Chapter 20

 

Mitch thought it was bad when he spent all night thinking his bed was too big and obsessing about Enrico, his body, his taste, how good it felt to make him come, but this was worse. He kept hearing Enrico's angry voice that now had a sharp, ragged edge he had never heard before. Mitch saw the hurt look in his eyes, an expression that hovered on the edge of hate. Those things stirred the need in him to reach out and do whatever it took to soothe away Enrico's pain.

That was the very thing Mitch couldn't do when he was face to face with him. Enrico was like some wild thing, wounded and lashing out, leaving him no way to approach.

Maybe that was just an excuse. Wasn't he really hoping it was over, and he wouldn't have to ask himself any more why he wanted Enrico so much? It wasn't working out that way though.

Mitch was still restless, still aching for Enrico while the whole time wondering if this thing between them was really over. Words like "It's only a lovers' quarrel" sometimes came into his head to taunt or to console him, he didn't know which.

It made him wonder if Stella was a test and he let her keep trying to win him over to see if she could. Mitch didn't think he was encouraging her, but the questioning in his head wouldn't stop especially when he remembered Enrico calling him a coward.

Then there was Sammy who got used to having Enrico around. She kept asking why he didn't come over and why he couldn't stay. Mitch just told her he was busy at the café. She didn't question that explanation, but she knew something was off.

 

That morning Mitch was thinking of making her pancakes to cheer her up. He was just about to pull out the ingredients when he heard a light, rhythmic knock on the door. Enrico didn't knock like that, but Mitch still couldn't help hoping that it was him.

Opening the front door, he found Stella standing there in a cutoff shirt and running shorts with her hair up in a ponytail. She looked good, but Mitch didn't spend any time enjoying the sight. He was busy making sure that she wouldn't think he had any intention of inviting her in. To give her a strong hint, he stepped out to talk to her.

"I was just going for a run, and I dropped by to thank you again for letting me stay over," she said with a bright smile.

"Sure. No problem and thank you for breakfast," Mitch told her, measuring his tone carefully so he didn't sound too eager to do it again.

"Daddy?" Sammy called out from inside. She was probably wondering who he was talking to.

"We have a visitor," Mitch told her.

Sammy couldn't tell who it was so she eagerly ran over. "Rico?" she exclaimed then her face fell on seeing Stella just outside the door. "Hi, Gloria's aunt."

"Hi, sweetie pie. Just call me Stella," she said leaning down to talk to Sammy.

"OK," Sammy said, but she was clearly disappointed that it wasn't Enrico instead of her.

She ran off to the kitchen and that gave Mitch a reason to tell Stella he had to go. "Sorry, I just started something. I better see to it. Nice seeing you."

"You too," Stella said, and with a little wave, she jogged away. Instead of watching her bounce away while her ponytail swayed, Mitch simply shut the door, relieved that she was gone.

 

In the kitchen, he found Sammy supervising the kittens while they ate. He stopped short when he heard what she was telling them. "It wasn't Rico, but he is gonna come back soon. He's our friend."

As Mitch hovered in the doorway and worried about how attached Sammy was to Enrico, she noticed him there. "When is Rico gonna come?" Sammy asked. "Natalie and Veronica want to know. They miss him."

"Oh, do they? I don't know yet." Mitch wasn't sure if Enrico was coming by at all. Aside from whether Enrico would be there today or the next day, there was an even bigger problem looming over them. Mitch decided to address it right now. "Honey, you know this isn't our house, right?"

"We live here," she stated unequivocally.

"Right, but we won't always live here," Mitch told her.

"Why?"

Mitch decided to keep it simple. "Because the house will be sold to someone else."

"Oh, no," she said and she hugged Veronica to her.

"We'll move somewhere new and that will be a nice place too," Mitch said, but all he could think was how Enrico wouldn't be there.

"We won't move far away, will we, Daddy? We have to stay in Peach Tree so we can see Rico and everybody," she said.

"That might..." he started to say, but Sammy kept staring up at him with those open and trusting, blue eyes and he couldn't tell her. He only smiled and said, "How about if we go out for breakfast?"

