fifty years old with a very capable air, and Jake figured she’d seen it all when it came to feisty old men in the ER. He concluded his dad was in excellent hands.
“The sooner you get going, Elwood,” continued his annoyingly bossy parent, “the sooner you’ll be back with my osso bucco…which I haven’t had made properly for at least twenty years. Don’t mention anything to Mattie, though, because she made it for me last year on your mother’s recipe—which never turned out right in forty years, but I never told your mother—and Mattie’s was so tough that I had to chew it for five minutes—how can anyone make osso bucco tough?—but I didn’t tell her that, of course.”
Jake hadn’t seen his father so animated since…hell, he didn’t know when. He could hardly believe that less than three hours ago, Pop had been on the verge of cardiac arrest, his blood pressure in the toilet, and he’d been almost catatonic from the numerous bee stings.
Amazing what the thought of a good meal could do for a guy. Oh, and drugs.
“Elwood,” Pop said, plucking at Jake’s sleeve just as he was ready to leave the little curtained room.
“What is it, Pop?” Jake asked, suddenly nervous, and searching his father’s face for the truth. “Are you feeling all right? I can stay, you know—I’m sure Vivien would go and get—”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine, for Pete’s sake—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I’m not made out of glass, Elwood.”
“What is it, then?” Jake asked.
Pop glanced at Vivien, who was prudently waiting just out of earshot at the edge of the curtain, then he said in a low voice, “You take your time, sonny, all right? It’ll be hours before they get me settled and get all the testing done and let me eat—I know how these prisons work—and so you just take your time at the restaurant. I picked a really nice one—God knows you can afford it. Wine and dine her a little—I’ll still be here when you get back. No need to rush.”
Jake straightened up and looked at his father askance. “Pop, what the—”
“She’s the one, isn’t she? The girl in New York? From way back? I didn’t put it together right away—and you didn’t bother to tell me, you blithering idiot—but then I remembered her.”
Pop shook his head like he didn’t know what to think of his son—like he’d just been arrested for murder—and continued, “You can thank me later for setting this up, and don’t mess things up this time, Genius, all right? And you bring me the best damned osso bucco in Grand Rapids as a thank you—and make sure they put polenta with it, not potatoes, not tonight—and some cannoli, yes three cannoli—one pistachio, two chocolate, you got that? You do that, or I’ll run off with her myself. And you know we DeRiccios are irresistible to women.”
Jake barely managed to control a smile. “Well, Vivien did tell me she thought you were adorable. So I guess I’d—”
“She did?” Pop actually shot up from his half-reclined position in the hospital bed. “She said that?” His cheeks pinked a little beneath the bee stings.
“Yep. And since I’m a good guy, I promise not to smother you—my rival—in your hospital bed, and instead I’ll go off and wine and dine her while you get poked and prodded and show your bare ass to the nurses— Oh, don’t deny it, Pop. I’m a doctor. I know how things work in a hospital,” Jake said with a broad smile as he made his escape.
Thank God. Thank God Pop’s all right.
That sentiment—and the silly fact that his pop was playing matchmaker from his hospital bed—made Jake feel almost giddy as he came out of the curtained carrel in the ER.
“Well, you heard the man,” Jake said to Vivien. “We’d better go get him some dinner. And he said to take our time so he can get settled in his room.”
“What about your sisters?” Vivien asked as he started for the driver’s-side door of his car. “I’m sure they’re waiting to hear from you. I’ll drive so you can text them.”
Jake sighed and pivoted to go to the passenger door. “I might just as well call them—even if I text, they’ll just call me anyway. Look.” He held up his phone and she saw six missed calls from Mattie and five from Irene, along with twenty text notifications.
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at Federico’s. Even though it was Friday, because it was midafternoon, they