He looks up at me with a haunted if not horrified expression. “Your grandfather is taking a nap and he’s practically naked.”
“What?” Dear God.
“He has his underwear on, but that’s all. Also, the room is so odiferous, I’m pretty sure the oxygen level is depleted beyond safe levels.”
“I’m going to give my parents an earful about this,” I tell him. Then, hoping to find the silver lining, I add, “At least they didn’t come, too.”
The look of terror on Ben’s face has me laughing out loud. “Perish the thought!”
“Are you close with your grandparents?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know my dad’s parents and my mom’s both died when I was in college. You’re lucky yours are still around.”
“I am. I just wish I saw them more often.”
“Why don’t you move back to Florida?” he asks while opening the door leading to the hallway.
“I love New York,” I tell him while following behind. “Plus, I figure I’ll probably move back to Miami when I have kids. I want my children to grow up around lots of family.”
“That’s a nice thought.” He sounds pensive.
We remain quiet, both of us ostensibly lost in our own thoughts until we are back on the first floor. We follow signs for the restaurant and a hostess leads us out onto a patio that looks out onto a tropical courtyard. She sets our menus down at a table for two in the corner, then lights the candle on the table, and tells us our server will be right with us. I stare around at the palm trees swaying against the darkening sky and breathe in the scent of tropical air. This would be really romantic if I weren’t here with a man who can’t stand the sight of me.
The waiter shows up as the hostess leaves. “Good evening. Can I get you a drink to start off with?”
Ben nods. “Yes, please. I’m thinking of getting a Corona.” Glancing at me, he adds, “Unless you want to split a bottle of wine.”
“You have beer. I’m all about the piña coladas when I’m in Florida,” I tell him.
The waiter, whose name tag says Ricardo, tells us he’ll be right back with our drinks, then leaves us alone again.
Ben gives me a little grin. “Piña colada? Is that a Libra thing or a girl missing her home state thing?”
I stare at him for a second, wondering if he’s making fun of me, but the look on his face is relaxed and … well, almost teasing, so I decide he’s being sincere. “What if I said both?”
“I’d say that makes sense.”
“You’re a nice man, Ben,” I tell him before I can think better of it.
He looks up from his menu with a look of total surprise. “That’s a first.”
“I know it might seem that I love arguing with you, and while you definitely do make me crazy with your rigid views of science, you’re also a really good guy. I first suspected it when I saw you with Charley, but today confirmed it. I don’t think most men would have agreed to sleep with my grandfather.”
He shrugs. “What other choice did I have?”
“You could have sent them back to Miami,” I tell him.
“I’d have to be pretty heartless to do that. Especially after they drove all this way to see you.”
“But still. It’s not your problem and you’re here for work, so it would have been understandable.”
“If there’s one thing life has taught me, it’s to roll with the punches,” he says, sitting back in his chair.
“Is that because of your father taking off?”
“Among other things,” he says with a sigh. “My father wasn’t the last loser my mom fell in love with, to be honest. And each one left her worse off than she was before. It didn’t make for the most stable of childhoods.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, imagining him as a much smaller version of himself — still with glasses, maybe in Star Wars jammies that are a little too short for his long legs. Suddenly, I have a clear view of why he has such a crusty exterior. “That must have been a rough way to grow up.”
He waves off my pity. “It was a long time ago and I’m a better man for having gone through it.”
“How so?”
“Because I’ve learned to read people, which has been exceedingly valuable in life,” Ben says with a firm nod. “Also, I do my best to protect my mom from similar situations, even though it’s difficult now that I live so far away.”
“Where is she?” I ask, realizing I don’t know anything about the man who’s about to spend the night with my abuelo.
“Astoria, Oregon. Where I grew up.”
The waiter comes by with our drinks. “Are you ready to order?”
Ben looks slightly surprised at the question. “We completely forgot to open our menus.”
“No worries,” Ricardo says. “I’ll come back in a few.”
The entire time we study our menus, my body is feeling all sorts of light, airy, wonderfully happy feelings. I have to fight the urge to lean across the table and slip my fingers through Ben’s. Those are some manly hands. The kind I wouldn’t mind feeling on my skin. Actually, I wouldn’t mind sliding in next to him and crawling onto his lap.
Ben snaps me out of my reveries by closing his menu and saying, “I’m going for the cheeseburger and fries. I figure after surviving the ride from the airport, I should let myself indulge.”
I wince a little, then chuckle. “Abuelo’s friends call him Mario Andretti Lopez.”
“About that. I don’t think your grandfather should be allowed to drive anymore. Not just for his sake, but for the welfare of everyone else on the road.”
“To be fair, he’s driven like that ever since I was a kid and he’s never been in an accident.”
“That’s astonishing. But maybe your grandmother should take over.”
“I don’t think so,” I tell him. “Abuela has been the cause of three accidents. When she went to have her license renewed, they made her take a driving test and they refused to pass her.”
The look on his face is one of concern. “Let’s make sure we do all the driving while we’re here. Maybe we should rent a car.”
A wave of admiration washes over me. “That’s really kind of you, Ben.”
“It’s nothing anyone who doesn’t want to die wouldn’t do,” he answers with a wry smile. Then, he lifts his beer and says, “A toast — may you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.” We each have a sip of our drinks and then Ben says, “I heard that the other night at a crazy little Irish pub.”
“Sounds like a fun place.”
“It was. We should go sometime.” He looks slightly panicked, then says, “I mean … if we needed to have another work meeting or something.”
“Right. I knew what you meant,” I say, feeling totally disappointed he didn’t mean it as a date.
A crazy thought pops into my head that shakes me to the core. Ben Williams is a super sweet Gemini man which, astrologically speaking, is a really good match for me. The truth is that I find him enormously attractive, and now that I see how nice he is with my grandparents, I’m even more sold on him. Could something happen between me and Ben? Is it possible that he might be interested in me too?