"Sam can do anything," Wyatt said and got a blissful look on his face. Then he turned to Mitch with a wicked look in his eyes. "And he's all mine."
"Good thing your wedding is pretty soon," Mitch told him wryly.
"Right after the Peach Festival. I can't wait." Wyatt sighed. "God, I feel so lucky. Sam and the kids. Everything. You really should consider staying here. I think this place is magic or something," he urged Mitch.
"Must be the peaches," Mitch said.
"Maybe. I kissed Sam under the peach trees on the hill for the first time. That's why we are getting married up there." Wyatt had such a dreamy look on his face, which changed to a determined frown as he went off to go be with Sam right that second.
Mitch shook his head at him and went over to Enrico. He was checking to make sure they had enough ice in the coolers.
"I'm getting more ice and more beers," Enrico told him. He pulled the few beers that were left in there and spilled out the water.
"I'll help." Carrying the cooler, Mitch went along with him.
As they found themselves alone in the kitchen, Enrico told him, "I'm glad you and Wyatt get along. It's good for you to have someone to talk to."
"Why would I need to talk to someone?" Mitch asked since Enrico sounded uncharacteristically solemn when he said that.
Opening the fridge, Enrico grabbed several beer bottles and turned to him. "To get things off your chest, to bitch about me."
"I can do that with you, can't I?" Mitch said as he made sure that the too many beers Enrico was holding made it into the cooler safely.
"Sure, but I warn you, I plan to take sides," Enrico said and dumped a bag of ice into the cooler.
Mitch grinned as he picked up stray ice cubes off the floor. "I'm not really used to spilling my guts to anyone. I didn't have anyone to talk to a lot of the time growing up. Or later too, not until I met Ellie. She made me open up a little."
"What did she use? The jaws of life?" Enrico asked.
"I opened up to you more than to her, you know," Mitch informed him.
"Really?" Enrico said and fixed him with a sly, teasing look.
"Yes. You're relentless. I had no choice," Mitch said as Enrico came over, wrapped himself around him and kissed his neck.
"You could have said I'm easy to talk to," Enrico complained while Mitch rubbed his hands down his back and over his ass.
"You're not too bad," Mitch told him as he groped him lightly.
"Whoa, easy on the compliments," Enrico said and Mitch was reminded that he didn't always know how to tell him how amazing he was.
"You're great. I like talking to you. I like doing everything with you," Mitch told him. He wanted to say more, but the urge to kiss Enrico took over. He couldn't resist it, and he let their mouths meld and their tongues dance while his heart thumped right up against Enrico's chest.
***
Guests were starting to leave the party, but things were still pretty lively. Mitch went off to talk to some people who were about to leave. Grandma said they might hire him to do work on their house, but Rico tried not to get his hopes up.
His grandmother organized this shindig just so everyone could ogle Mitch and she could brag about him. At one point she even had Sammy doing it.
She was telling people, "My Daddy can fix anything."
Mitch called it false advertising, but he was a modest guy. He needed an aggressive PR team like those two.
Rico was pretty sure his grandmother was scheming to keep Mitch in town, and he had to wonder if she was doing that for his sake. When he had asked her about it, she said, "Lord save me from trying to pick a boyfriend for you." But he wasn't sure if he could believe her denial. She was a sneaky old lady.
Rico was standing with Sam as he and Wyatt talked wedding preparations with Grandma, Lara and Noreen. Preoccupied with Mitch, Rico wasn't really listening though. Their wedding talk only reminded him how far he and Mitch were from making any sort of commitment or future plans. He was afraid to even bring up the subject. No news was good news.
Peeling off from the group of kids who were still playing together, Sammy ran over to him and his grandmother. "Did you hear? I'm gonna be a flower girl. Me and Gloria."
