“What a doof,” she murmured to herself, eyeing the glowering image of him one more time before sliding the ID into her purse.

“You know him?”

“Yeah. Have you met Estrella? He’s her son.”

“Ohhhh. The one who called you old on your date?”

They stepped out onto the sidewalk and into the sticky air. There were always one or two days in June that portended the dog days of August. When the humidity opened its mouth around you and the cigarette butts and banana peels sweated in the trash cans. Mary picked up her pace, leading Seb to her favorite bar in the neighborhood where they had plenty of cold beer and plenty of A/C.

“How’d you know about that?” she asked with a quirk of her brow and a smile on her face.

“Tyler has a big mouth.” Seb shrugged his big shoulders, towering over Mary as they strode down the sidewalk. “And it really bothered him that someone would say that to you. Especially since you haven’t been dating much since Doug. Or before Doug.”

She felt Seb’s gray eyes on the side of her face. Neither of them had to explain to the other how much time had been required after Cora had died for the two of them to get back on their feet. For a long time, Mary just hadn’t had the energy to date. And then, after the Doug debacle, maybe she’d just realized that she didn’t even know how to go about it without Cora in her corner. Cora had been her true north for so many things. Without her, it had just been easier to stand still instead of trying to regain her bearings.

“Tyler’s worried you took the age comment to heart.”

Mary glanced up. “It’s the kind of thing that gets under your skin, you know? When someone pokes at an insecurity like that.”

“But, Mary, you’re not old. Not by a long shot.”

“Oh, I know.” She waved a hand in the air and smoothed her hair down. “But I’m definitely too old for him.”

Seb held the door open for her at the bar, and they both sighed into the air-conditioning. At 5:00 p.m., it was still early enough that there were seats at the bar, and they collapsed side by side onto the tall stools.

Mary ordered a shandy and a water, and Seb ordered the same.

“And you’re...bummed to be too old for him?” Seb asked carefully. It wasn’t the first time they’d talked about their dating lives with one another, not by a long shot, but still, Sebastian always dealt with these matters with a ridiculously endearing delicacy.