Sweeter Than W(h)ine (8 page)

             
The conversation was as light as the sparkling grape juice he’d bought her for Chanukah. He loved talking to her; flirting with her. And if he kept talking this way, she’d never guess his true feelings, which was exactly what he had in mind. “And what is my type?”

             
“You want someone who likes the finer things in life like dark chocolate from Chops and Chocolate…” He named the upscale restaurant where he’d purchased the chocolate coins he’d bought her. “A guy who likes good food and good w(h)ine…”

             
She laughed out loud. “You sound just like…”

             
“A man who will put up with your incessant chatter about that shining star of cab drivers, Jay Galloway, without being jealous…” Rafe was pleased with himself for his witty line, especially when he saw Dina’s reaction.

             
“Incessant chatter?” she sputtered. “And here I thought you liked my brilliant conversation.”

             
“I do. But I know you want an Alpha male like myself to make you happy. Your neighbor is definitely a Beta male, and a young one at that.”

             
“So you think he’s too young for me?”

             
“It’s what you think that matters.” Rafe put on his poker face, and kept driving until they reached Nutsie Nan’s Café. As they were walking in, he almost ran right into his Aunt Marina. She was medium height, with brown hair Rafe knew she had dyed at the beauty shop every six weeks. There were angles and lines in her face that showed worry about the company, and over some of her drivers. He hugged her and suddenly missed Uncle Moe.

             
“Hi, Aunt Marina,” he greeted her, when she’d hugged him back. The scent of fresh herbs wafted out of the bag his aunt carried.

             
“Hi, Rafe. I’m so glad to see you. I don’t get to see you much when you’re working out in Cliff Field, but I’ll see you next month for Gracie’s unveiling.”

             
Rafe tensed up, hoping Dina wouldn’t ask him about it. “Dina, this is my Aunt Marina. Jay Galloway’s boss. Aunt Marina, this is Dina Edelman, Jay Galloway’s biggest fan.”

             
At the sound of her employee’s name, Rafe’s aunt groaned. “Well, aren’t
you
lucky?” she said. “I guess someone has to like him.”

             
“Guilty,” Dina said. “He’s the best.”

             
“It’s too bad you already got breakfast,” Rafe said, resisting the temptation to peek into her bag. “You could have joined us.”

             
“I have to get back to work anyway,” Aunt Marina said. “Nice meeting you, Dina.”

             
“Nice meeting you.”

             
“Don’t hide out in Cliff Field all the time, Rafe.” His aunt gave him another hug and whispered, “I want details.”

             
“There aren’t any,” Rafe whispered back. “She’s just a friend.”

             
His aunt walked away, and he didn’t think she believed what he’d said for a minute.

***

              Dina had to admit that she enjoyed being at Nutsie Nan’s Café, and flirting with Rafe. Although his aunt didn’t like Jay either, Dina liked her anyway. She seemed like a take-charge kind of woman who didn’t take any nonsense from her nephew. She wanted to ask him about the unveiling, but he had appeared so tense when his aunt brought it up that she decided not to. If he wanted to tell her, he would. He was just like all of the big, tough little boys and teens she’d counseled at the Oakwood Center.  He used his sense of humor and charm to cover up what was bothering him until he’d finally have to let it out.

After they helped themselves to the brunch buffet, they started talking about where they’d gone to school.  Then Dina
looked down to see that a spoonful of the oil from the fried eggs and potatoes had dripped onto her chiffon blouse. “Darn it!”

“What happened?”
Nan Moskowitz asked, after she rushed over.

“I got a grease spot on my blouse. And I’m on a date.” She smiled at
Rafe in spite of the fact that she was mad over the spot. “Some impression I’m making.”

“The grease spot’s all part of your appeal,”
Rafe said.

“Very funny,
Jay,”
Dina teased.

Nancy disappeared, but returned with a small bottle of club soda. “Try this on your blouse.”

Dina went to the rest room and opened the club soda, which exploded all over her blouse and the sink. The cap just missed hitting her in the eye. That was just what she needed on top of everything else she’d been through.

“The club soda exploded,” she told Nan when she returned. “There’s a mess in the rest room and look at me.
Now what?”

“I’m really sorry about the club soda,” Nan said, hovering over her like a mother hen.

“Me, too,” Rafe said, reaching across the table to touch her hand. Dina liked the heat of his touch against hers, but had to remind herself again that this was just a casual date.

“I’ve got some extra clothes in the back,” Nan said. “I don’t think they’d fit you, though.”

Dina glanced at her, but didn’t say anything. Nan was about a size 1X, and Dina was a medium so that wouldn’t work.

“Wait,” Nan said. She returned with a
Nutsie Nan’s Café T-shirt, size medium. “I forgot I had some of these left. I thought we sold out of them all.”

“
Rafe,” Dina said, as she got up to go to the rest room and change, “I wanted to wear jeans and a T-shirt for our date. I ended up doing that anyway.”

“I’m sure it’ll look just as nice as the outfit you have on. And I like the red shoes.”

“I’m getting ready for spring training. They’re Cincinnati Red Wolves red.” She felt her cheeks turn as red as her shoes.

They got through the rest of the meal and dessert without any more mishaps.
Rafe ordered a couple of the Baumgartner Boys mini chocolate cheesecakes, and Dina ordered two peanut butter and jelly chocolate cupcakes and two of Jonathan Levine’s brownies. “I got one of each for Jay,” she admitted, with a laugh.

“He gets chocolate
and
a tip?”

“Of course,” Dina said. She smiled back at
Rafe when he grinned at her. “We never got to finish our conversation about me being a geek. I really wasn’t. I played for the Walnut Hills Girls’ Basketball Team
and
took piano lessons.”

