Page 8 of Finding Basil (Foggy Basin Season Two)

Chapter Five

The house was a one-story yellow ranch house, and the immediate yard was fenced in split-rail wood.

On the side was a pergola that was covered in wisteria and honeysuckle vines, and the pergola itself was as big as the house, or so it looked from where Basil parked alongside the other ten or so vehicles.

They’d heard the music halfway down the road as they passed the fields, an upbeat tune from the eighties.

What was louder, however, were the voices.

There was laughter and conversation that floated just above the music; the timbre and harmony of the laughter made it feel almost as if it were part of the music.

When they pulled in, Herb saw why. There were about thirty people all crowded under the pergola, and the smell of food hit him, making his stomach growl from the sudden pangs of hunger.

“That’s my family,” Basil said, waving to those who were waving at him.

A group of them, all men, came to the truck and slapped their hands on it as one goaded Basil, “get out here and show off your new fella!”

Basil was blushing wildly. “Diego, shut up! He’s not…he’s my friend.”

Herb laughed and said, “For now.”

Basil’s head swiveled fast, and his eyes were huge, then he laughed and agreed. “Yeah. For now.”

Never had it been just so…easy. Basil was easy to like, easy to be around, and Herb didn’t feel like he had to climb mountains and buy expensive things just to impress him.

They had yet to so much as kiss, and yet he knew that their sex would be as easy.

Hot and intense, but not contrived or a show.

All the men in Basil’s family were handsome, and the women were movie-star gorgeous. Basil led him around to introduce him to each and every one of them, and he remembered the names, but didn’t think he’d ever place them with the right faces.

Maria, Connie, Mel, Cruz, Chuey, Leona, Pilar, Jose, Mark, Marko, Deana, Lila…it went on and on…

But they were welcoming and warm people who handed him a beer with a wedge of lime in it before he’d so much as said hello. They were settled on one of the many picnic tables, and the smoke from the grill, that was made of an old metal barrel, choked him as the wind changed.

“ Carne asada . The chilis cooking chokes you,” Basil told him in his ear. “Sorry!”

“No! It smells delicious, really!”

“You eat chili?” One of Basil’s cousins…Jose? Well, whichever one it was, asked.

“I do, actually. Some of my favorite takeout meals back in the city were hot Thai food.”

“Thai,” another one of the men scoffed. “Latino food is hotter and better.”

One woman came and sat across from them and told Herb, “It’s nice to finally meet you. My brother has told me all about you, and you are as handsome as he said.”

“Sabrina! I’m going to kill you,” Basil grumbled, blushing more.

“You can’t. It’s the hormones; my mouth just…can’t lie,” she said and winked at Herb.

“He’s told me about you too. You’re carrying twin girls.”

“I am,” she said, smiling. “We’re very excited.” To her brother, she said, “Abuela’s making her potato salad.”

“No! Oh, hell, Herb, you lucked out. She doesn’t make it often.”

“She can’t always find the ingredients,” Sabrina said to him.

“Come on, Herb. You have to meet her and my mom. They’re in the kitchen.”

When Basil grabbed his hand, electricity shot through him, and he was gladly led into the house, where he saw the big, warm kitchen for the first time.

It was absolutely packed with women, all preparing food, laughing, talking amongst one another.

It was a sweet scene, and he almost hated to intrude, but Basil had no such reservations.

Herb was led to an old woman who was five feet tall if that, but her smile was exactly like her grandson’s. Sweet, welcoming and her eyes were like his as well, with those radiating beams of the sun. “Basil, is this your young man?”

“He’s my friend, Abuela, Herb. Herb, this is Michelle Jimenez, my grandmother.”

She wiped her hands on her colorful floral apron before she took his hand and shook it with a good, tight grip. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

The ladies all giggled when he said that.

“I’m Michelle, Herb. Herb and Basil,” she said with a tittering laugh. “Meant to be, I think.”

“Abuela, not you, too.”

“Hush.”

“I’ve heard of your famous potato salad. I can’t wait to taste it.”

