Chapter 21

 

After Mitch and Sammy left, Rico split his time between working and telling himself to stop thinking about Mitch. It was ten percent working, ninety percent trying to kick Mitch out of his head.

Then his phone rang, and of course his first thought was that it was Mitch. It was his grandmother calling. When he answered, he noticed that she sounded deliberately calm.

"I'm over at Mitch's, sweetheart. There was a break-in, but everyone is alright. Someone busted the back door when Mitch and Sammy were in town. The sheriff is over here checking things out," his grandmother told him, and instantly his breath was knocked out of him.

"I'll be right there," Rico managed to say and he rushed out of the café without telling anyone that he was leaving or why. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. In his head he kept repeating that everyone was alright, but he needed living proof.

After driving like a maniac, he ran up the porch steps. He had to see with his own eyes that Mitch and Sammy were OK.

He found Mitch and his grandmother right in the front hallway talking to the sheriff. Mitch had his back turned, but his grandmother saw him and she came over.

"Look at you. I told you they were alright, honey," she said to him.

"I just... Where's Sammy?" Rico asked since he didn't see her.

"In the kitchen with those kittens. They're still dusting for prints and whatever else they're looking for everywhere else in the house," his grandmother told him and Rico rushed off to see her.

Sammy was sitting on the floor with the kittens while the kitchen door stood open, the window in it cleared of glass.

"Watch out for the glass, Rico," Sammy warned him though the glass was all on the other side of the room.

He went over to her and kneeled down in front of her. "How are you doing?"

"I'm OK, Rico. But someone broke the window on the door," she said sadly then she sat up straight and put on a brave face. "Don't worry, Daddy will fix it. And look, Natalie and Veronica are OK."

"Yes, they are," Rico said as he took her tiny hand in his. It scared him so much to think that she could have been here when it happened, but she was holding up really well. She was too little to realize the danger. Rico tried not to show her his own fear, but she noticed that he wasn't himself.

"You need a hug, Rico?" she asked him and put her arms out.

Rico picked her up and hugged her. "Yes, I do. Thank you." He held her for a long time, so aware of how small she was.

He stayed with her and the kittens for a while to make sure she was OK. It turned out this wasn't her first break-in. She told him how someone broke a door to their apartment. "They took the TV and some of Daddy's tools too."

"Sorry. What matters is that everybody is OK," Rico told her and she agreed and looked down at the kittens. When she and Mitch arrived and found the house had been broken into, Sammy must have been worried about them.

 

Rico sat with her in the kitchen and got her a snack. Then once he saw that the deputies were finished in the rose sitting room, he took Sammy and the kittens over there. The sheriff was done talking to Mitch and his grandmother, so Rico went over to them.

"The sheriff says it was likely some vagrant. They sometimes break into the houses that sit empty and just crash there," his grandmother said. "This house was sitting empty for quite a while."

"Or it might have been someone looking to steal something. Was anything taken?" Rico asked.

"Not that I can tell, but the place was tossed," Mitch said.

"There isn't much here worth stealing," his grandmother said. "There is a mess to be cleaned up in the basement. All the stuff you put in boxes is spilled all over. The rest of the house isn't as bad."

Rico thought it was weird that someone broke in, looked for something to steal and then left empty-handed. He turned to Mitch. "What about your tools?"

"They're all there. And I guess my laptop was too old to bother with, just like the two TVs in here."

"Maybe they ran off when you showed up," Rico said. That was a scary thought. Mitch and Sammy could have walked in on someone and things could have turned dangerous.

"A vagrant getting around on his own two feet would want smaller kinds of things that he can carry away and not be noticed," his grandmother theorized.

The whole time, Rico was thinking about how much he wanted to throw his arms around Mitch and hold on tight. He couldn't do that, and Mitch wouldn't want him to anyway.

Remembering how he left the café without a word, he texted Sam. He got a reply right away. "Glad everyone is OK. Hannah pocketed your tip from table four, and she's keeping it."

Rico knew he deserved that, and told Sam to pass on the thanks to everyone who had to cover for him. He looked up from his phone to find Mitch staring at him.

