“Oh, I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m Rex—Rex Monroe. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Who are you?” She looked me up and down, still clutching her heart.
“Mamá!”
I turned at the sound of Cachi’s voice only to find him coming quickly down the hallway toward us. “Mamá. This is my friend, Rex,” he rushed to say. “He’s the man who drop me off last night. He just need to use the bathroom.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I really didn’t mean to scare you, ma’am.”
“Is okay, Rex. I surprise, that’s all. El bano…she is there.” She pointed to an open door.
I nodded, walking past her as she and Cachi began speaking quietly in Spanish. I closed myself into the bathroom, feeling terrible for frightening her. Then again, Cachi had warned me his mama was home. I’d been hoping to avoid her and once again cursed myself for not stopping earlier. I hurriedly used the commode and washed my hands before walking back out into the living room. Cachi stood waiting for me, but his mother was nowhere in sight.
“I really didn’t mean to scare her,” I told him.
“You said.” Cachi smiled. “She knows. She want to meet you.”
“That was nice.” I glanced around the room before returning my gaze to him. “Well, are you ready to go?”
“She get something for you.”
I was pretty sure I misheard. “What?”
“She get something for you. We no leave until she got it—” He stopped, seeming to search for the English word. I sawthe lightbulb switch on when he found it. “We leave when she package up…packaged it up,” he corrected himself.
“Oh, no, that’s not—”
He held up his hand to stop whatever I was about to say. “No argue. You come my house and our culture, it mean she must feed you.” He waved at the couches. “Sit. We wait.”
“Feed me?” I was confused and about to ask what he was talking about when she returned with a hard plastic container in both hands. Inside was a dark outline.
She smiled widely and held it out to me. “Here, Rex. I pack rellenos for you.”
I blinked, taking hold of the container she held out. Four chile rellenos. I didn’t know what to say but glanced up at her. “Wow, this is beautiful, ma’am. You made these?”
She nodded. “I make with my sister, Carlotta.”
I grinned at her. I loved nothing more than homemade food, especially when it was a cultural favorite. “I can’t wait to taste them, Mrs. Adams. Thank you.”
“Oh, please to call me Victoria,” she said, reaching out to squeeze my bicep. “You are big, strong man, Rex. You eat and I make more for you.” She pointed to the container.
“Thank you again, Victoria. I’m sure I’ll enjoy these.” I glanced at Cachi who watched the two of us. “Well, we’d better get on the road, Cachi. What do you say?”
“Yes.” He hugged his mama. “See you later, Mamá.”
She hugged him close, running a hand over the back of his head, as if to smooth a stray lock of hair as she whispered into his ear, “Es un hombre hermoso, mijo.”
“Si, Mamá.”
I grinned to myself, glad that there were some things which didn’t need to be translated. I was glad she thought I was a beautiful man. He pulled away from her and joined me as I wished her goodbye, then headed out to my car. I ran over to the passenger door, and held it open for him. He gave me a surprised look but thanked me as he got inside.
I slipped the food into a box I used to separate grocery bags before shutting the trunk. With Lola coming home, I didn’t want to tease her with the delicious smells coming from the box. I unlocked my own door and climbed behind the wheel, before pulling away from the curb.
“It was real nice of your mama to give me food. She really shouldn’t have done that,” I said.
“Food…is her love language. I’m sure she know you embarrassed to scare her. She want to give you something…so you know she forgive you.”
I chuckled. “Well, like I said, it was real nice.” I glanced over at him. Them pretty dimples were back in his cheeks. I noticed his eyeliner was back in place too, but this morning, it was a different shade, a teal blue of some sort. I hadn’t known a lot of guys who wore makeup, though, I had seen a few during my club hopping days back in Houston.