Ch. 46 - Rico
“ M argarita,” Rico demanded as soon as the smiling waitress approached their table.
“What kind would you like?” asked the young woman as she scribbled hurriedly onto her notepad.
“The big kind,” he answered. “With alcohol. Lots of alcohol. And this.” He jabbed at a picture under the appetizer section of the menu that looked, incredibly, like an entire plate of cheese.
“The queso fundido?” the waitress asked.
“Sure.”
Rico wasn’t just defiling his temple. Tonight, he wanted to whale at it with a sledgehammer until it crumbled into a pile of useless rubble.
“And you, ma’am?” The waitress’s smile was growing a little shaky.
“Miss,” Everly corrected automatically. “Make it two margaritas.”
“Don’t forget the alcohol,” Rico called as the waitress turned and all but fled the table.
Rico leaned back in his chair and studied the restaurant. He’d never been to Valentina’s Cantina before, in spite of the place being one of the most popular and beloved restaurants in town. Part of the reason had to do with solidarity for his mother’s own Mexican cooking, but mostly it was because the restaurant was owned by the parents of Hector Chavez, previous enemy for life, current grudgingly cool dude.
“Soooo.” Everly folded her arms in front of her. “I’m so excited we were able to make this happen.”
A deal is a deal, Rico thought. He’d promised Jax a date with her friend if she’d consider writing another profile piece on him. And, so, here he was. Though Rico knew the chances of getting a positive profile from Jax were exactly zero. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if she wrote an even more scathing piece on him.
Maybe something titled Rico Torres: Even More of a Terrible Human Being Than I Originally Thought .
But what else could he do? If Jax ran their story, Bishop would retaliate. He’d deport Rico’s mother and then go after Jax. A tight smile curled Rico’s lips. Jax wouldn’t be afraid, which is exactly why he couldn’t tell her the truth. She’d plow right along with the story, putting herself into Bishop’s crosshairs. What if the mayor went after her or her family? Bishop had power, money, and connections in town. If he could take down The Rose and Thorn, he could go after the dental clinic that Jax’s mother owned or her other mother’s plant nursery.
Rico wasn’t about to let that happen. Even if it meant that Jax would never forgive him.
“What?” he asked. Everly had said something.
“I am officially giving you my blessing to be with Jax.” Everly sat back, an expression of solemn humility on her face.
“Um . . .” Rico didn’t even know what to do with that. “Thanks?”
“You and I were destined to be together, you see,” she continued. “But after a lot of soul-searching and screaming into a few pillows . . .” She chuckled. “Okay, screaming into a lot of pillows.” She sighed. “Fine, screaming and then punching a lot of pillows, I came to realize that Jax needs you right now in her life much more than I do. So, I’m giving you up.”
“Oh.” Rico scratched at the stubble of his jaw. He hadn’t scrounged up the energy to shave this morning.
“And here we are!” The waitress shimmied to their table and placed two massive margaritas in front of them. “What are we thinking for entrées?”
Rico grabbed his glass, tipped it back, and took a looooong drink.
Strong. Good.
“Um, how about I come back?” The waitress slowly retreated.
Rico raised his glass to Everly. “Where were we? Right. You were giving me up. Well, I have to say, that’s very generous of you.”
She raised her glass to meet his. “I know. But I’m a strong-ass Black woman who can take care of herself. I can live without you.”
God, he kind of adored her. “To soulmates in another life,” he said.
“I’ll drink to that.” She clinked her glass to his and took a hearty gulp to match his own.
If only Everly knew that her great sacrifice was all for naught. Jax hated his guts and with good reason. No need to bring up that sore topic, however. With significant effort, and another long sip of margarita, Rico attempted to be his usual, charming self.
“That’s, um, a nice dress you’ve got there.” He gestured to the yellow dress that hugged Everly’s generous curves. Black paw prints wandered around the collar, hem, and sleeves of the dress. A silver cat-silhouette comb sparkled in her short afro. “Does everything you wear have cats on it?”
She nodded. “It’s my thing.”
