Chapter 19
Taco Tuesday with a Hint of Spice…
Ben
“Welcome to beautiful Mexico!” my mom shouts as soon as I walk through the door. She has to yell to be heard over the loud mariachi music playing. My son is in his swim trunks, dancing around the kitchen table with a pair of maracas.
Vivian is at the island swaying to the beat, chopping some cilantro while Dominic stands in front of the stove, using a wooden spatula like a conductor’s wand. He grins at me. “That’s right, Ben, it’s taco Tuesday!”
I chuckle at them as I walk into the kitchen and set down my lunch kit. “Smells delicious,” I call over the blaring music.
“It’s going to be delicious! Vivian used to work at a Mexican restaurant in college so she knows all the secrets,” Mom yells.
I turn the volume down a bit and look over at my brother’s future wife, who looks gorgeous today, by the way.
She’s in shorts and a tank top. Her hair is up in a messy bun on top of her head, but I can tell that she was filming earlier because she’s wearing makeup.
She gives me a modest little shrug. “I don’t know all the secrets, but I did memorize a pretty decent steak taco recipe while I was there. ”
Dominic opens the oven door and takes out a plate of tortillas. “All right, people, everything is ready. Let’s eat. Henry, you bring the plate of limes to the table, okay?”
“Will do, Uncle Dom.”
A few minutes later, we’re all seated on the patio table, filling up our tortillas with all the fixings—cotija cheese, steak strips, diced red onion, cilantro, and salsa verde.
My mum, Vivian, and Henry are all sitting on the opposite side from Dominic and me, with Vivian in the middle.
Dominic opens a bottle of Corona for each of the adults, and pours some sparkling apple juice for Henry.
“Wow, this is quite the feast. What are we celebrating?” I ask, watching as Vivian prepares Henry’s tortilla for him. I feel weird sitting apart from him and letting her do a job that is, by rights, mine to do. But I’m tired and Henry seems happy and Vivian doesn’t seem to mind at all.
“Viv wanted to make a special dinner because they’re leaving tomorrow,” my mum says, giving me a pointed look. “Very thoughtful of her, don’t you think, Ben?”
“Yes, Mum, she’s very thoughtful,” I answer like the dutiful son.
“We’re very lucky she’s joining our family, wouldn’t you say?” she asks me in a leading tone.
“Definitely,” I answer.
Mum pats Vivian on the hand. “And so beautiful. Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She’s very lovely,” I answer, staring at her longer than I should. I turn my gaze to the ocean, hoping no one noticed. “You know, Mum, you don’t have to worry about mending fences here. Vivian and I figured it out. We’re good.”
Her face lights up. “Did you?”
“Yes,” Vivian answers, our eyes locking. “We had a very nice talk a few nights ago and cleared the air. We even watched a movie together.”
“Vivian also helped me with Henry’s school project and we discovered we make a great team.” My mind immediately flashes to us almost kissing. My body reacts and I turn my attention to my meal.
“And we bonded over tone deaf homework assignments and snack foods,” she says, grinning at me.
“That we did,” I answer in a low tone. Dammit, Ben, don’t pull out the low, manly tone right now. Not with everyone else here.
“This calls for a toast,” Mum says, lifting her bottle of Corona. “To new beginnings.”
The rest of us lift our bottles and Henry picks up his cup. “To new beginnings.”
I take a long pull on the cold beer, hoping it’ll douse some of the uncomfortable heat I’m feeling just from sitting across from her. It doesn’t work, but if I had enough of these, it would do the job.
“Vivian’s going to be the most beautiful bride, don’t you think, Henry?” Mum asks.
Henry nods enthusiastically. “Yup. She’s the prettiest woman in the whole island!”
The kid is not wrong about that.
Vivian blushes, then says, “Why, thank you, kind sir,” while she rolls up Henry’s tortilla. “Here you go. Hold it tight, but not so tight that you break it.”
“Will do, kind madame,” he answers with a huge grin.
Dominic wipes his mouth, then says, “Speaking of beautiful brides and handsome grooms—”
“No one was talking about handsome grooms,” I tell him.
“Well, you should be,” he answers. “Anyway, speaking of handsome grooms, and slightly less distinguished and handsome best men, you wouldn’t want to take on that role for me, would you?”
No, I would not. “Oh, I … yeah, I guess you need a best man, don’t you?”
“It would look very strange if I didn’t have one,” Dom says. “And since you’re my brother and you don’t irritate me too much—even though you do hog the covers and snore horribly after you’ve had a few beers—I would like to formally ask you to be my best man.”
“Well, when you ask me like that, Dom, how can I refuse?” I answer, taking a long pull on my beer.
