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“No, no, no!” Riley's fired up about the nearly two decade old story. “That is literally the most perfect meet cute though!”
“That’s what my friend Katie said when I first met him! But I probably became too clingy or something. Who knows, it was ages ago.” It doesn’t feel like ages ago. It feels like it was just yesterday that he disappeared, breaking my heart in two.
We sit in silence for a few moments before Riley interrupts my pity party, “Ok, but you’re single now, why not see if this guy is single too?”
The thought never occurred to me. After Jason and I divorced 6 months ago, I haven’t even thought about dating, much less revisiting an old relationship. “He is probably married with four kids, living his best life.” I wince at the thought. It hurts to think he found his happily ever after. I am 37 and divorced. Between work and my 3 kids at home, I don’t have time to date. “Plus, he probably doesn’t even remember me.”
Lily snatches my phone from the table. “I’m going to cyber stalk him!”
I quickly pull my phone from her grasp. “Lily, please don’t! All I need is for you to accidentally like a photo, and it will get all weird.”
“Wait, you’re friends on social media? This just got good,” Riley asks, sipping her wine.
“I don’t know, I’m never on there,” I lie. I amabsolutelystill friends with him on social media, which is why I know that he is indeed married withtwokids, not four. We never comment on each other’s posts, but every so often I check up on him. It’s been a while since I’ve looked, but after the divorce I wasn’t in the headspace to go down memory lane.
Riley takes out her phone and finds him under her own account. “Well ladies, looks like Dylan is indeed unattached!”
Lily looks over Riley’s shoulder, and surprises me when she says, “Wait, you’re talking about DylanAlexander?” She pulls down Riley’s phone to get a closer look before she continues, “They divorced a few months ago. Em…I know this guy!He’s friends with my husband. He and his girls even spent Christmas with us last year!”
I was mid-drink and almost choked. “Whoa, what? You're kidding! How do you know he’s single though? Maybe he has a new girlfriend? Did Andrew tell you?” I am genuinely curious how much she knows about him. I had no idea he was single, and definitely didn’t know the timeline that it happened in.
Lily looks all too proud of herself. “He was in the thick of the filing last Christmas and no, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Totally single now!”
Riley is amused by all of this as she scrolls his page. “Also, everyone knows when a man changes his profile picture to his kids, that’s when things went south. See?" She shows his profile picture that is timestamped. "Looks like it’s been rocky for at least a year. But I’m more interested in how you guys haven’t run into each other!” Her sleuthing skills never cease to amaze me.
I sigh. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in almost two decades. And even if he is divorced, I don’t think he has any interest in seeing me.”
Riley and Lily exchange looks and Lily puts her hand on top of mine. “Only one way to find out, Em.”
No, nope, absolutely not. “What would I say?Hey, remember me from like 15 years ago? Heard you’re single—not that my friends cyber stalked you or anything. Up for coffee sometime to rehash the past where you ghosted me and I moved on to date men who could never compare to you?Yeah, I’m good, thanks though.” I finish my drink in one long gulp and signal to the waiter that I need a refill.
Lily tightens her grip on my hand. “No, but Dylan’s special! You deserve to love again and be loved in return.”
“Ok, fine, maybe I’ll start dating again...someday.But I’m pretty sure you just plagiarizedMoulin Rouge.” I raise an eyebrow at her and she shrugs, going back to eating her dinner.
“Maybe I did, but what if he isthe guy? You know, your happily ever after?” Lily is trying to help, but I am so afraid of getting my heart broken by him a second time. I have to stand my ground.
“No, I don’t think he’sthe guy. I mean come on, what would that even look like? Two divorced parents, too many kids…it would never work.”Would it? Wait, why am I even considering this?I worry more about bringing any man into my kids' lives, than my own. My youngest, Aiden, is autistic. Between extra speech therapy, occupational therapy, all of the doctor appointments, and meetings—well, it’s a lot to bring a new person into. “I just don’t think I’m in the right place in my life to date right now.”
“I call BS on that, you aretooready to date! Aiden and the twins are doing great. Co-parenting is going well. So, why are you holding back?” Lily’s eyes are so full of hope. “Plus, you can’t live with a nose stuck in a book forever!”
“Lily, that’sBeauty and the Beast. Please stop using references to musicals or Disney movies when discussing my lack of a love life! I mean, if he wants to give me a library, then maybe I’m up for it.”
"With a ladder!" Lily's not wrong, it's every bookworm's fantasy.
Just as I think things have moved on from the subject, Riley grabs my phone off the table, that I left unlocked to check on the kids. “Riley, give it back!” I yell as I swipe at her trying to take it. The next thing I know, there's a ding coming from my phone, indicating a message has been sent. “Riley,what did you do?”
She hands the phone back to me. There’s indeed a new message sent to Dylan in the app. Mortified, I look for any way to rescind it. “No, no, no! Ugh, how do you delete it!”
They both laugh and Riley responds, “You don’t, but all I said washeyso you don’t have anything to worry about.” My face falls into my hands as I realize just how bad this is. I'm just hoping it goes to a spam folder at this point.
Lily puts her hand on my shoulder. “It’s fine, really. He’ll probably never see it.”
Chapter four
Dylan
Ijustfinishedsayinggoodnight to the girls when my phone vibrates in my pocket. As I close the door to their room, I pull my phone out and there’s a notification in my messenger app. I rarely use it, so it’s probably spam. For some reason I can’t explain—a gut instinct—I feel drawn to open it.
