“I’m not sure. We went on a few dates this weekend.”
“My grandson doesn’t date. He doesn’t do fancy dinners or movies, not even concerts.”
“We didn’t do any of those things,” he said. “She cooked me dinner on Saturday and on Sunday we went for a ride, then had pizza and beer and arcade games.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. Pegged that one wrong.”
“Yes, you did,” he said. He flipped his burger, then checked on his fries, shook them and set them back down.
“Tell me about her,” his grandmother said.
His chef was laughing at him. “Not here. Don’t you have to man the front?”
“I’m taking my dinner break.”
“You better be leaving at five,” he said.
“I’ll leave when I want to leave,” his grandmother said and walked away from him.
Like most of their conversations.
Him being put in his place.
He finished cooking dinner, then went to the office to eat knowing his grandmother would be waiting.
“What do you want to know?”
“Her name and what she does?”
“Jocelyn McCarthy. She works for the family business running the finance office. McCarthy Construction.”
“I know who they are. Got some money there then.”
“That’s right,” he said, biting into his burger. “Seems like she might be interested in lowering herself to the likes of me.”
His grandmother grabbed a ruler off the desk and rapped him on the knuckles. He yelped over the quick sting. “Serves you right for bringing yourself down like that. Cut the shit, Chance.”
“I was joking,” he said.
“You tell yourself you were, but I’m not so sure of it.”
Neither was he. At least he was trying not to have it lingering in the back of his head.
“She’s not like what I thought she was,” he said. “There, feel better?”
“Slightly. Tell me how she is.”
“I don’t know.” This was more painful than a slap on the knuckles. “I don’t like talking about this shit. She’s nice. She doesn’t judge. She talked to me in school when many others didn’t. I told you that.”
“So she’s not afraid to be her own person,” his grandmother said, nodding her head.
“Definitely not that,” he said.
“You need someone like that in your life. Someone to give you crap.”
“She will, but I’m not sure what is going on. A few dates, that’s it. I haven’t talked to her since Sunday.”
“Why?”
