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The onions stung his eyes, and he told himself that was the reason for the prickling behind his lids.

With the prep work done, they slid the enchiladas into the oven. “Perfect timing,” Nadia said. “Dinner in twenty. You guys go set the table.”

“I live to serve,” Tyler said, giving her a mock salute.

In the dining room, Josh nudged him again. “Everything okay? You seem… I don’t know. Worried about something.”

“Nope.” Tyler gulped and grinned. “A little news is all. We can talk after dinner. Everything good. Thanks for coming over.”

Josh studied his face, then blinked, slow and sweet. “Okay, I’m here.”

Tyler nodded, a tickle of sweat along his ribs. Tonight, everything might change.

With Nadia finishing the poblanos, they settled in the living room, the savory aroma of enchiladas wafting through the house. Tyler sank into the sofa, pulse skittering as Josh sat beside him, their thighs barely touching.

As soon as they sat, Mr. Poops padded over and leaped into Josh’s lap with a plaintive yowl. “You’re a big loaf of cat.” Josh laughed, scratching the purring fuzzball behind his ears. “I think he’s adopted me.”

“He knows a sucker when he sees one,” Tyler said. But the sight of Poops kneading Josh’s leg, eyes closed in exquisite pleasure, stirred a rush of affection.

Nadia came in, carrying a photo album. “So, I hate when assholes do this to a guest, but we’ve been making her enchiladas, and the oven needs us to kill a couple minutes, so tough….”

Josh craned forward. “Your mom?”

She nodded and sat on the ottoman across from them and opened it to a picture of their mom at the beach, smiling into the camera.

“I only met her a few times, before she got—”

Tyler nodded. Their mom’s cancer had been fast and taken her almost without warning. He’d just signed his second NFL contract with the Swells, and Nadia dropped out of college to nurse her. A rough time.

“We don’t have many photos of her,” Nadia said, watching Tyler’s eyes, then Josh. “But I thought you might like to see. This is when we planted the gardenias in the backyard. She loved white flowers.”

Josh gazed at the picture of the tiny dark woman who’d raised them so well, his eyes softening. “She looks so happy.”

“She was,” Tyler said. “The best.” He peered at the photo, a familiar ache blooming in his chest. How he wished his mom could’ve really known Josh now, as a man. “Her family was from Caracas, but they immigrated in the sixties. She grew up in Temecula.”

Nadia turned the page. “Here we are as kids. Gymnastics, I think. Yeah. And that’s first communion, which may have been the only time Tyler washed his face before he moved into the locker room.”

Josh cocked his head at Nadia. “I didn’t remember that your mom was so tiny.”

Nadia shrugged. “Venezuela.”

Tyler nodded. He got his dark hair and skin from her, but his size from his horrible dad.

As she flipped, Tyler noticed that Nadia had carefully removed and cropped every single photo of their father. With good reason. He frowned at his knuckles. He really appreciated her keeping what mattered and weeding out so much of the ugliness.

“That’s our tacky cousins. Then… I think that’s Disneyland.” Nadia kept flipping, leaning forward so that Josh and Tyler had to press shoulder-to-shoulder to see. “And Tyler winning something else, again. That looks like Easter. Oh hey, me playing beauty parlor…. Look at Tyler’s hair!”

“No, don’t show him that!” Tyler protested, but Josh was already chuckling at the sight of ten-year-old Tyler in baggy Spider-Man briefs with a spectacular cowlick.

“Wow.” Josh’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and Tyler’s heart squeezed.

“I was not exactly adorable.” Tyler gave Josh’s arm a shove, but he was fighting a grin.

Nadia poked him. “Very adorable. Even Poops thinks you’re adorable.”

“You’re ganging up on me again.”

“That’s what we do.” With a sniff, Nadia closed the album and stood. “Humiliation complete. Enchiladas headed your way. Coming?”