Rico put his elbows on the table. His mother would slap him in the back of the head with her chancla if she saw him do such a thing. But she wasn’t here, and the margarita was already performing its dark magic.
“So, you don’t mind it?” Rico asked. “The whole crazy cat lady thing?”
Everly sat a little higher in her chair. “I embrace it. I’m taking it back, actually.”
“Taking it back?”
“Ever heard the term crazy dog guy ?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Exactly!” Everly hit the table lightly with the palm of her hand. “Everyone thinks cats are aloof, conniving, even bitchy, but that’s just not true. Cats can be loving, warm, and friendly.”
Rico thought of Styles. He hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with the cute spotted kitten, but Styles had certainly been adorable and friendly.
“Women who own cats get this reputation as weird, desperate—” Everly continued.
“Crazy?”
“Crazy! How unfair is that?”
The waitress returned and placed the steaming plate of cheese on the table between them next to their basket of chips.
“It does seem unfair.” Rico picked up a chip, scooped up the melted cheese, and put it into his mouth.
Heaven. Choirs of angels sang.
“Oh my God,” he moaned. “Cheese is sooooo good.” He looked at Everly. “Did you know cheese was this good?”
She giggled. “You’re kind of a wreck tonight, aren’t you?”
“I get it now. I understand the deeper truths of the universe.” Rico grabbed two more chips, loaded them up, and shoved them into his mouth .
“Do we know what we want for dinner?” The waitress stood uneasily at the table, rocking on the balls of her feet.
Rico hadn’t even looked at the menu. He scanned it, his eyes stopping on a picture of a massive burrito. It was utter bodily destruction sitting in a puddle of sauce. “That.” He pointed to the picture. “And ’nother margarita. Are there bigger ones?
She giggled uncertainly. “Uh, nope. That’s the biggest.”
“Two, then.” Rico didn’t know much about alcohol consumption, but he estimated around five margaritas could completely wipe away all memories of this day . . . at least for a while.
After the waitress left, Everly watched Rico down another handful of cheese-soaked chips. “So, um, I take it you haven’t talked to Jax yet?”
“No, we talked.” Rico plowed another chip through the cheese and watched the queso stretch, snap, and dangle from the edge of the chip.
“And?” Everly grabbed a chip and nibbled it. “Did you talk? Like, really talk?”
“Uh-huh,” he mumbled, still munching on the chips. If his mother saw him, she’d use his head as a pi?ata for her chanclas. “It’s over between us.”
Everly rocketed back in her seat. “What?”
“Yup. Sucks.”
The waitress set two margarita glasses in front of him and gave Everly a look that seemed to say, God be with you.
Rico winked at her as she left. Old habit. He turned back to Everly. She looked like a bull about to jump across the table and plow her horns into him.
“What?” he asked.
“How . . . how could you?” Everly gripped the table with both hands .
Rico shrugged and took a gulp from one of his new margaritas. The booze ran warm through his veins and the colors of the restaurant were beginning to blur at the corners of his eyes. “I didn’t have a choice, okay? It got complicated.”
Everly’s eyes seemed to bug out of her head. “You really are a bastard!” she hissed. “Everyone warned me, but I thought I saw something in you. I thought you were a good person.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” Rico responded. Add one more name to the ever-growing list of people he’d let down. He almost had to laugh.
“After everything Jax has been through.” Everly’s voice grew hoarse. “After what that shithead did to her. And you’re just going to throw her to the curb and break her heart again?”
Rico set down his margarita glass. “What shithead?”
“Huh?” Everly blinked.
Rico suddenly felt more sober than he’d ever had in his life. “Who did what to Jax?”
“Um, you said you two talked.” Everly’s voice was growing quieter. “You talked, right?”
“Yeah, we talked on the phone.” Rico pushed his margarita glasses away so he could lean forward. “Jax said she had things she wanted to tell me the next time we got together. But then we got into a fight about a news story we’re working on.”
“Oh. Huh.” Everly lifted her glass and slowly sipped her margarita. “Wow, these are strong.”
“What happened to Jax?” Rico’s hands curled into fists.
“And this queso fundido, amazing, right?” Her voice was a squeak.
He stared at her. “Everly.”
