“Agreed.” I rubbed my head, thinking it was possibly the worst time for her to show up.
“Besides, Mariano is a selfish man-whore who doesn’t think about anyone but himself. She’s smart and will see that quickly.”
I grinned at her choice of words, but she was right. He was self-involved, and over the years he had gotten worse.
“Now, go get cleaned up.” She turned away. “You have twenty minutes to get that smell off of you.”
I headed upstairs to my old room where I had the convenience of a second wardrobe.
“Son.” My father stopped me at the bottom of the stairs. “Another one?”
“Yeah.
“Has it been dealt with?”
“Yes.”
“By you?” I nodded. “Why don’t you let someone else handle it?”
“Fear is a weapon, Father. You taught me that, remember? It can’t be seen, you can feel it, you know it’s there, but it’s faceless until…” I held my arms open as if to sayuntil they see me.
“Very well, then.”
“Oh!” I turned back around. “How was she when you spoke to her?”
His face slipped, and I could see it hadn’t gone as well as he had wished. “She’s hurt and angry, son. We just need to figure out what Mariano is up to. Give it some time.”
“Clearly, I’m not a patient man…but a few more weeks won’t kill me, I suppose, though I can’t promise Mariano’s fate.”
“You and me both.” He nodded and left as I rushed to get ready for dinner.
A black dress shirt with my sleeves rolled up with a pair of dress pants was normally as casual as I got when we were hosting a dinner. Especially when it was a dinner with Mariano’s family.