Of Love and Corn Dogs (16 page)

“Dinner will be ready in a minute,” Maria called out.

“Time to sit.” Darwin pulled out the chairs for Ricky's mother and sister, then took his place at the head of the table. Ricky watched as one of the brothers collected a tureen from their mother, then carefully ladled soup into the waiting bowls, while the other put down baskets of piping hot rolls.

“This is Mexican beef soup,” Tomás said. “It's our grandmother's recipe that mama has adapted. She left out the meat in case anyone is vegetarian,” he explained.

“I wouldn't have had to if
someone
had done what I asked so I knew what to make.”

“I said I was sorry,” Darwin said petulantly. “It wasn't like you gave me a lot of time to get this together.”

Ricky glanced over at Maria, who had a slight grin on her face. She seemed perfectly at ease in her kitchen. His first bite of the soup had him wanting to beg for the recipe. He could taste the spices and herbs, the lime juice, and the garlic. Chunks of potato and cabbage swirled in the rich dark broth. Despite the uncomfortable weight in his stomach, Ricky grabbed a roll and slathered it with butter.

“This is so good,” he moaned, then shifted his gaze down to his plate.

Maria stepped up behind him and lightly pinched his cheek. “This is a good boy, Darwin. He knows how to make an old woman feel proud.”

“He's a suck-up,” Ricky's mother said. “He never compliments my food.”

“Maybe that's because your food isn't this good, Mom,” Trish teased.

“You raise them, and they turn into such asses,” his mother snapped.

Ricky's cheeks heated in embarrassment at his mother's language, but Maria laughed and said she couldn't agree more.

After their bowls were emptied, Maria's sons cleared them away, then put down a small salad with thick chunks of what appeared to be mango and avocado.

“This salad is a little sweet and just a bit spicy. It has mango, avocado, red cabbage, and mama's homemade cilantro-lime dressing. Just between us, it's probably the only salad I like.”

And Ricky enjoyed it, too. Sweet and tart commingled with just the right amount of heat to give Ricky's tongue a slight burn.

“Make sure you save room, though. Mama has made something special for dinner, and she's nervous about how it will turn out.”

“Martín!” Maria let fly with a string of words that Ricky didn't understand. Darwin's cheeks turned a bright red, and the two boys giggled and hurried out of the kitchen.

“She's telling them what ungrateful kids they are, then threatening to take away their video games,” Darwin said, his cheeks almost scarlet.

“I speak a little Spanish, and that definitely wasn't their video games she was threatening,” Trish said.

“I am so sorry,” Maria apologized. “They're good boys, even if sometimes they need to be disciplined. Unfortunately, Darwin refuses to do it.”

“Please,” Darwin said, frowning at Maria. “Your kids are way more afraid of you than of me. Hell,
I'm
afraid of you.”

That comment set everyone but Ricky to laughing. He wasn't sure why. It had been funny. But he couldn't get it out of his head that his family had come to a mansion for dinner with a man who had his staff serving them. The worst part about it? His mother and sister seemed to be perfectly at ease.

After the boys came back and cleared away the plates, they put down the main course. It smelled absolutely delicious and reminded Ricky of the cannelloni they served at Rossi's.

“This is a recipe I got from the internet—”

“That we had to help her find,” Martín said with a laugh.

“It has pan-roasted wild mushrooms, shallots, thyme, and a blend of other mushrooms. The sauce is made with sweet potatoes, so if anyone doesn't like it, I have other things I can cook for you.”

“Are you kidding?” Trish declared. “This smells amazing.”

“Thank you for your kind words,” Maria said, preening just a little.

Ricky pushed his plate away. Trish wasn't wrong, the food did smell great, but his stomach clenched, to an almost painful level. He stood and glanced around the table.

“I think I need to go home,” he said. “I'm not feeling so well.”

His mom stood and put her hand on his forehead, just as she'd done when he was little. “You're kind of clammy. What's wrong?”

He wanted to say his stomach, but Maria cast nervous glances at him, and he had no desire to upset her.

“I've got a headache,” he lied. “Maybe a migraine coming on.”