She walked over to the counter and took a huge bowl into her small hands and carried it over, then told one of the other women to hand Herb a fork.

He tasted the salad, and he couldn’t help but moan. “This is wonderful!”

“Sweet onions, pickles I put up myself and a secret ingredient I won’t let out until my deathbed.”

Herb knew it the second he tasted the potato salad. He leaned down to her and whispered, “Thyme, and vanilla bean, just a touch.”

As he pulled back, he saw her jaw dropping. “No one’s been able to make that out.”

“I live for those two things in food. The latter in savory foods is one of my favorites.”

Michelle told Basil, “he’s a good one. I approve.”

Next Herb met Basil’s mother. She was taller than her mother-in-law, but had the same stare, right into Herb’s eyes, like she was exploring his soul to see if it he was worthy. “Nice to meet you. My son tells me you’re going to grow herbs.”

“I’m hoping to. With his help, I think I might get there.”

“I wish you all the best. I think it’s a wonderful endeavor.”

As they walked back to the table, Basil laughed as he admitted, “They are reading a lot into me talking about you.”

“I sure hope not.”

Basil glanced at him from the corner of his eye, and his face reddened sweetly. “Stop.”

“Not a chance.”

The food was amazing, and the dancing, laughter and conversation were even better. Herb didn’t remember ever having a better time. The family enjoyed one another. They weren’t a gaggle of obligations, like his parents felt of their families. They genuinely loved and liked one another.

The music gave way to spontaneous dancing around the tables, and the children joined in too. Even while they were eating, there were no long, quiet pauses in the fun. It went on right through the meal.

Herb loved Basil’s sister, who sat with them the whole evening. She glowed when she was around her brother. They were indeed as close as Basil had told him.

When Basil was fetching her some pie, she told Herb, “I’m supposed to be the sister who warns the guy to be good to her brother, but since you guys aren’t officially together yet, I guess I can’t. Besides, I think you know to be good to him.”

“I’m surrounded by reminders that I’m up against a literal army if I weren’t,” Herb said to her, laughing. When he grew serious, he confessed to her, “I’ve never in my life met someone and felt such an instant connection. It’s like I’ve known him for years, and it’s been a week. Less.”

“He’s that way. He makes friends instantly, and he’s never had a boyfriend that beat around the bush for long.

That guy knows what he wants, and he gets it.

He could be anything, do anything in the world, and he wants to be a farmer.

He wants to take over the family business when the rest of us run from it, mostly, anyway.

I mean, we all have some part of it, but none of the other kids wanted to actually grow things. ”

“And he does.”

“He does.”

She absently rubbed her flat stomach protectively as she spoke of her family. “There is nothing in the world he’d love more than to teach everyone how to grow. He’s a big proponent of everyone having their own gardens, of using farming for trade too.”

“I can tell. He lights up when he’s in my greenhouse and looking out at the fields.”

“It’s in his blood.” She smiled at him and laid her hand over his. “You really do like him.”

“What’s not to like? Handsome, smart, sweet.”

“He’s got a temper,” she warned, laughing. “And he’s one to give silent treatments. It’s mostly because he couldn’t raise his voice to anyone if he tried. So, it goes the other way. He went for a week not speaking to me once. It killed me.”

“I’ll try not to piss him off.”

Basil took his hand when the food was cleared away and the tables pushed back to dance. They weren’t alone, dancing. His parents danced close as one of Basil’s cousins played a slow, lovely tune on his guitar, and the white twinkle lights left a soft glow over the couples.

Basil smiled as he said, “Were you finding out all my secrets?”

“From your sister?”

“Yeah.”

“Just the important one.”

Basil stopped moving as he asked, “Want to go for a walk? I’ll show you the orchard.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

That smile produced a dimple near the corner of his mouth. “Shush.”

Being led to the orchard was big, and that fact didn’t pass Herb’s attention. It was the part of his family business that drove Basil and sharing that with Herb wasn’t a small thing.

