“Forcing our retirement. Not that we went kicking and screaming, mind you,” Ria said. “He was worried about us living alone in the old neighborhood.”
“True. Now we’re happily living the good life by the beach,” Rosa said.
“Together?” Dominic raised his eyebrows and looked slightly amused.
“No. We have separate apartments,” Ria said with one of her imperious expressions planted across her face. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
Dominic and Warren laughed. “Well, you never know these days, do you?” Warren asked.
“I take it you ladies are both single then?” Dominic asked, looking at Rosa.
She made eye contact with Ria, fighting a nervous giggle.
“Wearesingle,” Ria said. “Rosa here is especially single.”
Why was she any more single than Ria? Neither of them had gone out with a man since before they had children.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Dominic said. “Because there’s going to be endless opportunities for dancing and making merry over the weekend, and I happen to be especially single too.”
Rosa’s heart rate had accelerated to the speed of the popcorn machine at her old school. She rubbed her left thumb where she’d once burned herself with hot oil. This man was as hot and dangerous as that oil.
“Do you like to dance, Rosa?”Dominic asked.
Dance? Women like her didn’t dance. They collapsed at the end of the day to watch a favorite sitcom on television and hoped they’d stay awake long enough to eat their frozen dinner. “I used to.” This man’s behavior was vaguely familiar. She could almost recall it from another lifetime. It was the way he peered at her as though he wanted to…to what? Eat her for dinner? Or take her to bed. God, yes. That was the look. A man wanted her, even with her plump bottom and slightly squishy middle? She resisted the urge to fan herself.
“When was the last time you danced?” Dominic’s gaze remained on her face.
She really should have worn her good lipstick. “I haven’t danced since high school.”
“That’s a shame,” Dominic said. “A woman as pretty as you should always have a full dance card.”
She blinked several times, then squinted, wondering if this was the beginning stage of dementia. Did the others see him? He appeared real. Or was this how the mental decline started? Handsome men appeared out of nowhere, flirtatious and interested in little old ladies? This had to be an illusion. Men like Dominic Perry drove sports cars and dated women half their age.
They were interrupted when the doorbell rang. Lois, as if she were queen of the mansion, stalked by them to answer it. For the next hour, it was a flurry of introductions and greetings. David Perry arrived with his two little ones, Laine and Ollie, as did Maggie and Jackson Waller, who were also staying at the house with their toddler, Lily, and a young nanny. Stone and Pepper arrived, after spending several hours with Lisa and Rafael off at the lodge.
The evening, which included a buffet-style dinner of pasta and meatballs made by Lois, sped by. After the men did the dishes, they all went upstairs to the loft area to drink, play pool, and watch football. Rosa offered to put Laine and Ollie to bedfor David, but Lois insisted that it was her job as the grandmother. She disappeared with them and didn’t come back. Maggie, after putting Lily down, returned to the living room and huddled with Pepper and Ria on the couch to watch a romantic comedy. Normally Rosa would have joined them, but she was restless. Dominic Perry had shaken her. His attention hadn’t lessened at dinner. Several times she caught him staring at her.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that hung over the bar area. Still the same round face and brown eyes stared back at her. She wondered what on earth did he see when he looked at her? Her skin was still relatively smooth, especially when she didn’t smile. Although smiling was one of her favorite things to do, so that didn’t do her much good. No chest to speak of, so it couldn’t be that. And she had these skinny arms and legs. Now that she thought about it, she looked rather like a plum with sticks for legs and arms. Her round head was like an abnormal growth from too many pesticides.
To boost herself, she thought about her mama. She’d always said Rosa had beautiful eyes, the kind that drew a person in and made them feel as if they were wrapped in a warm blanket. “A pretty mouth, made prettier because you’re always laughing.” That had been before Javier broke her heart. After Rafael was born, her laugh returned. She’d been surprised to find that after surviving loss, laughter was even sweeter. From then on, laughing was like a perpetual first taste of cherry pie. Perhaps when joy goes dormant, it returns with a great roar.
How strange that a man’s attention had made her remember what her mother had said to her.
She wandered into the kitchen and found a teakettle in the pantry. After filling it, she rummaged through a basket of tea bags until she found chamomile. She’d just filled her cup when the door to the kitchen swung open and Dominic appeared.
“I hoped I’d find you here,” he said. “May I join you?”
She flushed with warmth but kept it together enough to ask him if she could make him a cup of tea.
“I’m not really a tea kind of guy,” Dominic said. “But for you, I’d make an exception.”
She smiled and pointed to the refrigerator. “There’s beer in there.”
“Now you’re talking.” He grabbed a bottle and sat on one of the stools that lined the island.
“Why aren’t you upstairs with the rest of the men?” she asked.
He shrugged and ran a hand through that glorious head of hair. “I’d rather get to know you.”