His mother gave him one of her patented looks that told him she knew better, because Ricky had never suffered a migraine before. “Why don't you go lie down on the sofa. Would that be okay, Darwin?”

“You can rest in the guest room if you'd like,” came the reply.

“No, I left my pills at home. I think I should probably just go. Thank you for dinner, Maria. You're amazing.”

His eyes burned as the force of his discomfort hit him. He needed to be out of here. Away from this place where he didn't belong. Where he would never belong.

“I can have Henley take you home,” Darwin said softly.

Ricky could see the sadness in Darwin's expression. He'd put that there, and he had no idea how to take it away.

“No, that's okay. I'll make it home. Besides, you have guests.”

“At least let me call you a cab, okay?” Darwin asked, slipping an arm around Ricky's waist.

Ricky nodded. His lungs started to ache, and he couldn't seem to draw in a decent breath.

“You all go ahead and eat,” Darwin said. “I'm going to walk Ricky out. After dinner, we'll have dessert, and then we can take you home.”

Ricky's mom started to follow, but he held up his hand. “Eat, Mom. Enjoy. I'll call you tomorrow.”

After he retrieved his jacket, the stepped out onto the veranda, when Darwin turned to Ricky.

“I'm sorry. I know it's a lot to take in. I really wanted to impress your family. Seems I botched that.”

He put his hands on the railing.

“It's not that,” Ricky argued. “I just—I don't know how I should feel.”

Darwin nodded. “I get it. Really. I've been wrestling with that myself. This is so different for me, but not for the same reasons. I like you, Ricky. A lot. You've opened my eyes to so many things I didn't realize I was missing out on. But you're uncomfortable, and I think you might need some time to think about it.

“I know you're starting the new job tomorrow, so how about if we just do some phone calls. Get back to a comfort zone. Then we'll see where we're at.”

“Okay,” Ricky said softly. He couldn't believe he could walk away from Darwin. He'd halfway fallen for the man the first night in the restaurant, but when he'd brought the corn dogs in for dinner? That had pushed him over into the love column quickly.

Darwin called for the cab, and the two of them sat on an old wooden swing at the end of the porch. The night should have been comfortable, but a chill coursed through Ricky, and the depth of it scared him.

When the cab pulled up, Darwin walked him down to the drive. He paid the driver, despite Ricky's protest, then hugged him. As soon as the warmth enveloped him, the tears started streaming down his face.

“Good night, Ricky,” Darwin whispered, then hurried back into the house.

“Good-bye, Darwin,” Ricky replied.

The next two weeks they spoke sporadically. With Ricky training, Darwin didn't want to interrupt him, no matter how much he missed hearing that voice. The times they did talk, the conversation stayed purposely light. Neither of them brought up the magazine article or the awkward dinner, and Darwin felt at peace with that.

Henley, however, wasn't pleased at all. He picked Darwin up after work Friday evening, as per usual. Darwin sat in the back and pulled from his briefcase some files Kent had passed along. Darwin studied Kent's proposal and had to admit his brother's whole plan was truly ingenious. The company that owned the product marketed it as a garbage disposal, but Kent's team had turned it into a composting waste recycle center. With a few technically minor modifications, Kent could create something that would help rid cities of millions of tons of garbage each year, turning it into rich topsoil.

“We're here,” Henley snapped.

Darwin looked up. They weren't home. Instead they were parked outside of Rossi's.

“What's going on, Henley?”

“Tonight the two of you are going to talk,” Henley said, his tone harsh. “I don't know about you, but I'm sick of the fact that you go into work early and stay later than anyone except the cleaners. I get that you don't want to bother Ricky while he's learning a new job. That's commendable. But avoiding the situation won't make it any better. And to be honest, you're kind of turning into a dick.”

“Excuse me?”

“What did Maria make you for breakfast this morning?”

Darwin tried to recall. She always made him something special, but he couldn't come up with what it had been.

“Scrambled eggs with chorizo. Your favorite. She didn't like seeing you mope around the house like a puppy that someone kicked. She thought maybe it would perk you up. You didn't even say thank you. I told her I'd talk to you, but she insisted it was fine.”

