“Why?”
He laughed. “There’s something about you that’s so alive. It’s intriguing and makes me want to be around you.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be having a midlife crisis and chasing after young women?”
For the first time since she’d met him, the sparkle faded from his eyes. “I’m not interested in dating a child. I was married to a wonderful woman for thirty years. She passed away a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. She had cancer, and boy did she fight, but it finally took her. Since I lost her, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. We were supposed to grow old together.”
“Ah, yes. The supposed-tos. We all have those, don’t we?”
“What about you? Warren says you’re divorced?”
“Were you asking about me?” She blew on her tea. The steam danced above her cup.
“Guilty.” He grinned.
“We were only married a short time before I got pregnant. He left before Rafael was born.”
“And there’s never been anyone else?”
“No. When I was still young and pretty, I didn’t have time. Rafael was my priority. After he grew up and left, I was already past my prime. Men aren’t interested in women my age.” She played with the silver cross she wore around her neck.
“You’re still young and pretty,” he said.
She tapped the side of her head. “In here, yes.”
“I’ll be fifty-eight next year. I’d been planning on retiring. That was my promise to my wife. But now, without her, I don’t know what I would do without work.”
“May I ask what you do?”
“I’m the CEO of a company that makes radiology equipment for hospitals.”
“How interesting.”
He laughed. “Not really.”
“More interesting than being Rosa the Lunch Lady.”
“Sounds like the title of a children’s book.”
“Lisa mentioned you never had any children.” She said it nonchalantly, as if she were just making conversation.
“Wereyouasking aboutme?” He took a sip from his bottle, smiling at her with his eyes.
She lifted her cup to her mouth and let herself smile right back at him with her own eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself. She told me about you before we came out here.” Who was this sassy woman who felt twenty years old again?
“Crazy Uncle Dominic?”
“Something like that, yes,” Rosa said.
His eyes widened. “Really?”
“No, I’m teasing you. She said she adored you when she was a child and that you and your wife were glamorous and fancy.”
He tugged on his ear. “We loved having the twins come stay with us. My wife was never happier. We would’ve loved to have some of our own, but Susanna was unable to conceive. I knew that before we married.”