“It’s private.”
“Everly.” His voice was a growl.
“I can’t. ”
“Everly.”
“What’s said at a Crazy Cat Ladies Club meeting stays at a Crazy Cat Ladies Club meeting.”
The waitress arrived and skillfully slid their plates on the table. Her eyes bounced from Rico to Everly.
“Enjoy?” It was a question. She turned and left them.
Ignoring his plate, Rico carefully folded one arm over the other on the table.
“Everly.” The word was a command.
She broke like a Ferris wheel at a cheap traveling carnival. “When she was in college, there was a guy, and he . . .”
Rico’s hand clenched around his knife. He didn’t even remember grabbing ahold of it.
“What did he do?” His voice was soft. Dangerous.
“He hurt her. He, um, assaulted her.”
“Did he . . .” Rico couldn’t finish the sentence.
Everly looked down at her plate.
Rage burned in Rico like a fusion reactor. He was going to storm out of this restaurant. Find that kid. And start sawing off pieces of him with the blunt knife in his hand. The thought of someone hurting Jax of . . . of . . .
Jax.
His rage died like a candle in the ocean. Why the hell was he even thinking of that fucking kid? He needed to think of Jax.
God! The pieces slotted into place like the world’s most horrifying jigsaw puzzle. That’s why she’d flinched the first time he ever touched her. Why she’d sprinted from his car after their first kiss. Why she’d been so afraid that night.
Rico slammed his fist on the table, causing margarita to slosh from his glass. Several people glanced their way. Screw them with sandpaper. He’d seen all the signs. And as if that hadn’t been enough, Jax had wanted to tell him everything. And then they’d fought about the stupid story.
He dropped his head into his hands. “I. Am. An. Absolute. Idiot.”
Everly leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. “I know, honey.”
He’d ruined everything. He couldn’t tell Jax why he’d thrown away their story, not without putting her in danger. And she’d been so close to opening up about her past. Now she’d never trust him again.
“What do I do?” he groaned.
“There’s only one thing you can do.”
Rico jerked upright in his chair. “What?” He’d do anything. Crawl across coals. Dive in the arctic ocean naked. Wear a black belt with a brown blazer.
“Grand gesture.” Everly pronounced the words as if they were a magic incantation.
“What?”
“It’s the only way.”
“What is it?”
Everly sighed. She carefully picked up a soft taco and took a bite. Her eyes practically rolled back into her head. “Soooo good,” she moaned. Then she put down the taco and dabbed her mouth with her napkin.
“A grand gesture is a big, showy pronouncement of your love. You’ve got to prove to Jax that you care about her, that you’re the man she deserves.”
“Like, I have to give away a ’72 Camaro?”
“That’s the spirit.” Everly nodded enthusiastically. “In the book I just read, Vince, the main character, dove in front of a bullet for Naomie. ”
“Okay. I can do that,” Rico said eagerly. He’d take a bullet for Jax without hesitation. “Are you packing? We can go to her place and do this thing now.”
Everly laughed. “None of that would work for Jax. You’ve got to do something that’s meaningful to her.”
“Grand gesture,” Rico murmured as the idea slowly settled into his brain. He pushed aside the congealing monstrosity of calories in front of him. “Where do I start?”
Everly gave him a tight, oddly sad smile. “Luckily, you happen to be sitting across from the world’s best whacky side character. And the whacky side characters always help the hero pull off the grand gesture. In other words, I’ve got you, boo.”
Rico reached across the table and took Everly’s hand in his own. He might be rocking enough alcohol to light a match with his breath, but he still knew what she’d just said was a load of shit. “Everly, you are NOT a whacky side character,” he told her.
“It’s okay. Everyone looooves the whacky side characters.” Her breath hitched and she slowly pulled her hand from his.
“You are one of the best people I’ve ever met,” Rico told her with 100 percent sincerity. “Someone is going to see that. I swear.”
“Yeah, okay.” She waved away his words. “But you do want help on your grand gesture, right?”
“God yes.” Rico clutched his hands together, begging at the altar of Saint Everly. “Where do we start?”
She grinned at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”