Enrico against him, his hands rubbing Mitch's back as he sighed.

A dog barked and they broke apart. Mitch came back to his senses more or less and told Enrico. "I better go see what Sammy is up to."

He had to steady himself as he walked away in search of his kid. Mitch found her over by Sam's vegetable garden. She and Gloria had Sam cornered and both of them were saying "flowers" over and over again while apparently being egged on by Mrs. Del Rio. Confused, Mitch hung back trying to figure out what was happening, and Enrico showed up and went over to Sam.

"Are they possessed?" Enrico asked Sam.

"They're trying to talk me into planting flowers instead of vegetables?" Sam explained.

"Just do it. Do whatever they want before their heads start spinning around," Enrico told him. At that, the girls looked up at him questioningly and he stepped back from them.

The dogs ran by and got the girls' attention, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is it safe?" Wyatt asked as he came over to stand next to Mitch.

"Enrico rescued your fiancé," Mitch informed him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Sam and Enrico were now caught up in a discussion with Mrs. Del Rio.

"Ah. You call him Enrico?" Wyatt said like that was significant for some reason.

"That's his name," Mitch stated. He was suddenly having to explain himself when it came to Enrico, and he felt intensely uncomfortable.

"And to think I objected when Sam called him Rico," Wyatt said with a shake of his head.

"Why would you object?" Mitch wondered.

"I was jealous. But it turns out calling him Rico means nothing. Enrico sounds much sexier," Wyatt said with a wicked grin.

Mitch almost asked him if he was implying something, but he really didn't want to know. As Wyatt walked away, Mitch turned to find Enrico standing behind him and giving him an ironic smile.

"See how that backfired on you?" Enrico said.

"What did?" Mitch asked, but he could guess what he meant.

"You wanted to create some distance between us by calling me Enrico, but you ended up just making it more sexy," Enrico pointed out.

"How did Wyatt know there was something going on between us?" Mitch asked. He tried not to make it sound like an accusation, but Enrico took it that way anyway.

"Maybe you gave away our dirty secret because you have a terrible poker face," Enrico shot back.

"Never mind," Mitch said but Enrico still looked angry and refused to drop it.

"So it bothers you that much that someone might know we sucked each other off a few times. Like that's some big fucking deal," Enrico said between gritted teeth, making sure to keep his voice low.

"It's not to you, I guess," Mitch knew he sounded and looked hurt.

Enrico gave him a challenging glare. "So you want it to mean something, but you don't want anyone to know about it?"

"I didn't say that," Mitch said defensively.

"No, because you don't know what the fuck you want," Enrico spat out.

Mitch looked away from him and noticed how the breeze had picked up and the air had cooled. Above them, gray clouds were moving fast and smothering the sky. "It looks like it might rain. We should be going," Mitch said.

The weather did look like it would turn rough, but it was just an excuse. He couldn't get into that kind of discussion with Enrico.

He collected Sammy, said goodbye to Wyatt and Sam and drove off, but he couldn't stop regretting how the evening ended. He hated it, but maybe it was inevitable that they would clash. And Enrico was right. Mitch had no clue what he wanted other than Enrico within easy reach, arms locked around him, breathing against him.