The night was beautiful, and the soft strumming of the guitar faded only a little as they left the yard and started down the small field toward the trees.

“Smell that air,” Herb said, taking in a huge breath of it. “The city never smells this way except for maybe about a minute after a good rain. Clean, invigorating, you know, like you’re really alive and not in some dystopian movie where you live in a dome or something.”

Basil chuckled a little and commented, “Wow, great imagination.”

“Oh, that. I once had the desire to write novels, but talk about a pipe dream.”

“Why? I think you’d be great.”

Herb loved the compliment but doubted the thought. “It’s…a dream of pure fantasy.”

“Those are the best kind, aren’t they?”

Herb nodded in agreement. “I guess so, yeah. Still, it would be a chance of rejection I don’t know if I’m up for.

This house was a bit of a dream too, and so far, it’s costing me a fortune as it falls apart around my head.

Farming, well, I’m hoping it will go better, but it’s a big chance too.

Lots of chances I’m already taking. Not to mention, I am pretty sure I’ve got a huge crush on this guy I just met. ”

Though he was staring straight ahead as he walked slowly, Herb didn’t miss the blush. “Oh? Nice guy?”

“Very nice, and handsome! Wow, he’s smokin’ hot.”

A giggle of embarrassment came, and it was a lovely sound, one right out of a wind chime on a soft, breezy afternoon. “Is he?”

“He is,” Herb said as he stopped right behind the first tree of the orchard, and he gently took Basil’s arm, turning him so they were facing each other. “Very much so.”

Basil’s eyes were dancing as they stared into Herb’s. The smile he wore spoke of his shyness, but he wasn’t backing away as Herb closed the short distance between them.

His heart was blasting out a symphony, and his hands were shaking a little. Strange reactions, he thought, as he’d never been reticent of kissing a man he was attracted to in the past, but they weren’t Basil.

What was it about the man? Young and full of his own dreams that took him no farther than literally his own backyard. How wonderful and unique that was, and it fit him. A down to earth, lovely man who wasn’t playing some game on Herb, didn’t have agendas.

When their lips touched, Herb almost cried with the rush of emotions it brought.

Soft lips with a firm press against his, Basil’s hands on his face, his body moving into Herb’s. It felt new and fresh at the same time, and it felt as if Basil had been in his arms all his life.

That was…new for him. A first kiss that wasn’t awkward or nerve-wracking. It was as sweet and delicious as Basil.

It didn’t last long, but it made an impact, regardless. As he pulled back and let his eyes open again, he saw Basil’s smile was wider and his eyes glossed over like he’d had too many of the lime-enhanced beers.

“Well, that was better than I even imagined.”

Herb whispered, “You imagined kissing me?”

“Yeah, of course. A gorgeous guy comes to town, and he’s not only sweet, but he’s also interested in the same things I am? I imagined it the first time I met you. Among other things, but…”

“Stop. I’m not doing anything…like that when your family is right over there.”

“Yeah, probably not a good idea.”

“Probably? You have a lot of siblings and cousins that could really hurt me.”

“Oh, for sure, and they will, so you had just better be very nice to me,” he teased and gave Herb another fast kiss. “In fact, we should get back, or my abuela will come looking. A boyfriend is fine to have, but no funny business. Not on the first date.”

“I’d never do anything to disrespect you or your family. Let’s get back before they think things they shouldn’t.” He took two steps and realized what Basil had said. “Wait…this was a date?”

“Sure. I think it was,” Basil said, laughing.

Herb took Basil’s hand, and the little excursion was something out of a chaste, young reader’s romance novel.

A walk, a first kiss in the trees as music played not far from them.

Holding hands and feeling butterflies flapping around like mad in his guts.

That was the sweetest night of his life, and once they were back at the house, under that pergola, he couldn’t stop smiling. Basil had given him a gift. No groping in the back of a club or hopping into a bed after a meal of sushi and rice wine.

A sweet evening with family and the gentle touch of lips and a hand in his.

It made up for the total disaster he experienced once he arrived home…