"Yes. We can go see Rico," she said enthusiastically, and Mitch had to wonder if that's why he was changing his breakfast plans.

Telling himself to stay away from Enrico didn't do any good so far. Mitch wanted Sammy to be able to see him, but he knew being around him would be difficult. For Sammy, he would go.

Things between him and Enrico were sure to be tense, but he didn't care if being around him was uncomfortable or even painful. He felt compelled to go, like everything in his life conspired to push him toward Enrico no matter how hard he fought.

 

***

 

That morning, Rico was wiping the counter when he looked up and saw Lara coming through the café doors. Seeing her, he froze and kept watching the door, but there was no sign of her sister. The only one with her was Gloria.

They came over to the counter and Rico greeted them, "Hi little red, big red."

"He gave us nicknames, Momma," Gloria said.

"Aha. Put some peaches and cream waffles in front of her, will you? And I'll take my coffee over here so we can talk," Lara told him.

"Sure," Rico said. He served Gloria then stepped over to the side with Lara and steeled himself for an uncomfortable conversation.

"How are you doing?" she asked him like someone who already knew the answer.

"OK," he told her.

"And how are you and Mitch doing?" she asked pointedly.

Rico groaned. Since she was Stella's sister, he didn't feel free to spill his guts to her, but she obviously already knew something.

"Stella told me where she hauled up when she went AWOL that night," Lara told him.

"Mitch kindly put her up after you guys had a fight or whatever," Rico said and he didn't hide how he felt about it.

Lara didn't look pleased either. "She only told me the storm caught her outside. You're telling me she made up a fight between us as an excuse to sleep over at Mitch's?" Lara huffed angrily. "I love her like a sister, but I will yank every last bleached blond hair out of her head. She has no right to use me like that."

"It's not her fault," Rico said. "Mitch..." He could hardly say his name without feeling like he would break down. And what would he say anyway. Mitch wasn't helpless.

"Sorry, honey," Lara said. "I guess that man needs to figure out what the hell he wants."

"I think he has," Rico said dourly.

"No. Guys get confused," she told him.

"I'm not confused," Rico said. Actually he was, just not in the same way as Mitch.

"Yeah? I guess I can't blame you for not wanting to hang around while that big lug tries to figure himself out," Lara said. "As for my sister, she used to flirt with my ex, and she went after more than one of my boyfriends. She's that kind of sister. That's why I love Noreen to bits. She's a straight shooter, honest as they come."

Rico was kind of shocked to hear Lara singing her praises. Noreen would be too considering how relentlessly Lara always needled her. "Can I quote you on that?" he asked her.

"Not on your life. You say I said anything nice about that skinny, little, coffee guzzling toothpick, and I'll call you a damn liar," Lara told him.

Rico laughed. "You're not fooling anyone. I don't know how I keep myself from yelling at you and Noreen to just get a room already."

"She should be so lucky," Lara said but then she grew serious again. "But as far as Stella is concerned, more than once she had me half convinced that something went on with a guy when not a thing happened. It's one of her tactics—make everyone believe the deal is already done. Don't fall for it. I bet she got nowhere with Mitch."

"I don't have a claim on Mitch. He can do whatever he wants," Rico said bitterly, but Lara looked skeptical.

She went over to sit with Gloria, who fed her a bite of her waffle. Lara was sure nothing happened, and Rico didn't exactly doubt her.

Maybe Mitch didn't do anything, but it wasn't really about that. That morning, Rico didn't see any sign that Mitch didn't like having Stella getting all domestic in his kitchen. He probably thought she looked just right all girly in that apron.

Rico had told Mitch he wanted him to kick her out. But what he really wanted was for Mitch to say, "I'm seeing someone, a guy who means a lot to me, and I think I'm falling for him hard."

Imagining Mitch saying those words, Rico wanted to laugh and cry. He was so stupid. Mitch wouldn't say that in a million years. Rico was the one falling hard and crashing into a pit of despair because he threw himself at that man.

"You OK?" Sam asked as he appeared next to him.

"Fine. Just being stupid," Rico told him and tried to wipe the gloom from his face.

"Incoming," Lara called out.

