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.
Chapter 21