It wasn't. Not one bit. Maria would be one of the last people Darwin would ever want to hurt. She took such good care of him and the few people who remained on staff.

“I'll apologize.”

“Oh, hell no. You apologize to her, and I'm going to end up with my privates on her cutting board. That woman is ruthless. What you will do is go see Ricky. Talk to the man. Get whatever is bugging the two of you out in the open and deal with it. Enough of this pussyfooting around.”

Darwin hated when Henley was right.

“But I don't have a reservation,” he wheedled.

“I had Heather make one at eight o'clock in Ricky's station.”

A low growl rumbled from Darwin. “You know, I can fire you.”

“Then do it,” Henley snapped. He raised his chin defiantly. “Right now, I think I'd rather look for a new job than watch you self-destruct anymore.”

The venom in Henley's words rattled Darwin. He'd never heard so much barely restrained anger from the man. He figured he should listen. Finally.

****

Ricky couldn't believe how busy the night had been. He'd had two parties of eight, and a couple of four-tops that had kept him jumping. Fortunately, Bertie staggered the parties, so even though he'd run his butt off, it hadn't been overwhelming.

He'd loved every minute of it. The fact that they already trusted him with parties like this meant a lot. And the customers? Oh, damn. While the tips weren't quite as good as they'd been at Asiago, the guests he had weren't tense or snooty. The families that had come with their kids seemed to adore him, as he took great care in making sure the children felt like they were part of the evening. Several commented on how well behaved their kids were when he included them.

He glanced up at the clock. Almost eight. He had one booth in his station that had a reserved sign on it. Unless it got busy again, this would be his last table of the evening. He finished clearing the dishes from the seventieth birthday party of Bertie's mother—and what a hoot she'd been—and poured a couple glasses of water for his next guests.

When he heard Bertie approaching with his people, and that smooth as velvet voice he knew so well washed over him, Ricky hesitated. It couldn't be. He hadn't seen Darwin in two weeks and, if he were honest, he really didn't think he could handle seeing him now.

He'd gone online and done some research on the man. He found out how he lost his first love and read the articles about how it seemed to impact him and his business. But the more he discovered, the less comfortable he felt. Darwin knew the governor, for fuck sake. As if that hadn't been bad enough, he discovered a picture of him with the goddamn president. He'd shut the computer off after that and hadn't even bothered to look any deeper.

When he turned around, he tried to put a smile on his face, but he knew it would look false. No way could he pretend around Darwin. The man deserved better.

“Good evening. Welcome to Rossi's. My name is Ricky. Would you like to start with an appetizer this evening? Perhaps something from the bar? We've got a very nice glass of Kendall-Jackson merlot that would pair well with several of the specials for tonight.”

When he looked up and met Darwin's gaze, a pain seared through Ricky's heart. The man looked demolished. His eyes had Prada-size bags beneath them. It took all Ricky could manage not to slide into the booth and pull Darwin close.

“Hi, Ricky.”

The voice still gave him goose bumps, but it sounded weary. Sad, even.

“Hey, Darwin. Look, I really can't—”

“I know. Henley kidnapped me and dragged me down here. How've you been?”

“Oh, fine.” The light tone he'd tried for was proved a lie when his voice cracked. He'd been anything but okay. He missed Darwin. More than he ever thought he could miss anyone. But, now that he had come in, Ricky knew the time to lay out what he'd been thinking had arrived.

“Listen, Darwin. I've been thinking. I'm not sure it's a good idea for the two of us to see one another. We're from two different worlds, and I know that I can't fit into yours. I'll never be the sleek, polished guy you need on your arm at events, and I doubt you'd be happy going to auto shows with me.”

Darwin looked stricken, and a low throb started building in Ricky's chest.

“I had a great time with you, but I think we should maybe call it quits.”

Darwin didn't speak. He nodded, then slid out of the booth and rushed for the door. Ricky wanted to call after him, tell him he'd been wrong, beg him to stay, but what good would it do? No matter what, they'd never be compatible.