Page 117 of Just Ten Seconds

Dean nods with a proud grin.

“I don’t trust a man who keeps his own books.”

“Mother!”

“Amanda, do you want to play video games?” Dean asks as he holds out a ten-dollar bill.

She jumps up and swipes the money, jogging over to the arcade in the back of the pizzeria.

“Do you have a secretary?” she asks Dean. His brow furrows with a nod as she follows it up with, “Is she fat and ugly?”

He doesn’t seem to know how to respond to that. If he says yes, he’s a jerk. If he says no, he’s still a jerk. In my mother’s eyes at least.

Ines intercedes. “Dean is a hardworking man, and until Mara came around, he hasn’t mentioned a woman since his late wife passed. Trust me; I tried.”

This information seems to catch my mother off guard. “You’re a widower? My apologies. I didn’t know.”

I widen my eyes and talk low, “You don’t always have to think the worst in people, Mom.”

She leans forward. “What do you expect? My ex-husband left me for another woman, and yours is sitting in prison.”

I place my hand on my forehead in embarrassment. When I glance up, I’m surprised Dean is looking at me with a sideways shrug of his mouth. He raises a shoulder. I raise one back to him.

Ines looks like she wants to ask a question, but she folds her paper napkin instead. Either she missed the ex-husband part or she’s just ignoring it. “Not all men are bad. My husband is a rare breed of gentleman. He leaves his socks all over the house, but he’s a good man.”

My mother harrumphs. “Of course I know there are decent men out there.”

I decide to toss my mother a bone and explain to Ines, “You’ll have to excuse my mother. My father is a horrible person. And I’m not just saying that because he left me when I was a toddler.”

“The bastard was humming “My Way” as he walked out he door,” Mom says and do a double take.

“What did you say?” I ask.

She rolls her head. “Please don’t make me say it again. I can’t stand that man or that horrible Sinatra song.”

I lean back in my chair and harrumph to myself. So that is why I cry when I hear him sing. And here I thought my father’s abandonment didn’t make a profound impact.

“If I had known it was him at the restaurant, I would have given him a piece of my mind,” Dean says, and we all look over to him.

“You saw Mara’s dad?” Mom asks.

He nods. “We were in the city, and he was giving her a hard time. I had no idea it was him or else I would have knocked him out.”

Mom turns to me while pointing at Dean. “I like him, Mara. Keep him around long enough to bring to your father’s house, so he can punch the living daylights out of him.”

I lovingly pat her on the arm. “Let’s just get through pizza first.”

The waitress comes over with our drinks and Amanda is back in her seat. Dean places a pizza order, and thankfully, the conversation takes a turn for the better. Especially when Amanda asks her grandmother to tell her stories of when her dad was a kid. Turns out, Amanda only wants to hear the stories of when her dad was bad.

“He was about ten years old, and we went to the liquor store. He stood in the middle of the wine aisle as he yelled, ‘Why do you want to do drugs? Drugs are bad for you!’ He had just seen a presentation on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. I was mortified.” Ines hangs her head with a laugh.

Dean lets out a chuckle and follows it up with a story of his own. “I took Amanda with me to the bank to secure a loan for the property. I had a bag of coloring books and stickers to keep her occupied. As the bank manager is explaining the interest payments, she walks over to him, puts a sticker of an egg on his forehead, and yells, ‘You’re an egghead!’ ”

“We were puppy-sitting for a neighbor. Mara snuck the puppy into her backpack and brought him to school. Imagine my surprise when I was told to come get my daughter because the dog had gone potty in her backpack!”

My mother’s story has Ines and Dean laughing. I don’t miss the way Dean’s eyes linger on mine as he grins. I’ve missed that grin.

As the stories are told, the tension eases. When the food comes, Amanda is devouring three slices of pepperoni pizza.