"Cupcakes are just cute, little cakes, Daddy," Sammy said. "That's what Gloria's mom told us."
"I haven't made any big cakes either," Mitch confessed. "Baking just isn't my thing."
"Not manly enough," Enrico teased him as he poured him coffee and a glass of peach and orange juice mix for Sammy.
After taking a sip of his coffee, Mitch informed him, "It has nothing to do with manly. I'm just not good at it."
"What's the plan?" Enrico asked after he put in their orders.
"First I was going to Beatty's Hardware for some supplies," Mitch told him.
Enrico looked at Sammy then back at Mitch. "You know you're making cupcakes, right? Beatty's won't have what you need."
"We're going shopping for cupcake ingredients after, but I don't even know what kind to make," Mitch said. Sammy had given him some ideas, but they all came from watching Lara. They sounded way too complicated.
"Don't overthink it. Chocolate cupcakes, peanut butter frosting. Done," Enrico said and he mimed a mic drop.
"Done? I still have to actually make them," Mitch grumbled.
"I'll be there to help. But keep in mind that I never made cupcakes before," Enrico told him with a grin.
"In other words you only know how to get me into trouble, not how to get me out of it," Mitch said and Enrico shrugged.
Just as Mitch and Sammy were getting ready to leave, Enrico's grandmother came into the café. They stopped at the door to talk to her, and Sammy gave her the news about their cupcake party. Hearing what they were doing, she called Enrico over and sent him off to go with them.
"You have serious work to do helping with these important cupcakes, stop wasting time here," she told him.
Once Enrico joined Mitch and Sammy, the three of them stopped on the sidewalk outside the café to confer. "We could split up and get this done faster. I'm making lunch for the kids too, so I don't want to cut it too close," Mitch said.
"Sammy can take me food shopping. You know how to drive, right, Sammy?" Enrico said to her.
"No. You know how to drive," Sammy told him.
"In that case, we'll walk." He turned to Mitch, who tried not to notice how bright and beautiful his eyes looked in the morning sun. "You be good. We'll meet up with you at the car."
Mitch looked after them as they went off together. Sammy was holding Enrico's hand and chattering at him. As long as they were in sight, Mitch kept watching them with a smile on his lips, but for some reason his chest felt so tight it hurt.
Chapter 16
Rico really had to wonder if his grandmother was trying to push him and Mitch together. She was always giving him time off to help out with everything and anything from remodeling work to cupcakes. It was very suspicious.
For now, Rico set aside that concern. The shopping was done and they were back at the Dunbar house together spreading groceries all over the new countertop in the kitchen. That was mostly Sammy's doing as she showed Mitch what they bought.
"It's a sponge, Daddy," Sammy said as she held it up for him to see. The sponge was shaped like a flower with a smiley face on it.
"We had to get it. I'm looking forward to watching you wash dishes with it," Rico told him.
"We got seashell pasta too," she said and now she held up the box proudly.
"They look tasty," Mitch told her as she shook the box until he took it away.
"They will be once you make them into something," Rico said.
"I'll make it for the kids, but I'm not sure it will be to your taste," Mitch told him.
"I'm invited to lunch too?" Rico asked. He didn't think he was staying once he was done helping out.
"Of course. Unless you don't want to," Mitch told him.
