Chapter 7

 

Today Rico had the early shift at the café, and the whole time he wished he was over at the house doing manual labor and helping Mitch. That was so dumb. It made him want to bang his head against a wall to teach himself not to think like that. He was going to be in so much trouble if he didn't get his attraction to a straight guy under control.

He had already whined to Sam about it, but now Lara and Noreen were there getting takeout and they wanted to know about Mitch too. Lara was a flashy, redhead while Noreen, her best friend, was the no-nonsense elementary school teacher. She was petite and mousy, with short hair, a cute face and big brown eyes, but she was feared by all school-aged kids. Sam was taking care of their order, but they stopped Rico as he was passing by.

"Spill it. How hunky is the new, hunky guy? Sam here is no help. He only has eyes for his fiancé," Lara said to him.

Rico thought about how to sum him up. "OK. Mitch should not be legally permitted to wear a tool belt."

At that, Lara wiped her brow and tossed her red hair. "Sounds like a scorcher. I can't believe your grandmother. Every time she spots a hunky guy passing through town, she snags him for herself. Sam, and now this Mitch."

Sam immediately looked mortified.

Noreen corrected her. "I think Wyatt was the one who snagged Sam for himself with his 'Waa, I can't cook' ploy. And I'm sure Mitch has fallen into Rico's clutches by now," she said and fixed him with an accusing glare.

"Hey, leave me out of your gossip. Mitch and I are just working together," Rico told them, but he was really the one who needed to remember that.

"Pft. Us small town busybodies are not going to leave you alone. This is a sleepy, little town. Gossip is all we got," Lara told him.

"Just don't start any rumors that involve me. I would be mega stupid to get hung up on a straight guy," Rico warned her or maybe himself.

Then Sam asked an interesting question. "Is he straight?" He seemed to be doubting it, and that made Rico start to hope. What was Sam doing to him?

"If you have any doubts, I can test him out for you," Lara offered with an evil grin that made Rico's blood run cold.

"I don't even want to know what you have in mind," Rico said, waving her off.

But Lara wasn't letting go of her idea. As she and Noreen picked up their order, she mused, "Actually when Gloria is back from her dad's, we should go introduce ourselves to the new guy and his kid."

"I hate you," Rico said as she left, laughing wickedly.

"At least you'll know for sure if he's straight, and Sammy will have a little playmate," Sam consoled him.

 

The lunch rush was only starting when Grandma called Rico over and drew his attention outside. Out there, he saw Mitch and Sammy as they were passing by.

"I'll wave them in and see if we can feed that strapping man some lunch. You don't mind do you?" Grandma said to Rico, teasing him.

As she went to drag them inside, Mitch had his usual serious expression on his face, but Sammy gave Grandma a sweet smile. Grandma ushered them over to Rico so he could seat them in his section.

"I guess you get to feed us again," Mitch said and gave Rico a cautious smile.

"Just making myself useful," Rico told him and gave him an ironic look before he handed them menus.

He didn't think he would be seeing Mitch and Sammy until he went over to the house after lunch. It was a nice surprise, but he was kicking himself for being so glad to see them.

"Rico," Sammy said as she frowned up at him. "We had to leave the kitties home alone. Do you think they're sad?"

"They're not alone. They're together," Mitch pointed out reasonably. "We took the kittens to the vet in Ashbury this morning. They had enough adventures today."

Sammy wasn't convinced though. She still looked up at Rico, waiting to hear what he had to say about it.

"They won't be sad if you bring them a present," Rico told her.

Grandma was still lurking around, and she had an idea. "You can make a fishing pole and hang something from a string and drive those little suckers crazy."

Sammy didn't quite get the idea of a fishing pole for cats, but Mitch did. "We can make something like that. The kittens will like it."

Rico watched the smile he gave Sammy and how his eyes brightened. Watching that man so closely was a bad habit, but Rico couldn't resist those little glimpses into Mitch's heart.

He took their order and thought that it was too bad Lara was gone and she couldn't test him out right here and now, confirm Mitch was straight and cure Rico of these hopeful urges that kept sneaking up on him. Or maybe it wasn't too bad. With her feisty, redheaded charms and her impressive curves, she might turn Mitch's head, and then Rico would spend all his time seething with jealousy.

 

When Rico came back with their order, Grandma was questioning Sammy. "How do you like that house, Sammy?"

"It's nice and big. But Daddy said he has to take away the flowers," Sammy said.

"What flowers?" Grandma asked while Rico frowned at Mitch for whatever he was going to do to some poor flowers.

"The wallpaper. She fell in love with the rose wallpaper in that little sitting room," Mitch told them.

"Is that pretty wallpaper in good shape?" Grandmother asked.

