XOXO

“I thought we agreed to finish dinner before we talked about men.”

Sliding her now empty plate to the side, she points at my almost empty bowl. “We’re done. Are you ready to take the plunge and meet that guy you’ve been talking to online?”

Sinclair means well. Since we started living together a few months ago, she’s been helping me wade through the muddy waters of online dating. In my case, it’s app dating. Three weeks ago, I downloaded an app that matches singles in the five boroughs with each other.

I’ve had six matches so far, but only one is someone I’d consider meeting in person. Lowell Wellington is good-looking, funny, and building a career in finance. So far, we have loads in common, and our chats on the messaging system built into the app have been hours long.

He may be the ideal guy for me, right down to his close-cropped black hair, blue eyes, and eyeglasses.

“Soon.” I sigh. “We’re building up to it.”

“Building what? Courage?” Sinclair glances at Marti. “If you’re not that into him, why not ask Marti if she has a spare, hot-as-heck grandson she can set you up with?”

“That will never work. What if we hit it off and I end up marrying him?” I run a fingertip over the clasp of the silver bracelet I’m wearing. “I’d be related to Mr. Calvetti forever.”

With a smile blooming on her lips, Sinclair shakes her head. “What if you end up marrying The Dick one day? Anything is possible, Arietta.”

I finish the last of the red wine in my glass in one gulp. “If he were the last man on earth, I wouldn’t...”

“If who were the last man on earth?” Marti appears next to our table. “Are you two talking about your boyfriends?”

I shake my head vigorously. “No.”

“Maybe.” Sinclair smiles at me. “Arietta is planning a date with a new guy.”

Marti turns her attention to me. Warmth settles over her expression. I’ve never seen her with anything but a smile on her face. The day she found out I worked for her grandson, she hugged me and welcomed me into her extended family. She’s the epitome of what a grandmother is, but her loyalty lies with Dominick, and I don’t need my boss to know anything about my personal life.

“Tell me about him,” she encourages as she picks up the bottle of wine from our table to refill my glass. “Is he cute?”

“Very,” Sinclair offers. “He has a Clark Kent vibe.”

Marti nods. “My late husband did too.”

I have to take her word for it since I’ve never seen an image of him. Mr. Calvetti doesn’t have any family pictures sitting atop his desk or decorating his office walls. The space is as cold as he is.

“Dominick has a different vibe,” Sinclair says.

He sure as hell does. He fits the part of the villain in every superhero movie I’ve ever seen.

“He looks better than ever.” Marti beams. “He left a little while ago. I told him to come early today, so I could spend an hour hugging him before I gave him a big piece of lasagna. It’s his favorite.”

His desire to leave the office early today suddenly makes sense.

“He always looks good.” There’s a hint of amusement in Sinclair’s voice as she subtly winks at me. “You have a beautiful family, Marti.”

“I do,” she admits with a sigh. “It’s getting bigger all the time. I hope one day my Dominick finds a woman who can handle him. He has the same wild streak his grandfather did. It took me to tame it.”

There isn’t a woman on this earth who can tame The Dick.

The three women who left messages for him today couldn’t. He must have taken all of them to bed. Maybe he was with the two from Virginia at the same time.

I need to change the subject because a fire always gets lit inside me when I think of Mr. Calvetti having sex.

Bringing the wine glass to my lips, I take a small swallow. “What do you recommend for dessert, Marti?”

Stepping closer to the table, she rubs her palms on the white apron tied around her waist. “I’ll get you both a piece of the honey ricotta cheesecake and an extra slice to take home to share for breakfast tomorrow.”

“That’s perfect.” Sinclair claps her hands together. “It’s my all-time favorite.”

If a smile could be cashed in for currency, Marti’s would be worth millions. “I’ll run and get that now. You two stay put.”

Sinclair clears her throat as soon as Marti disappears into the kitchen of the busy restaurant. “You drifted somewhere when she was talking about The Dick finding a woman who can handle him.”

“I didn’t.” I punctuate the words with a shake of my head.

“You did,” she counters. “Maybe you should step into his cage and see if you’re the one who can tame him.”