"We did find those old family albums you're sending off to his niece," Rico told her. In truth they weren't all that interesting though.
"I mean something scandalous. See, Harry's niece told me that there was a letter of apology that he left with his will. He wasn't apologizing to her. The letter said he hoped he would be forgiven, but he doesn't say what he's sorry for. By the sound of it, Harry regretted something that might come out, ruin his good name. Harry's niece asked me if I knew anything about that. I did not. He didn't spend much time here after he moved away. I hardly knew the man."
"And you say I'm crazy to talk about skeletons in the basement," Rico said. "But seriously, we didn't find any signs of a secret life."
"That was all his parents' stuff down there, and I already checked over the rest of the place when I bought the house. Not a scrap of anything exciting. The only halfway interesting thing is that bit of paper Mitch found," Grandma said. "Oh well. Some secrets get buried with the dead."
Rico made a noncommittal noise. He was only half listening, already thinking about the barbeque at Sam and Wyatt's. Sam had invited him, saying, "Of course you, Mitch and Sammy are coming."
He said it the same way Rico might say, "Sam, Wyatt and the boys," like they were inseparable. But as far as him and Mitch were concerned, that was so far from the truth.
It did have a nice ring to it though.
That evening, Rico was back at his grandmother's. He had showered then stood in front of the mirror with only a towel thrown over his shoulder. He tried to see himself with Mitch's eyes, but that was impossible. He never knew what that man was thinking.
Rico had a little bit of beard coming in and wondered if he should shave or cut his hair, or shave and not cut his hair, cut his hair and not shave. Ugh. What was Mitch doing to him?
He would bet anything Mitch wasn't obsessing about how to make himself more attractive to him. Rico needed to be more like that, play it cool and not act lovesick.
When Rico arrived in front of Sam and Wyatt's, the first thing he noticed was that Mitch's car wasn't there. He and his grandmother walked around to the back, where the action was. As he went over to greet Sam, Rico saw that he was looking over his shoulder.
"You didn't come with Sammy and Mitch?" he said.
"We aren't joined at the hip," Rico claimed.
"Is that right? I guess we think of you all as a package deal," Sam told him with a sly smile.
"Don't encourage my delusions, man," Rico warned him.
It wasn't long before Mitch and Sammy were there too. Sammy went off to run around with the boys and the dogs, and Wyatt showed off his grill to Mitch.
"I bought this monster of a grill, so I had to put it to good use. I'm still testing out my new barbequing skills though," Wyatt said.
"Thanks for inviting us," Mitch told him then he leaned over to see what he was cooking up. "Vegetables?"
"They taste really good from the grill. I'll just have to see if I can get the kids to eat them," Wyatt said as he scooped up green beans from a foil tray into a serving plate Sam held out for him.
Watching them work together hosting this dinner, Rico was so jealous. Of course he and Mitch sort of hosted a cupcake party, but it was hardly the same thing. Sam and Wyatt were so sure of each other, so in love, and they needed to stop flaunting it right now.
"You hate green beans?" Mitch guessed when he caught him frowning at Wyatt and Sam.
"I'll eat anything that comes off the grill. But I don't like Wyatt's odds when it comes to making the kids have any."
Wyatt was determined to try though. Standing shoulder to shoulder, Rico and Mitch watched his valiant effort.
Clustered around the table on the back porch, the kids were all frowning over a plate of roasted green beans Wyatt had served up. "Come on guys. They're good," he tried to convince them.
"They're green beans," Riley pointed out. There was no changing that fact.
The other kids nodded, but then DJ courageously volunteered to take one for the team. "I'll try them," he said.
Not to be outdone, his brother jumped in. "Me too. I'll try them too."
"Me too," Sammy said as well.
Then all three kids bravely bit into their green beans. At first they grimaced but then their faces brightened. "They aren't bad, Uncle Wyatt," Riley said, sounding shocked that they weren't terrible.
DJ did him one better. "Uncle Wyatt, they're good."
