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TK had no idea why he was so nervous. He had this! Andrea and Gabriel already loved him, it wasn’t like he had to start from scratch. This was hardly their first meeting, hardly their first dinner.
But it was the first time he was invited over to the ranch.
Carlos, of course, had told him not to worry. Ha! TK only had to remind him of the first time ‘Captain Strand’ had invited him for dinner and his boyfriend shut up right away.
Despite that, TK kind of wished they drove here together so Carlos could take his fidgeting hand and calm him with a kiss. As it was, Carlos had used his free day at the ranch to help his parents with a few little tasks, while TK had come off a 24-hour shift around midday. After a few hours of sleep, he’d gotten ready and ordered his Uber.
And then he sat in the car with nothing to distract him from his nerves on the ride out. Had it been his own car, he might have taken a moment after arriving to just sit and breathe. But it wasn’t, so he got out as soon as the car stopped, making sure the bouquet was well hidden behind his back before he walked up to the door.
When it opened before he’d even begun to climb the porch steps and Carlos stepped out, a kind of calm washed over TK. He hurried into his boyfriend’s arms for a quick kiss and a hug, and for those few short seconds, everything was perfect; there were no worries when he was in Carlos’ arms. The moment was over way too quick though and right away, TK’s nerves returned.
“Stop worrying so much, Ty,” Carlos whispered into his hair as he pulled him through the door and against his side. “You know they already love you.”
“We talked about this. I’m just gonna say ‘Captain Strand’,” TK mumbled back, earning himself an eye-roll and a muttered, “Not the same,” which made him smile for real.
There wasn’t much more time to chat as Andrea came bustling out of the kitchen, arms already outstretched. “TK, so nice you are here. I hope your shift went well?”
“Thank you for having me. And yes, thank you; it went as smoothly as one can hope in our line of work,” TK replied as he hugged her with his free arm, the other one still hidden behind his back. After receiving a kiss on the cheek he straightened up again and turned to Gabriel, who had appeared behind his wife.
The older man smiled as they shook hands. “So no one died today,” he stated and TK tried to decipher if it was approval in his voice while he heard Carlos groan, “Dad!”
He didn’t let it deter him, mirroring Gabriel’s smile, “Not under my watch, no, Sir.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” With a clap to his shoulder, the topic seemed to be done, as Gabriel already turned around and moved in the direction he had come from. The little group followed.
As they entered the living room, TK finally pulled out his hand from behind his back, presenting a bouquet towards Andrea, who gave him a motherly smile. “Oh, TK. Now that wasn’t necessary.”
“It absolutely was. I hope you’ll like them.”
“They are lovely. Thank you so much,” Andrea told him, smelling them before reaching out to cup his cheek in one of her hands, keeping it there for a moment. “This is really sweet.”
“Also a very interesting color combination,” Gabriel threw in from where he had sat down in a comfy-looking recliner.
TK grinned at that, ducking his head a little as he could feel the warmth creeping up his neck. “Yeah, ehm… I had a friend once and she was a bit obsessed with the language of flowers. It was kinda hard not to pick up one or two things, so… I rather went for the meaning,” he mumbled out the last part.
It wasn’t until Andrea spoke up that he looked back at her in surprise.
“Daylilies as a symbol for mothers, irises, which stand for faith, trust, wisdom, and hope, and of course heliotropes, that speak of eternal love and devotion.” Catching his gaze, she gave him a conspiratorial smile and a little wink, “Though I guess the last one is meant in relation to Carlitos.”
TK’s ears were probably flaming red by now but that didn’t stop him from replying truthfully with, “Yes, Ma’am.” He sent a quick glance towards Carlos, who looked equally baffled and touched by the exchange, before turning back to Andrea. “I also know heliotropes are your favorites, so of course, I had to add them.”
“I love it, thank you, TK,” Andrea told him as she pressed another kiss to his cheek, before bustling off in the direction of what TK guessed was the kitchen. She was back with a vase in no time, putting the flowers in the middle of the table that already held some canapés, then settled down as well.
It was only after they had taken the first few bites that Carlos suddenly turned towards him. “Wait, how do you know my mother’s favorite flower?”
“You didn’t tell him?” Gabriel asked in wonder and with a raised eyebrow while TK was still busy swallowing the bite he’d just taken.
Carlos shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, you kinda did,” TK contradicted him. “Remember that call at the flower shop last year? The one the boss insisted was arson but turned out his employee was nothing but a clumsy disaster?”
“Yes?”
“Some of the flowers survived and you picked up all the scattered heliotropes, put them together, and asked the man how much he wanted for them. He gave them to you for free so you tipped him – probably more than the flowers would’ve cost, by the way. And when he asked you why, you said they were your mother’s favorite and it would’ve been a waste if he had to throw them out.”
“Oh, I remember that bouquet. It was so lovely,” Andrea exclaimed.
But TK had only eyes for Carlos, who gaped at him. “You– you remembered that?”
“Of course. It was so sweet and so typical you,” TK replied with a sweet chuckle, reaching out to take Carlos’ hand in his. “How could I forget?”
“Yeah, but… Ty, that was last spring.”
“Yeah, so?”
Carlos looked at him as if he didn’t get the obvious. “Ty. That was only a few short weeks after we met. We weren’t even dating back then!”
The implication of the real status of their relationship back then was left unsaid, there was no need for Carlos’ parents to be told the whole ‘friends-with-benefits-that-could-be-kinda-more-and-maybe-was-but-not-really’ part of their beginning. But it was heavily implied and TK understood him just fine.
“I know,” he replied, his thumb softly brushing over the back of Carlos’ hand where he was holding it in his. “Doesn’t mean I wasn’t paying attention to the things you said, the things you did.”
There was a multitude of emotions flicking over Carlos’ face and TK was unable to depict them all before his boyfriend leaned in, pressing a quick, yet soft kiss to his lips. It shocked TK because it was the first time they’d done that in front of his parents. But Carlos didn’t seem to have a problem with that, as he leaned back with a sappy smile on his face. “You’re amazing, you know that? And I love you.”
“I love you, too,” TK replied without hesitation. Whether he was shocked or not, that truth he would always be able to speak out loud.
“And I think you picked a good one there, Carlitos,” Andrea interrupted the small moment between them. As she got up, she leaned in and pressed a kiss to Carlos’ hair, then cupped TK’s cheek once more, sending him a loving gaze, before leaving again for the kitchen. Calling out for Carlos to help her so they could eat their dinner soon.
As it turned out, TK really had no reason to be nervous about the first dinner at the Reyes Ranch. Andrea and Gabriel really did love him already. And every time they met him and watched the love between him and their son, they loved him just that little bit more.