"It's intact and that room is well shaded, so it's not faded," Mitch said.

"Then leave it up," Grandma decided on the spot. "We'll keep it."

That made Sammy smile, but Mitch was obviously surprised that Grandma would indulge her like that.

He still looked confused as Rico put their lunch in front of them, so he told Mitch, "That's Grandma for you. Don't try to understand her. That way lies madness."

Grandma looked at him sideways and shook her head at him. Mitch gave him a small smile, which stirred Rico's heart. As he lingered by their table, Rico had to stop liking every little thing about the man.

"Are you gonna come to the house, Rico?" Sammy wanted to know.

"I'm coming by a little later today," Rico told her and she looked happy. "OK then, enjoy your lunch guys." He was about to go seat some tourists who had just walked in, when his grandmother stopped him.

"Let Sam take care of them. You can finish out your shift, and then just head back with Mitch when he's ready to go," she told him.

"I guess you have things covered here," Rico said.

Later, as he took the bill to Mitch, he told him the plan. "That way I can catch a ride with you guys. So don't leave without me," he said to Sammy.

"I was going to pick up a few things at the hardware store first then head back," Mitch said.

"I'll go with you. Maybe I'll grab myself a tool belt and one for Sammy," Rico told him, but Sammy didn't look eager for a tool belt of her own.

 

At Beatty's Hardware, Rico stuck with Sammy and she tried on some nuts and washers as rings, putting on as many as she could fit on her tiny fingers.

"Take a picture of this," Rico told Mitch, and he did.

"Better put those back where they belong," Mitch said to both him and Sammy.

"Yes, sir," Rico told him and gave him a grin.

Though Mitch gave him a stern look, Rico could tell that he liked to see his kid having fun. From what Rico saw, the man could use some fun in his life too. But if he was straight, then Rico wasn't the man for the job.

"Light bulbs?" he said when he saw Mitch get a pack of them. "I'll get some too. Grandma can use them. You saw the million Tiffany lamps she has strewn everywhere. Half of them have burnt out bulbs. You need anything, Sammy?"

She wanted quite a few things, but Mitch shook his head at all of them. But he did get some materials to build a screen to keep the kittens from going everywhere.

 

Arriving at the house, Sammy ran straight to the kittens to greet and console them for being lonely. First thing Rico and Mitch had to do was make her a toy fishing pole. There were plenty of sticks around and they hung a curtain tie with a tassel from the stick. Grandma wanted the curtains gone anyway, and the kittens were batting at that thing like crazy.

Then Rico and Mitch got down to some real work. Today Rico was holding the boards Mitch needed to cut to fix the rest of the porch.

"Letting you have so much time off from the café isn't a problem?" Mitch asked.

"Grandma has two high school kids working for her, and they get extra hours over the summer. And Magda grabs all the extra work she can. Then there is Sam, Grandma's darling boy."

"Her darling boy?" Mitch said noticing Rico's jealous tone.

"He's the perfect grandson she never had."

"You don't seem so bad. You and your grandma have a... unique relationship," Mitch said instead of what he was really thinking.

"She's the 'unique' one," Rico said. "I'm just trying to hold my own. And I don't really mind if she adopts Sam. He's a sweet guy."

"So opposites attract, I guess," Mitch taunted him.

"I'm damn sweet too, and I already told you I'm not attracted to him," Rico reminded him.

"He's not your type?" Mitch questioned him.

"You need to know my type for some reason?" Rico asked him pointedly.

"No," Mitch claimed and got busy so he wouldn't have to meet Rico's challenging stare.

After unsuccessfully trying to catch Mitch's eye, Rico looked up and saw a car pull into the driveway. At first he didn't know whose car it was then two redheads stepped out. That's when Rico remembered that Lara threatened that she would stop by with her daughter, Gloria, who was maybe a year older than Sammy.

Lara sauntered over to Rico and Mitch while her daughter yelled, "I'm gonna go look for the kittens, Momma. I'm gonna hug 'em." And she ran off.

"Be careful out there," Lara called after her then she stopped to greet Rico and Mitch. "Hi there. I'm Lara Salinger. Rico here said I should stop by. And that little screaming terror, who just ran off, is Gloria. Wyatt's boys told her about the kittens, and she went crazy."

"Hi, I'm Mitch McEvers," he said as he stood up and took off his work glove to shake hands with her.

Lara smiled at him for a long moment then looked around. "So you're fixing up this place. I almost forgot it was here," she said then Sammy and Gloria ran over, each one of them carrying a kitten in their arms.

"Look, Momma!" Gloria yelled.

"They're redheads like you guys," Rico realized.

"They are," Gloria said, delighted.

