Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“It’s not that. I’m busy with the diner, and he’s new to the US and not sure where he’ll end up long-term, so we’re just taking it day by day.”
“What does he do for work?”
“He’s between jobs right now.”
My son frowned and said, “He sounds sketchy. Please tell me you haven’t given him any money.”
“He’s got plenty of money. He doesn’t even let me pay for anything when we go out.”
Kit was still frowning. “Did you meet him online? There are a lot of con men on the internet, and this could be how he’s setting you up, by pretending he has money and—”
“No, I met him at the hotel where you got married, and you’ve got this all wrong. Even if he was a con man, which he’s not, those people prey on wealthy widows or divorcees, not broke diner owners.”
“What’s this guy’s full name?”
“Salvatore di Pietro.”
“Is di Pietro one word or two?”
“I assume it’s two.”
Kit sounded frustrated. “You assume?”
“I never asked him to spell it for me.”
Kit sighed before turning to his left and saying, “Try googling it as two words, Vee. If that doesn’t work, try one.” I hadn’t realized his housemate was still in the room.
I asked, “Why are you googling him?”
“Because that’s what you do in this day and age, Dad.”
“Okay, but there’s nothing to worry about. I trust him.”
“Yeah, but you trust everyone.” Vee said something I didn’t catch, and Kit told me, “We just tried searching him with a bunch of different spellings of his name, and he didn’t come up. That’s suspicious right there.”
“It’s really not.”
“Is he on Instagram?”
“How would I know? I don’t use social media,” I said.
The frown line between my son’s brows was so deep that it looked like it might become permanent. “What exactly do you know about this guy?”
“I know he’s kind, and incredibly generous. He’s taken me on the most amazing dates. One weekend, we went to one of those stunt driving schools. Another time, he took me rock climbing. That was a bust because it’s way harder than it looks, but it was fun to try. Two weeks ago, we took a sailing lesson. And last weekend, we stayed at an incredible resort on Catalina Island and went horseback riding. He treats me like a prince.”
“That all sounds fun, but—”
“He’s good for me in so many ways, Kit. You know how you’re always telling me I work too much? With Tory’s encouragement, I hired Javier’s cousin Cami part time as a second assistant manager. I also hired a bookkeeper, which is going to save me a ton of time. Now I can take every weekend off.”
“So you and this guy can be together?”
“So I can have a life for a change.”
“I’m glad you’re cutting back your hours,” Kit said. “That’s something you needed to do for a long time.”
The frown line was still there though, so I asked, “Was I like this when you were dating? Because you’re surprisingly overprotective.”
“You were way worse. For one thing, you always insisted on meeting the guys I dated.”
“You’re right, I did. But you never listened to me if I told you I didn’t like them.”
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t,” he conceded. “You probably won’t listen to me either, but I’d feel better if I got to meet this guy.”
“We can do that. Tory has some relatives in San Francisco, and he mentioned taking me with him when he goes for a visit.”
“When will that be?”
“Sometime in August. We still need to pin down a date.”
“Okay, good.” Kit’s expression softened, and he said, “I’m sorry if I seem negative. I really am happy that you’ve decided to start dating, but I can’t help but worry about you, Dad. You don’t have a lot of experience with this type of thing, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’ll be fine, I promise. I’m not as naïve as you seem to think I am.”
“I never said you were naïve.”
No, but it was definitely implied. I said, “I’d better go, so I can finish my paperwork. But I’ll talk to you soon, and I’ll let you know about that visit.”
Vee stuck his head in the frame and asked, “Quick question. How’s the sex?”
Kit looked shocked. “Did you really just ask my Dad that?”
He turned to my son and explained, “I sent a bunch of stuff from the health center with Manny when he was here, so I’m just following up.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Lube, pamphlets, that kind of thing, since this was going to be his first time doing it with a man.”
Kit muttered, “I hadn’t thought of that.” Then he asked me, “Are you being safe? You know condoms are important, right?”
“I’m hanging up now.”
Once we said goodbye and ended the call, I leaned back in my office chair and sighed. Sometimes it seemed like Kit parented me as much as I parented him. Maybe that was to be expected, since I’d been such a young dad—he and I basically grew up together. I just wished he didn’t worry about me so much.