Rico looked toward the door and felt the floor shift under him. Mitch was coming in with Sammy who waved at Rico happily. Gloria squealed Sammy's name, and ran over to her while Mitch made his way over to the counter.

"You want me to be mean to him?" Sam whispered.

"You know how?" Rico asked him pointedly.

Sam looked indignant. "I do know how to be mean. One of these days I might just show you," he threatened while giving him his best gray-eyed glare. Rico grinned at him, but he was a wreck inside.

Gloria kept Sammy busy, and Lara gave Rico a signal that she would keep the girls occupied so he and Mitch could talk. Everyone was always making sure he got to speak to Mitch, but so far that never turned out well.

"Morning, Enrico," Mitch said as he took a seat at the counter. "Sammy wanted to see you, so we had to come over here since you're avoiding me."

"I'm still helping at the house," Rico said.

"You're avoiding me," Mitch insisted.

"I've been busy," Rico told him.

"That's what I've been telling Sammy, but she misses you," Mitch told him. "Soon I'll need your help when the plants are delivered and we still have some painting to do downstairs."

Rico shut his eyes and bit his tongue. He hated Mitch's shoptalk, but he had to swallow his reaction. He decided to be businesslike too.

"So what can I get you?" he asked.

Mitch looked confused, like he didn't realize he had come to an establishment that served food. He stared at Rico then frowned and said, "I'm not really hungry. Just something for Sammy."

Rico was about to insist he have something, but then he realized that would sound like he cared, like he wanted to take care of him and feed him when he really wanted Mitch to just go to hell.

While he was busy getting Sammy's order, Rico heard her excited chatter. She had run over to Mitch with some news. "Daddy, I'm gonna be a peach, a little peach."

"OK," Mitch said and looked from Sammy to Rico and then over at Lara.

"We have to hijack her adorableness for the Peach Festival and parade," Lara told him.

"You've seen the posters advertising the Peach Festival. Lara is in charge of that," Rico told him. "For the parade, the kids dress as peaches and stumble down Main Street."

"Peach Street," Lara corrected him. "I expect you and Rico to help out and sign up as worker bees."

"I'm not volunteering if you're going to call us cutesy names," Rico warned her, and he also wondered if this was her attempt at trying to reconcile them.

"Call yourself whatever you like. I'm putting you down as a volunteer," she told him totally ignoring the meaning of that word. She wasn't so bossy with Mitch though. "I think we might need you for the kind of work you get paid for, so I'd like to hire you. I'll talk some numbers with you soon."

"Alright," Mitch said but he also frowned. Maybe he wouldn't be around for the festival. Was that what he was thinking?

Rico found himself hoping that getting some paid work out of it might keep him around. Why couldn't he stop thinking like that?

 

After Lara and Gloria left, Rico got to spend some time with Sammy, but he forced himself to pretty much ignore Mitch. Sam tried nudging him to try and mend fences with him, but Rico wasn't about to start kissing up to the guy. It was easier to stay behind his wall of anger. If he let it collapse, Rico knew the sadness he was holding back would crush him.

Despite his best defenses, he felt some of that pain hit him as he watched Mitch and Sammy walk out the door. Sammy turned back to wave and Rico waved at her too.

"Damn it, why can't you two just make up?" Sam grumbled next to him.

"There isn't that much to salvage, that's why. It's like when you drop a penny on the ground, and you can't be bothered to bend down to pick it up," Rico told him morosely.

"Is Mitch the penny?" Sam asked.

"No. I am," Rico said. That was especially true if Mitch wasn't going to be sticking around once the work on the house was finished.

"That's so dumb," Sam told him. He grabbed Rico before he could walk away and gave him a hug. "You're too stubborn for your own good."

"I just need to be mad for a while. It makes me feel stronger, and I'm pretty sure Mitch deserves it," Rico said as Sam let him go. "He's deep in the closet, and I don't think he's coming out, not for me anyway." He heard a terrible finality in his own words and a new hopeless pain sliced through him. Fuck Mitch for doing this to him.

Rico had to protect his heart, to fight his need for Mitch. If he stopped struggling against his feelings, it wouldn't end there. He might not stop at just wanting Mitch. He might end up falling hopelessly in love with him.