"This is Sammy, Mitch's daughter," Rico said. "And this is Gloria's mom, Lara."

"Nice of you to share your kittens with Gloria," Lara told her.

"You want to hold Natalie?" Sammy said, offering the kitten to Lara.

"Sure would," Lara said, taking her. "Natalie huh. I'm gonna call her Nat Nat." She nuzzled the kitten, but Sammy objected to the renaming.

"Nooo. Natalie," Sammy told her.

"Oh my, two bossy little girls. We're in for it," Lara said to Mitch and gave him a big, bright smile.

"If you give me your phone, I'll take a pic of the four redheads," Rico offered as he stepped between her and Mitch.

Lara had an amused look in her eyes as she handed over her phone while balancing Natalie on her forearm. Rico took some sweet pictures and tried not to notice that Lara really was attractive. But he couldn't read Mitch when it came to her. He acted the same as always. That man was a closed book.

Sammy had fun at least, and got to make a new friend. After Lara and Gloria left, Rico got to hold Natalie, "So you and the kittens made a new friend."

"Aha," Sammy said. "I'm gonna be friends with Gloria. But don't worry, I'm still gonna be friends with you too, Rico."

"That's good. Thank you," Rico said then he let Natalie scamper away so he could go back to doing some work.

The whole time, he couldn't stop thinking about Lara's visit. She and Mitch exchanged phone numbers for babysitting favors, but Rico hated the thought of her number in his phone.

Even at quitting time he was still worrying about Mitch being attracted to her. He wanted to stay over and guard Mitch, but he knew he had to go.

"I'll be making dinner with some of the food you got us, so you're welcome to stay," Mitch told him as he was putting away his tools.

Though tempted, Rico didn't think he should stay for dinner again tonight. "I better see if I'm needed at the café or something."

Sammy pouted at him for leaving then Mitch realized. "We brought you here. We need to give you a ride back."

Rico didn't accept that offer either. "Nah. I'll hike it to Grandma's and if she wants me at the café, I'll borrow her car."

"That's not a short walk," Mitch said.

"My legs aren't broken, and it's not that far when you cut across some fields."

"OK," Mitch said and walked him to the door. When Rico was a few yards away, he called out to him. "You left the light bulbs you bought in the car."

He came out and they went over to Mitch's car together. As he unlocked the door, they both ended up leaning in at the same time. Bumping into each other in the cramped space inside the open door, they stopped and just stared at each other.

For a moment Rico forgot what they were supposed to be doing. Instead of trying to remember, he let his instinct guide him closer to Mitch. He leaned into his space. Inching closer, he noticed that Mitch wasn't drawing back. Rico didn't stop until he made contact and his mouth was pressed to Mitch's.

At first their lips bumped like the contact was accidental, maybe even meaningless. Then Rico let his mouth open against his, and he heard Mitch grunt, felt him grab his arm.

That's when Rico should have stopped and apologized, but he only pushed in harder, opened his mouth more. Mitch's hand on his arm tightened, but instead of pushing him back, he held on while his mouth opened and his tongue licked the tip of Rico's. It was the most electric thing Rico over felt.

Then Mitch's mouth moved over his. His facial hair rubbed against Rico's upper lip and his chin. His tongue glided in between his teeth, and Rico moaned.

Maybe it was the sound of his moan that broke the spell, but suddenly Mitch pulled back. He looked startled as his gaze darted from Rico's eyes down to his guilty mouth. He then stepped back and seemed confused as he stared around him.

Sobering a little, Rico remembered what brought them over to Mitch's car and reached in for the shopping bag he left in front of the passenger seat. As he straightened, he heard Mitch try to speak then clear his throat for another try.

"What was that supposed to be?" Mitch asked, his voice tight and kind of stern, like Rico had something serious to answer for.

"Just confirming that you're straight," Rico said, like kissing straight guys was no big deal.

"Is that what you were doing?" Mitch said, but with hardly any accusation in his tone.

Rico didn't answer just stared at him with a look that was half dreaming, half questioning. Still breathing hard, Mitch couldn't hold his gaze. He looked toward the house where his kid was waiting for her dinner.

"See you," Rico told him vaguely and got on his way. At every step, he was afraid he would hear Mitch telling him not to come back. But he only heard the car door close and then the door to the house as Mitch went inside, and nothing else.

Rico left with memories of that kiss haunting him, replaying over his lips. But what the hell was he thinking doing something like that? Maybe it was Lara preening that pushed him into it. Whatever it was, it was dumb, and Rico was pretty sure that the fallout from what he did hadn't hit yet.

Rico didn't know what kind of damage he might have done. He would just have to wait and see, but one question was inescapable. Was that how a straight guy would respond if another man kissed him?