For the first time in... a very long time, Ricardo decides to grill. He hasn't done anything like this since living with Alberto in Florida, and it feels a lot like riding a bike, or however that old saying goes. He prepares the grill, wrapping his meat and vegetables in foil and carefully checking the temperature of the charcoal before he begins.
The kids are safely inside, the girls are napping and Andre is playing a game, but Alicia and Sofia take turns coming out to watch him, Sofia content to stand back and watch him puttering around, making sure the grill warms up well. Alicia, however, enjoys coming closer, absorbing the warmth from the grill as she hugs him from behind and kisses him intently before pulling away with a giggle and dashing back to the house before he can playfully swat at her.
"If the food burns, it's all your fault!" he calls after her.
"Not my problem I'm too hot!" she calls back, the door closing behind her doing little to hide the sounds of her mirth from inside.
He sighs fondly and chuckles, shaking his head. It's going to be a busy few weeks between things he has cooking for the school, Alicia starting to get back into ring shape, which makes her confidence soar- obviously- and everything going on with the kids.
Not for the first time, Ricardo thinks if they didn't have Sofia, they'd have very little chance of getting everything done and keeping the babies all happy, taken care of and on time to appointments and preschool and everything else.
When Sofia makes her way back outside, slowly fanning herself with this funny straw hat she had found at a yard sale a few weeks back, he makes sure to tell her so. She smiles, flushing slightly, and shrugs. "I'm happy to help, mi hijo. You know I love the babies like they were are my own grandchildren."
"They already see you like that," Ricardo tells her. "You know that, right? I definitely know Andre does, and the girls will."
Sofia beams at him. "I like the thoughts of that. I adore all of them, and I am very proud to be seen in such a way by them."
Ricardo smiles at her. "I'll never stop being grateful that you agreed to move all the way up here to be with us."
Sofia hums. "I wouldn't have it any other way, mi hijo."
Ricardo nods. "Me neither," he says. "Me neither."
They're still smiling at each other when her expression shifts, grows alarmed. "Ricardo! The grill!"
He turns in time- only just- to flip a sizzling foil wrapped piece of meat to safety, exhaling. "Gracias, mi madre," he tells Sofia, watching as her smile grows once more.