"You parked crazy. Did you rush over here?" he asked Rico.

"No, but I'll be staying to help clean up," Rico informed him. He then looked toward the kitchen and the messed up door. "It must have scared the hell out of you when you walked in here and saw that."

"It did," Mitch admitted. "Your grandmother offered for us to stay over at her place."

"Are you going to?" Rico wondered.

"I don't think that's necessary," Mitch said.

Rico frowned at him and wondered if Mitch refused her invitation because he didn't want to be in the same house with him. "So you feel safe staying here?"

"Sheriff Jackson said whoever broke in has probably moved on already. I put in a rush order for a new door, and I'll be installing it today. It's a more secure door than the old one," Mitch said. "We should be fine here."

"What if I stayed over here?" Rico asked. He wasn't just testing Mitch though. He needed to be here or he would go crazy worrying. "Just for tonight. I can sleep downstairs, keep my ears open for any suspicious noises, while you're upstairs closer to Sammy."

"That would be good," Mitch said and Rico was so shocked at his quick agreement, he had to swallow a lump in his throat. "I would feel better if you stayed over."

A little thrown by how easily he agreed, Rico could only nod. To shake off all the weird, conflicting reactions he had to spending the night at Mitch's, Rico got busy putting the house back in order. Sammy got into it too, pointing out to Rico and her dad where things should go.

Rico was relieved that she wasn't too upset. As they worked together to clean up everything, he hoped Sammy wouldn't notice the tension between him and her dad. Mitch wasn't showing any strain, but Rico didn't think his own poker face was any good.

Determined to keep Sammy busy and keep her spirits up, Rico asked her, "You want to help me make lunch?"

"What about Daddy?" she asked.

"I'm going to be taking down the old door so we can put in a new one," Mitch told her. "You guys are in charge of lunch."

"We'll make something good," Rico told Sammy.

Her idea of something good was grilled cheese sandwiches. Rico didn't mind. He figured they could all use some comfort food.

While Mitch worked on the door, he asked Rico for help a few times. Being near him, reminded of other times when they worked together, Rico didn't know how he would handle being in the same house with him all night. When his grandmother stopped by again and dropped off his backpack, the reality of the fact that he was staying here sank in even further.

As long as they had work to do, it wasn't so bad. The closeness as he helped Mitch was unnerving, but he could focus on what needed to be done. Once the new door was up, they got the basement back in order and then it was dinnertime.

This time Mitch was doing the cooking with Rico and Sammy helping out. There were a few times when Mitch's hand brushed his, and Rico had to grit his teeth against the painful jolt and the desire to touch Mitch's body all over.

Rico was sure that he wasn't having a similar effect on Mitch. Then Rico offered to set the table and reached for the stack of plates just as Mitch picked them up. There was the briefest touch against his bare forearm, and Mitch nearly dropped the stack of plates he was holding. Maybe Mitch wasn't as unaffected as he seemed, or maybe it was only the break-in that made him jumpy and not Rico.

 

After dinner, there were a few more uncomfortable moments as he hung out with Mitch and Sammy until it was her bedtime. Before she went to bed, Sammy picked out the rose sitting room for Rico to sleep in.

That's where he was putting some of his stuff, when Mitch stopped by. He had a kitten in each hand so he must have come down so he could take them up to Sammy.

"The couch in the living room is bigger. You'd be more comfortable in there," Mitch pointed out.

"This is fine," Rico said while both he and Mitch eyed the small, pink, tufted sofa doubtfully. "And if anyone tries to break in I'll clobber them with this." Rico showed Mitch the two by four he had picked as his weapon.

"Thanks for doing this," Mitch told him.

"No problem," Rico said. He should have just said goodnight, but he wanted to linger there with Mitch standing awkwardly in the doorway. He didn't care if the silence between them was comfortable or uncomfortable. He just wanted to be near him.

"I better go," Mitch said as the kittens started to get impatient.

"Good night," Rico said and tried not to show his regret.

"Good night."

As Mitch left, Rico dropped into the sofa, threw his head back and breathed deep, like he had been holding his breath the whole time he was there. Why couldn't he stop wanting him?