My mum claps enthusiastically. “Yay! I love it when my boys look out for each other.”
“Yup, that’s what brothers do,” I say in a tight voice. Even if they absolutely do not want to do it.
Dominic gives me a deep bow. “Thank you. I appreciate you taking that on, and shall provide you with a long list of things to do while we’re gone.”
“Awesome,” I say sarcastically. My stomach tightens at the thought of them leaving. “What time is your flight tomorrow?”
“Not ‘til ten, so I’ll have time to make some pancakes before we go,” Vivian answers.
Henry makes sad puppy eyes at her from behind his glasses. “Can’t I come too? My dad doesn’t know the first thing about making pancakes.”
“Hey, I do so,” I say.
My mum and Dominic both shake their heads at Vivian, who is clearly trying not to laugh, while Henry says, “Yours are flat and wet in the middle, Dad. No offense though.”
“Hey, I like my pancakes. It’s a crepe and a pancake combined.” I take a bite of the steak taco, then make an involuntary mmmm sound. “That is delicious.”
“Oh, thanks. I can write out the recipe for you if you like,” Vivian answers, wiping her mouth with her napkin.
I thank her, even though I don’t want the recipe. I want her to stay here forever so she can make them. And … apparently, I’ve regressed to being a pathetically needy preschooler now.
Henry seems to remember no one answered him about going to New York. “Dad, can I go with Auntie Viv and Uncle Dom?”
“No, not this time, buddy,” I tell him. “They’re going to be super busy the whole time doing wedding stuff.”
“Butts, I never get to go anywhere,” he says, slumping his shoulders.
“If you leave, who’s going to hang out with me all week?” my mum asks him.
His eyes light up. “You’re staying!”
“I sure am. And we’re going to go swimming and have some dance parties and maybe if your dad says it’s okay, I’ll pick up Grandpa’s telescope and you can stay up late so we can do some star gazing.”
“Can I, Dad?”
“On Friday night, sure.”
He nods. “Okay, maybe this won’t be a crappy week after all.”
“Whoa, where’d you hear that word?”
“Jax says it all the time. Why, is it a full swear word?” he asks, looking slightly excited about the idea that he might finally know a ‘full swear word.’
“No, but it’s not exactly nice language,” I tell him.
“Should I say poopy instead?” he asks earnestly.
“Not at the dinner table.” I look over at Vivian, who is turned away from Henry, clearly trying not to laugh again, and the sight of it makes me smile too.
We exchange a look, then out of the corner of my eye, I notice my mother watching me. And if I know her, which I do, obviously, she’s very curious about what’s going on.
After supper, I go straight to the shop to work on the pirate ship.
My mum is taking care of Henry’s bath and bed time so I can fit in some extra time out here.
My body is tired, but I’m glad to be in my shop instead of in the house, where I’ll be around Vivian all evening.
She’ll be busy packing and getting ready to leave, and there’s no part of me that wants her to go.
I grab the portable band saw and start making cuts in some long planks that I measured yesterday.
Yes, this will keep my mind off of what I want to do, which is to go into the house, knock on Vivian’s bedroom door, and tell her I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her.
All signs point to this being true. I can’t keep my mind off her for more than a few minutes at a time, I wake up with thoughts of her, and I fall asleep wishing she were next to me.
Not to mention the fact that she’s about to marry another man—even if it is my own brother, and he’s never going to want her the way I do—is driving me insane.
When I finish cutting the stack of boards, I turn, only to see Vivian standing in the doorway with her phone up. My heart squeezes at the sight of her. “Are you recording me?”
She nods, putting her phone down. “I thought it might be nice for Henry to have a record of his dad doing epic shit.” She wanders over, then adds, “Oh wait. Was that a full swear word?”
I let out a laugh, then say, “Pretty sure it is.”
“Should I say epic poop instead?”
We grin at each other for a second, then she turns to look at the boards. “It’s hard to imagine this will be an amazing pirate ship in a few weeks.”
“Let’s hope so, anyway,” I tell her.
She runs her hand along the piece of wood I just cut, and there is something very sensual about watching her fingers right now. “Have you ever used a band saw?”
Vivian shakes her head.
“Would you like to try? I can show you how.”
She nods, and I can tell by her expression she’s not nodding about using the stupid band saw. “I’d love to.”
She spins around to face it and I walk over to my workbench and grab a pair of safety glasses and some gloves for her.
When I return, I hand her the gloves. “Here, let me help you,” I murmur, tucking her hair behind her ears and placing the glasses on her.
They’re too big for her face, but somehow she still looks gorgeous in them.