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And, well, that was fair enough, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like I’d been clumsy and careless. I’d been startled.
“There’s Ant,” he said as we both heard footsteps in the hall.
And there he was, a younger version of Emilio, but with a slightly broader build, and that little bit of extra softness to his jaw that young guys had that they lose over time, giving them that more rugged look.
“Got the burn stuff,” he said to his brother, then looked behind him. “She cooked?” he asked.
“She is sitting right there,” Emilio said, waving toward me.
“You cooked?”
“I… attempted,” I admitted. “I need to talk to your brother about more kitchen supplies, so I don’t fuck up to this scale again,” I said.
“Smells good,” Ant said, shrugging.
“Avery, this is my brother, Anthony. Ant, this is Avery.”
“Hey, sorry I cursed before we were even introduced. It’s a character flaw. A hard to break habit, it seems,” I said, wincing at Emilio who just shook his head at me, unbothered. “There’s plenty of pasta if you want to stay. Or to take some with you,” I quickly added, not wanting to invite someone else to Emilio’s home.
“Yeah, I’ll take a plate back with me,” Ant said, handing his brother the bag, then moving into the kitchen to help himself.
“I should have asked before I offered,” I said in a whisper as Emilio approached me.
“Nah. My family will always come and go as much as they want without an invitation, so it was the right thing to offer him some food.”
“It’s not much,” I said, loud enough to include Anthony. “There were no spices to work with, so I had to use a jar of sauce.”
“Was there not enough money?” Emilio asked, frowning as he uncapped the burn gel.
“Oh, no. There’s still plenty of money. I left it with the receipts from today’s shopping. I just… I didn’t want to use your money to buy things without your permission,” I told him as he crouched down in front of me, reaching for one of my arms. Rolling up my sleeve, he started to rub a thin layer of the gel on.
“I get that it’s new and you probably feel weird, but if what you are buying is for the house, in any capacity, then you have permission to buy it. Furniture, bath stuff, spices, anything.
“And if you’re on the clock and you’re away from the house at a meal hour, you can go ahead and eat too. And you don’t need to leave the receipts,” he added as he finished with my second arm, and I tried to pretend that his barely-there touch didn’t have me getting the tinglies.
“Say okay, so I know you’re not going to be tiptoeing around the money thing,” he said.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I did buy furniture today,” I told him.
“Good. Did you get everything you needed?”
“I mean, I only need a halfway decent futon to sleep on, but I think I did pretty well for your house. If you don’t like anything, you can let me know and I’ll have it taken back.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” he said. “There. How’s it feel?”
It took me a beat to realize he meant the gel on my arms because I was a little drunk on the woodsy scent of him up close.
“It’s fine. Really,” I assured him.
“I’m out. Thanks for the food, Avery,” Ant said, waving his plastic fork at me on his way out of the kitchen.
“Come on. Let’s eat,” Emilio said, turning to go put some food onto plates.
“Busy day?” I asked, when he sat in one of the fold-up chairs and let out a deep sigh.
“Yeah,” he said, voice small. And was that a hint of, I don’t know, pain in it? I didn’t even know this guy, but my heart went out to him at that moment.
“Sounds like you need to eat half your body weight in pasta and garlic bread, have a drink, and then go to bed early,” I said. “I mean, I would recommend a soak to you, but I don’t think I know any guys who actually take baths.
“You all should, though. Nothing will help you calm down faster when shit is stressful. I have this horrible bath at home. One of the usual tub/shower combos. But it’s not as deep as some. So it’s essentially like taking a hip and leg shower while the rest of you stays out of the water, freezing.”
God.
I couldn’t ever shut up, could I?
Like he wanted to know about my damn shower back at the apartment that I was probably being evicted from as we spoke.
The landlord was only going to forgive my late rent for so long before he kicked me out, no matter how much he liked me.
“I’m not a bath person,” Emilio admitted. “The one in the primary bathroom has never been used. If you’re ever in need of calming down, it’s there,” he offered.
