turned and handed the other bottle to Dez, then kissed his cheek before returning inside the house.
“You’re a lucky man,” he said.
“You could be, too.” Dez pointed to Mateo with his beer bottle. “And I know just the woman. One of Sherri’s friends is interested in you.”
Mateo waved off any suggestion of romance. “I’m married to my job, futile as it seems to be.”
“She’d be a nice distraction. If nothing else, you could try those poetic words on her.”
Sherri returned with a stack of plates and silverware rolled into cloth napkins. She handed them to Mateo, who stood and set the table. As he finished, Marcus stepped outside and his face lit up at Mateo’s presence. “Uncle Matty, what’s up?” asked Marcus.
The boy gave him a hug and took a seat next to him. “Sherri...I mean, Mom didn’t say you were coming to dinner.”
“Last-minute invite.”
Dez served the burgers and they chatted as they passed dishes around the table, filling their plates. Mateo took a huge bite of salad when Dez asked Sherri, “What’s the name of that friend who likes Mateo?”
Sherri punched him in the shoulder. “I told you that in confidence. And it’s just an impression I got by some things she’s said.”
Dez rubbed where her fist had made contact. “I didn’t know it was a secret.”
Mateo lowered his fork. “You guys, I appreciate that you’re thinking of me but I’m not looking to date right now. I’ve got too much going on.”
“When have you ever had time to date?” Sherri scowled at him as she motioned to Marcus to wipe his mouth. “Seems to me, you went straight from studying in school, on to the bar and now you’re trying to save every kid on the street. One date wouldn’t hurt you.”
Her phone buzzed, and she took it from her pocket and glanced at it. “Speaking of which, she’s here to drop something off.” She pointed at Mateo. “Be nice to her.”
Mateo glanced at Dez. “Sherri invited her over?”
“She didn’t say anything to me about it.” Dez stood as Sherri ushered a thin, bald woman out on to the patio. He snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Her name’s Page.”
Page glanced at Mateo and blushed. “I didn’t know you had company, Sherri. I just wanted to drop off that book we talked about at the meeting the other night.” She handed it to his cousin and paused, looking between them. “Well, enjoy your dinner.”
Sherri put her arm around Page’s shoulders. “Don’t rush off. Join us. We have plenty of food.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I haven’t been able to eat much lately.” She gave Sherri a quick hug and left.
Dez pointed in the direction Page had gone. “That’s her. You’d like her, Mateo. She’s funny and smart. And you know that’s a deadly combination for guys like us.”
He remembered dancing with her at a party a couple of months ago. She’d been standing alone, watching the others, so he’d invited her to dance with him. It had been one song and then they’d parted ways. To be honest, she was just his type of woman. Dez had been right when he said that funny and smart was an irresistible combination. But he couldn’t do it. “No offense, but I’m not looking to date someone dying from cancer.”
The patio door opened and Page was standing there. Mateo felt like groaning, and he hoped she hadn’t heard him, but her expression told him she had. She handed a pair of sunglasses to Sherri. “You forgot these in my car.” She turned to Mateo. “And I’m fighting cancer, not dying from it. Goodbye, again.”
Sherri winced and then ran after Page, while Dez shook his head. “Not cool, man.”
“I didn’t know she was right there.” He’d come off as a jerk and he knew it. “But I meant what I said. I don’t want to get involved with anyone fighting cancer. You know my history.”
His mom had died from breast cancer when he was a teenager. He’d watched her fade away day after day. When Sherri had been diagnosed last year, he’d feared the same fate would befall her. Instead, she’d fought and won. He only wished his mother had won her fight, too.
Dez nodded toward the door. “Still, you should apologize to her before she leaves.”
He knew it was the right thing to do. He found Sherri and Page talking in the living room. Sherri gave him a smile before she excused herself, touching his arm as she walked past him. He came forward to face the other woman. “Page, I apologize for what I said out there.”
“Which part? Where you said you wouldn’t date me? Or when you said I was dying?”
He cocked his head to the side and studied her. She looked rail-thin, and the hollows in her cheeks were deep, like those he remembered seeing in his mom’s face. But Page’s eyes snapped with vitality and anger. She was even cute in her black T-shirt that had a lace edge along the bottom and hot pink nail polish on her toes that peeked out of her black sandals. He looked at her directly. “Both?”
She rolled her eyes. “Goodbye, Mateo.”
She turned on her heel and he followed her outside to her car. “Page, wait! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
She stared at him, and he felt as if she was trying to read him. “When you look at me, all you see is cancer. But that’s just something that I have. You don’t really see me, and I wish you would.”
She got into her car and drove off. He watched her leave and then returned to the backyard. When he took his seat, Sherri cocked an eyebrow, and he gave her a shrug. “I apologized.”
Dez took a swig from his beer bottle and pointed at him with it. “You’d be lucky to date that woman, cancer or not. I speak from experience when I say that loving a woman who has survived the worst, only makes life more precious.”
Sherri smiled and put a hand on Dez’s forearm. “It makes you appreciate what you have for as long as you can.”
Mateo sighed and put his napkin back on his lap. “I’m not interested in anyone right now. That’s the truth.”
Sherri stared at him for a minute before reaching out and grabbing his hand. “Okay. We won’t push.” A smile played around her mouth. “We’ll leave that to the aunties.”
Mateo groaned in mock horror but then returned her smile with one of his own. Truth was, Page intrigued him. And though she’d left, the memory of her lingered in his mind.
* * *
PAGE LOOKED DOWN at the speedometer and eased her foot off the accelerator. She’d been driving at forty miles an hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone. Breathe in, breathe out, she reminded herself, trying to calm her racing heart.
Mateo’s words still echoed in her brain. He didn’t date someone who was dying. She tried to shake off the disappointment, but what he’d said still stuck. She’d always thought he was hot, after having seen
