Page 58 of Take A Number
“Tater tot casserole,” he replies excitedly and sets it on the counter, shoving several dishes out of the way to make room. “Ground beef, green beans, and cream of mushroom with tots and cheese on top. It’s the best.”
“You don’t eat tater tot casserole,” I reply with an accusing frown and point at his body. “You can’t look like that and eat stuff like this. It’s scientifically impossible.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “You can’t make baked goods like this”—he points at my Tupperware dessert that I spent ninety minutes making and is now lost in the mess that is Dean’s kitchen—“and look the way you look.”
I shake my head. “I’m not sporting a six-pack.”
“You’re perfect,” he says, taking a nibble of a crispy tater tot. “And we can have cheat days. It’s about moderation.”
I sigh as he proceeds to dish the food into bowls…not plates. Bowls that he probably uses for cereal. He truly is a bachelor. This is a side of Dean Moser I could have lived without seeing. He places a bowl in front of me and gasps dramatically. “I almost forgot.” He turns around and finds something in a bag buried below a few other bags on his counter and retrieves a sprig of…
“Mint? Are you actually garnishing tater tot casserole with…mint?” I am horrified.
“Presentation is one of the five senses, right?” He blinks back at me with wide-eyed innocence that would be annoying if he wasn’t so sexy. He brings it to his nose and sniffs. “Plus, it smells good. Double whammy.”
I cover my face with my hands. “I feel like I’ve entered some sort of alternate universe.”
He laughs and moves around the counter to sit on the barstool beside me with his own mint garnished bowl. I point at the mess in the kitchen. “You’re not going to clean any of that up?”
He wrinkles his nose. “Maybe later. Eat now, it’ll get cold.”
I shake my head while taking a bite and…well…actually…it’s really good. It’s comfort food, so of course it’s good. And I’m not opposed to comfort food. Not at all. I love a good pot roast with some chutney potatoes and a nice spring salad mix.
This meal here, though, it’s not what I expected from Dean. He’s polished and poised. He puts off a metrosexual vibe as a young urban professional in Colorado. A guy who is well-versed in the art of charcuterie boards isn’t the kind of guy I’d expect to serve tater tot casserole in cereal bowls.
However, he’s also not the kind of guy I’d expect to go on a fake date with a newish friend just to help her out of a jam. Maybe there’s more than meets the eye with Dean.
“You said this was your mom’s recipe?” I ask, trying to dig a little deeper into the mystery man beside me.
“Yes, she made this all the time growing up.” He takes a drink of his beer. “It was cheap and easy.”
“Cheap?” I ask, furrowing my brow. “Were you guys on a budget?”
Dean finishes his bite before replying, “Not really, but my mom grew up poor—like trailer park poor—so I think those habits sort of stuck. My dad always hated it because he grew up with money and enjoyed spending it, which always drove my grandpa nuts.”
“Is this your grandpa that passed away when you were eighteen?”
“Yes. My dad’s dad. He was actually pretty incredible. He sold men’s clothing for years and was crazy smart with his money. And very frugal. Everything my dad was not. The whole situation is pretty ironic because when my grandfather passed away, he left his inheritance to me instead of my dad.” He laughs bitterly.
“Yikes,” I reply with a cringe. “Why did he do that?”
“Because my dad is a functioning alcoholic and terrible with money. And because my grandpa loved my mom, even after the divorce. He knew the prenup she signed left her with nothing. My grandpa figured that if I had the money, she’d at least be taken care of.”
I nod thoughtfully as I process all of this. “So, was it your grandpa’s inheritance that got you interested in investing? Did you major in finance at college?”
Dean shakes his head. “I never went to college actually. The money my grandpa left me was a decent amount, but college would have burned through a lot of it. I knew if I wanted to take care of myself and my mom long-term, I needed to be smart with that money, and going to college doesn’t really guarantee you a high-paying job. My grandpa was always great at investing and had taught me a lot with my own small investments, but I still had so much to learn. So, after he died, I gave myself one year to figure it all out. I read tons of finance and technical books about algorithms and trading. I subscribed to theWall Street Journalto stay in the loop as I tested trading strategies with a small percentage of my inheritance. I read everything I could get my hands on and when that year was up, I took a risk and dumped it all in the stock market and have been able to live off that for over a decade now. It turned out really well.”
“Holy shit,” I croak, openmouthed. “That’s ballsy.”
Dean shrugs. “I just went with my gut. My grandpa always told me my gut knows what my head hasn’t figured out yet.”
My brows lift as I take in all this new information. Dean is so not just the Boulder mountain manwhore he appears to be. He’s…kind of incredible. “Where does Max come into this picture? You do a lot of business with him, right?”
Dean pushes his bowl away and turns to face me. “Max read some article I was featured in for a finance magazine years ago about high-earning investors under thirty. He saw I lived in Boulder so he looked me up for a meeting. At that point, I was still only doing investments for myself, but I had a reputation out there, and Max was interested in hiring me to do some investing for him. It worked out well because I was ready for a new challenge. Once I made him a good chunk, he started referring some of his friends to me. Now, I have six clients I manage under my own hedge fund.”
“Jesus,” I reply and shake my head in disbelief. “This is all so foreign to me. I just use my dad’s contacts for all my financial stuff. Nate’s dad is actually my accountant, so I guess Nate will be my guy eventually too.”
Dean’s jaw goes taut. “Well, if you ever want me to take a look at your finances, let me know.”
