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“A what?”
“He’s panicked. Maybe he started to realise he liked you too, but it wasn’t what he wanted, what he’d planned, so he’s pulled away before getting too close. His loss. Not yours. Move on.”
“Easy for you to say,” Maya said.
“I know, hun. But I think you’ve got to approach this dating lark with a tougher skin.”
Maya sighed. “Yeah, be like the rhino. Not the arse, but the thick skin.”
“Exactly! Who said that? I like it.”
“A guy I chat to online sometimes.” Maya leaned against the kitchen counter and wondered what to do next.
“Why don’t you date him?” Emma asked, sipping her coffee.
“I don’t even know what he really looks like. We seem to gel anonymously. I’m afraid I’ll ruin it. He’s good to go to for male advice.”
The kitchen door banged open, and Lewis wandered in. “Mummy, I’m thirsty.”
Maya, swiping the last tear off her cheek, got up and fetched him a glass of water. He gulped it down.
“What are you talking about?” Lewis frowned at his mother. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice she’d been upset.
“Nothing that concerns you, sweetie,” Maya said, ruffling his hair.
“I heard you say something about meeting men from the internet.”
Emma stifled a chuckle. Maya blushed.
“It’s nothing to worry about, baby,” she said, taking the glass from his hand and trying to usher him out of the kitchen.
“But Mummy, you’re not meant to meet strangers from the internet,” Lewis said, refusing to budge. “That’s what we got taught at school.”
How come if she called Lewis for his dinner, he wouldn’t hear her, yet from the lounge he’d ear-wigged her and Emma talking about dating.
“Yes, you’re right. But Mummy is always careful, and I’m an adult, so it’s different.”
“How?”
“Because at school they’re warning you about a different sort of stranger danger, darling.” Maya bent down to level with Lewis. His expression was confused. “I do tell Emma where I am going, who I’m meeting. That way, if something does happen to me, she knows the last person I met.”
“What could happen to you?”
Maybe Maya shouldn’t have admitted the last bit. It was meant as a joke. She hoped there weren’t any serial killers lurking on the internet, using online dating. “Nothing, nothing can happen to me.”
“Lewis, do you want a biscuit?” Emma stepped in, offering him the biscuit barrel.
His eyes lit up. “Yes, please,” he said, taking the jar.
“Take it into the lounge and offer Owen and Finley one.” Emma waved him off with a smile.
“And your sister,” Maya added.
Lewis shot out of the kitchen. Maya sighed with relief. “Thank you. That was awkward. At least he didn’t ask why I was meeting men on the internet.”
Maya thought she’d got away with the dating conversation. Unfortunately, Amber brought it up at teatime, while the three of them were tucking into their roast dinner.
“Mum, Lewis said you were meeting men on the internet. Are you dating?”
