“I thought I owed you dinner?” I asked.
“All right, you have me there. We should figure out the details of that.” He straightened and took a breath. “I was thinking the diner. Or maybe we go out of town to not raise suspicion yet?”
“Neither. Come to my house.”
Dean paused with the cup halfway to his mouth. “I’m sorry, what?”
“My house. Whenever you want to.”
“I ... really meant dinner. We should probably talk about things.”
What was with this guy and thinking I was asking him out? I wasn’t a fool. I knew he didn’t date. “I really mean dinner too. I’m cooking.”
“You’re cooking?” he asked. “And I don’t mean this in a rude way, but do you know how?”
I crossed my arms. “Do I know how? Of course I do. Haven’t you heard—” I paused. “I forgot you’re not from here. Yes, I definitely know how. I’m second only to Tammy’s husband in myskills.”
“Thank God. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with home cooking.”
“Your mom?” I asked.
“Yeah, she can burn water.” He shook his head.
I was so curious about his family. I was curious about a lot with him. Why didn’t he settle down? Did his mom have anything to do with it?
But that wasn’t for me to know. Even though we shared a kid, some rules were still in place.
“Hopefully I can turn that streak around,” I said. “Tomorrow? Are you free?”
“What else am I gonna do? Go get beat by Hugh at poker again?”
“That’s what you get for playing with him in the first place,” I said. “He does that to everyone.”
“I almost had him,” Dean said. “I’m not bad at poker, you know.”
I shook my head. “It’s your money, buddy.”
He laughed and took another sip from his cup. Then he stared at me.
“I really didn’t mean to be rude about ... everything, by the way,” he said. “I feel like I owe you a lot of apologies.”
I blinked again. “I-I mean, it was a shock to both of us. But you seem ... like you’ve accepted it now?”
“More than accepted it. I’m doing this right, Grace Day. And dinner is just the start of that.”
Oh.Oh.This was better than I imagined.
Were things finally looking up for once?
“I mean the father thing,” he quickly clarified. “Not . . .”
I rolled my eyes. “I know. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
14
DEAN
Dad Company (But Sometimes Good Advice)