“Sorry,” he said to Mary and picked up his phone. He answered it this time.
“I’m at dinner, what?”
“How’s it going?!” Mary could hear Mrs. Molinaro even though she was not on speaker. She gestured to Ricky that she was going to use the ladies’ room.
Before going back to the table, she texted the Crew.
“Please stop me if my mother ever sets me up again. Nice guy but wow this is boring.”
“Let me guess: not your type, doesn’t understand you, rarely leaves the island?” Dot asked.
“Exactly. It’s almost like my family wants me to date someone exactly like one of my brothers.”
“Want me to call and pretend to be a work emergency? Some bankers with the SEC at their door?” Harper texted back. She loved cooking up an escape route, having needed so many of her own after dates gone wrong.
“No thanks. It’s almost over. But pray for me.” Dot and Harper both liked the message and said they’d catch up with her later.
Mary went back to Ricky, who was finally off the phone.
“Sorry about that. My ma is a little crazy.”
“Well, maybe all of them are.”
“Especially the Italian ones,” he said.
Mary smiled in agreement. “I know the feeling.” She got the waitress’s attention and ordered a double espresso.
“That won’t keep you up all night?” he asked.
“I always sleep like a baby.”
“I’d be climbing the walls if I had that right now.” And Mary imagined him frantic in the night, checking out all the car websites and chugging milk from the carton.
Finally, a few beats after dessert when Ricky told her about what everyone on the St. Joe’s baseball team ended up doing in life, Mary thought she could politely excuse herself.
“Well, this has been very nice. But I need to get going. I still have some work to do.” Mary got up and started to put on her coat. Ricky sat back in his chair and placed his hands on the armrests.
“Hey now, if we worked out, you might not have to work at all.” He winked at her and gestured widely with both arms. “The Dink Den is packed. And I have expansion plans.”
She tilted her head, raised her eyebrows, and laughed lightly. She leaned over to kiss his cheek.
“I’ll think about it.”
She would not think about it.
THE NEXT DAYMary got assigned a new case. It was tedious work, going line by line through a client’s bank records looking for any anomalies that their plaintiffs could use against them. Her firm used AI software for the first look, but it was her job to double check.
Feeling the need for a mental break before she dug into the assignment, she went for a lap. She walked around the 9/11 Memorial, which always reminded her to be grateful for what she had. She wasn’t born until the year after the attacks, but she grew up learning the stories of so many of her parents’ friends who had died that day. Firemen and police officers, secretaries, clerks, people from all walks of life and all parts of Staten Island.
The endless waterfall in the footprint of the towers was a perfect tribute to their lives. Someone had placed a red rose over a loved one’s name. Mary leaned onto the ledge, said a prayer for the departed, and looked into the water. She thought about what she was doing with her life. She had a good job, but was it going to be meaningful enough, working in corporate law?
She started back toward the office but took a detour to walk by the Legal Aid office where she’d met Manny. She thought she’d stop and flirt, while finding out more about volunteering to help foster kids. Two nonexclusive, noncompeting positive things.
She was wearing a red pantsuit and black patent leather block heels. The day was sunny and warm, so she carried her coat over her arm. Her black hair hung loose down her back, and several appreciative glances came her way.
Outside of Legal Aid, she knocked on the door and gently opened it. A bell rang. There was no one at the front desk, and the office was quiet.
“Hello?” She craned her head to see if anyone was around.