“Champurrado. It’s sort of like hot chocolate,” he told me as he carefully sat next to me on the couch and wrapped one of the blankets around us.
I took a sip of it, letting the flavors explode over my tongue. “Delicious.”
Relief filled his scent. “Oh, good. This is my favorite. It’s my abuelita’s recipe. I brought everything with me in case we couldn’t find it. Though I probably didn’t make it as good as hers.”
“I love it. Abuelita. That’s a granny right? I think all we can do is aspire to replicate our granny’s recipes without disgracing them and hope that one day, by the time we’re the grannies, we’ve gotten close enough.” I snuggled into him, taking another sip.
He made me his granny’s hot chocolate? My heart swelled. If that wasn’t love, I wasn’t sure what was.
“That is a really good way of thinking,” he told me. “What is your recipe that you aspire to?”
“Chocolate cake. There’s something about the frosting that isn’t quite right, but only I can taste it,” I told him.
I took another sip. What delighted me most was the little brown mugs. Mine had little stars on them. Carlos’ was a little rounder, with little squiggly designs.
“These cups. Were they in the cupboard?” Could I abscond with one?
“I brought them. My tia, my auntie, makes them. She has her own studio and everything. I brought everyone one. And you can keep it. It has your name on it.” He smiled and took a sip.
“Oh?” There was my name, right there on the handle. “Thank you. I love it.”
So not only had he brought everything to make me his granny’s hot chocolate, but he had special mugsmadefor us?
This was why I was in love with this man.
We watched the movie, my eyelids growing heavy. I was so snuggly warm.
The door opened.
“You two look cozy.” Saoirse smirked. She glanced at the TV and sighed. “We’re in Switzerland and you’re watchingthis?”
“It’s in German, therefore it’s a cultural experience,” I told her, pausing it. Also, it had subtitles.
“Sit. Let me make you something.” Carlos shot up off the couch as she hung up her jacket and took off her boots.
“Join me,” I demanded, pouting when she gave me a puzzled look.
“Alright, then.” Saoirse snuggled under the blankets with me.
Carlos was at the stove, probably warming up what he’d made for me.
“Did you have fun?” I asked her.
“Yes. I even found a good trail to race Hale down. But the larger question is, do I want to?” Her look went skeptical.
“He’s using it for views, so the larger conversation is making sure your identity is concealed, because he has a decent following.” I showed her his follower count.
She frowned. “People do enjoy watching dumbassery.”
Carlos brought over a mug for her with little dots on it. Steam rose from it, and a cinnamon stick stuck out.
“Thank you.” She took a sip and nodded. “This is very nice.”
The three of us sat on the couch to finish watching the movie, with all the blankets piled on us. I laid my head on Saoirse’s shoulder, my legs over Carlos.
“Anyone home?” Dusty bounced through the door. While I was pretty sure he’d been wearing a shirt and a jacket earlier, he was now shirtless, but he had on one of those hats with the puffball and hanging tassels.
Oh, the jacket was in his arms. He hung it up by Saoirse’s. I paused the movie.
