He asks her a few more questions, which she answers with surprising cooperation. She must think he’s really handsome. I watch Dean’s face, trying to figure out how worried he is. He finally reaches into the black bag he brought with him and pulls out a stethoscope.
“Can I have a listen to your chest?” he asks.
She looks between the two of us. “You can listen if you ask my granddaughter on a date for tomorrow night.”
Dean laughs while I avert my eyes. “I’ve been asking her, Mrs. Mascolo! She won’t go out with me.”
“Well, she will if she wants you to listen to my chest.”
Both Dean and Nonna are staring at me now. I feel like my face is on fire, but I quickly nod my head. I’ll do anything for Nonna to go along with this exam.
Dean listens to Nonna’s chest for what feels like forever. When he pulls the stethoscope off his ears, he’s smiling. “Mrs. Mascolo, you’ll outlive us all.”
She snorts. “Who wants that?”
“Good point.” He puts the stethoscope back in his bag. “Listen, the pain in your chest might be heartburn, but I can’t be sure without doing some tests.”
“No tests.”
“Mrs. Mascolo…”
“No tests, Dr. Dino.”
“Okay,” he sighs. “How about this. Come to my office Monday morning. Let me hook you up to our EKG machine and that’s all we’ll do. It’s like a snapshot of your heart. It won’t hurt and it will take less than five minutes. What do you say?”
Nonna lifts her eyes to look at me. “And you’ll go out with him on a date?”
“Yes!” I wrap my arms around my chest. “I will! Nonna, please just go!”
“Fine.” She nods. “I’ll see you Monday morning, Dr. Dino.”
They iron out a few more details and then shake on their agreement to meet on Monday. It sounds like he’s going to come in early just to see her. I don’t know why he’s being so nice to some old woman he just met, but he’s charming as hell around her. If I don’t agree to go out with him, I’m pretty sure she will.
I walk Dean out of the apartment and over to the stairwell after he’s done. I’ve given up on being embarrassed about my sweatpants and the fuzzy slippers I put on. It is what it is.
“So…” Dean says when we get to the stairwell. The dimple on his cheek pops as he offers a crooked smile. “I think she’s right. Probably just heartburn. But we have to check it out.”
“Thank you so much for rushing over,” I say. “I mean it. I can’t thank you enough. I was terrified.”
“Well, that’s the benefit of knowing a cardiologist.”
I frown at him. “You’re a cardiologist?”
He laughs. “It says it on my card, you know.”
I didn’t notice that. All I remember is his name. “Well, thank you. Again.”
I can’t help but think of how Nonna insisted I should say yes if he asked me out again. I agreed because I wanted her to cooperate. But the thing is, if Dean asked me out right now, I’d be very tempted to say yes either way. I should be head over heels for a guy like him. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
“You don’t owe me,” Dean blurts out.
I blink a few times. “What?”
He clears his throat. “What I mean is, you don’t have to go out on a date with me just because your grandmother said you had to. And you don’t have to go out on a date with me because you feel like you owe me for helping you.”