“So you’re a Renaissance woman.”

“I guess you could say that.” She was tempted to call Rafe “preppie” since he’d gone to the Ida Malloy Academy, but she decided to stick with “Doc.” The morning passed quickly, and she didn’t even mind when Nan had classical music piped in, as opposed to Dina playing the piano. It was mature and classy, very un-like her next-door neighbor’s taste in music.

Chapter
Six

The weather looked bad when Dina looked out the window.
She didn’t know if Rafe or her parents would show up for dinner tonight or not. They hadn’t made any dire predictions on the TV or radio–yet, so she hoped they would.

She called
Krysta because she’d heard they’d gotten a lot of snow in Hillsboro. Her friend lived in the small town, which was about an hour and a half from Cincinnati.

“Hello?”
Krysta said.

“Hi. They said on the radio that you all have about eight inches of snow up there. Are they right?”

“For a change, they are. I think it’s about ten out by my house.”

She lived away from the city
in a comfortable ranch house. Dina had visited there a lot and loved the country setting. When it snowed, though, it was probably treacherous to get around.

“Rani and Tyler got off school early. I’m just going to heat up some chili I bought and then we’re going to watch some DVDs and stuff on the
sci fi channel.”

“Sounds nice,” Dina said. “
Rafe and my parents are coming over for dinner, so I hope the storm passes over here.”

“I hope it does, too. How are things going with him?”

“He’s a great kisser,” Dina said, with an enthusiastic sigh.

“He seems like the right person for you.”
Krysta was usually right about things like that. But then there was her neighbor, Holden. Dina liked him, but he seemed to be a ladies man, and oh, that darn dog. Dina said her goodbye to Krysta, and thought more about the two new men in her life. She wished she knew more about Rafe, and why he’d clammed up so much when he’d talked about his niece. Holden was much more forthcoming about his life – what she saw was what she got.

When the phone rang again, she hoped it wasn’t
Rafe, cancelling their date.

“My date cancelled,” Jay said when Dina answered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jay. You have the worst luck.”

“I don’t think things were
gonna work out with this lady anyway. She always talks about herself. It’s all about her.”

“Jay, you know it’s all about me.”

“Of course it is, honey.”

“How’s the weather?” Dina asked. “
Was it that bad that your date had to cancel? My mom and dad and Rafe are coming over for dinner.”

“
They should be okay.”

She’d barely hung up the phone with him when
Rafe arrived.

“I thought I’d get here early so
I can beat the traffic,” Rafe said. “Then hopefully this front will pass over and I’ll be able to get home safe after dinner.”

“Okay,” Dina said,
as Rafe slipped off his camel hair coat. Everything about him spoke class. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to resist him, and wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

***

“Okay, are you coming in or not?” Dina called from the kitchen.

Rafe
looked up from the Patrick O’Brian book he was reading. “Yeah. I’ll be there in a second.”

Dina
walked slowly into the living room, where Rafe sat on her sofa. She and her mom were cracking up, and Rafe didn’t know why. Dina was probably remembering something funny the peerless Jay Galloway had said, Rafe thought sarcastically. That usually made her laugh at the strangest times.

“What’s so fun
ny?” he asked.

“She was talking to
Schmoopie, y’know,” Dina said, when she’d finally finished laughing. “I have his cat food all ready, but he’s not ready to eat yet, I guess.”

Rafe
tried to look mad, but he gave in and chuckled, too, especially when he saw Schmoopie stroll into the kitchen.

             
“I’m starting to think Jay’s date had the right idea,” Stella Solomon said, looking out the window and frowning. “It’s really coming down out there.”

Herman Solomon looked out
, too. Rafe heard cars trying to negotiate the side street near Dina’s condo.

“
I guess we’d better eat fast,” Dina said.

They rushed through the blessings over the candles, bread and wine, and tried to eat as quickly as they could.
Rafe had almost forgotten how much fun Friday night dinners welcoming the Sabbath could be. He started thinking about his niece again, and the first time she’d said the blessing over the candles in Hebrew. He was so proud of Gracie, but wondered what she’d think of him now, here on earth feeling sorry for himself. He bit back his sorrow, and fed Schmoopie bits of leftover chicken from his plate. Then he gave another small piece to Dina’s mom so she could take it her cats, Seymour, Pete and Franklin, who were all named after former Red Wolves ball players.

Once dinner was over,
Rafe decided to go outside to see how bad the snow was. Dina turned the television on in the living room, and they had just announced that five to six inches of snow had already fallen in Roselawn, and they were expecting at least ten. There was ice underneath the snow, plus high winds that had already blown down some power lines.

“Be careful,
Doc,” Dina said, reaching up to pull his woolen scarf around his neck.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, liking the idea that she cared about him. For a change, it was nice not to have to rely on himself. It’s all in the attitude, he thought, as he let himself get a little closer to Dina and her parents.

Walking out to the street wasn’t easy, but Rafe did it. He walked back inside the warmth of the condo. “It’s really bad. I don’t know how I’ll get home. And you two probably won’t be able to get a cab. My aunt will probably close the office because she won’t want her drivers getting into accidents.”

“You can all stay here tonight,” Dina said.

Rafe didn’t know if that was a good idea. Staying overnight with Dina, and her parents? There’d be plenty of time for them all to grill him, and he wasn’t ready to share. He didn’t see much choice, though. “I don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s no trouble,” Dina said. “My living room couch is a sofa bed, and there’s another sofa bed in the den. It’ll be fun. My mom and I can play the piano and sing and make popcorn. Maybe we’ll watch a movie.”