“Great to see you, Jessi. Thanks for reaching out.” Robert darted outside and came back in with a bouquet of deep fuchsia roses and handed them to Jessi. “These are for you.”
Jessi let out a small gasp of surprise and pressed the flowers to her chest as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “You always remember,” she said, with a sigh. “Thank you. You are so sweet.” She kissed his cheek and then hurried off to the kitchen, presumably to put the flowers in water.
Now it was just Tommy, his brother, and his husband. With a huge grin on his face, Tommy slung an arm over Robert and Angel’s shoulders. “My two favorite guys. What do you want to do first?”
“I’m sorry to abandon you, mi amor,” Angel said. “But I have a pork roast and puré de malanga that need attention.”
“What’s that?” Tommy asked, never having heard of the latter before.
“Puré de malanga. It’s whipped malanga with brown garlic butter,” Angel explained.
“What the hell is malanga?”
“It’s a root vegetable. I think it’s called taro in America.” He waved his hands dismissively. “You’ll love it. I have to get back to the kitchen. Dinner will be ready shortly. In the meantime, can I get you two a glass of wine? A beer? Maybe a Cubano?”
Robert’s eyes lit up at the offer of a cigar. “Yeah.”
“After dinner,” Tommy said. “Jessi would kill us if we went outside to smoke right now and stunk up the dinner table.”
“I don’t want to upset my sister-in-law,” Robert said. “So, I guess I’ll settle for a beer.”
“Two cervezas coming up!” Angel said, raising his finger in the air and heading toward the kitchen.
Jessi brought out the beer, and Tommy sat with his brother in the great room to enjoy some time alone and catch up before dinner.
“Have you been home?” Tommy asked. No matter how old they were, home would always be where they grew up.
“No. I didn’t tell Mom or Dad that I was coming to New York because I have no time. I got one free day and begged Coach to let me skip town.” Robert took a chug of his beer. “So, what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just relaxing between tours. Oh. We’re up for Collaboration of the Year for the track we did with Bulletproof.”
Robert gave Tommy a congratulatory slap on the back and raised his beer. “Congrats. That’s awesome.” He paused. “Everything else cool?”
Tommy got the feeling Robert was trying to open a dialogue. He wondered about the surprise visit, which happened to coincide with Tommy’s questions about his future. “Yeah. Why? Did Jessi tell you I was down?”
“No. She just said you could use a visit from your kid brother. So, what’s got you down?”
“Nothing’s got me down. I was feeling a little burnt out, but now that you’re here, I’m ready to rock again.” It was a lie. Not a little white one either. It was a big old fat fib. Tommy still questioned where his career was headed and if the best part of his life was behind him, but he’d never admit it to Robert or burden his brother with his stupid issues of self-doubt.
“Good. Glad to hear it. You know Jessi doesn’t have to be the one to call me? Right? You can shoot me a text or call me whenever. I’m up late, and I always have time for my brother.”
“Thanks, Robert. You’re the best.”The best offensive lineman. The best brother. Even the best son.
Before they could finish their conversation, Jessi appeared in the doorway to the great room and beckoned them to dinner.
The dining room table was covered in Angel’s signature lechón asado, the shrimp in cilantro cream sauce that Tommy loved, the whipped taro thing Angel mentioned, which looked amazing, and a host of sides that Angel had made hundreds of times before, but it smelled more incredible than usual, maybe because everything was better when Robert was around. Tommy sat next to his brother, who wasn’t used to eating the culinary masterpieces that Angel created on a regular basis, and he moaned with each bite.
“You’re so lucky to have someone who can cook like this.” Robert leaned his head back and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling for added effect. “This is amazing. I never eat like this.”
Angel nodded in thanks. “I’m happy to teach you to prepare a few easy dishes if you want.”
“Thanks, but I don’t have the patience. Plus, I could never replicate anything you make. It even looks spectacular. And this china.” Robert tapped the edge of the plate with his fork, creating a musical ring. “It’s beautiful.”
Angel visibly flinched, but didn’t say anything, so Tommy lowered his brother’s hand to the table and whispered, “Those plates are two thousand dollars each.”
Robert’s eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open, which was the exact reaction Tommy had when Angel had picked them out.
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” Angel said, forgetting about the assault on his china. “I’m confident you can learn to cook.”
