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Joselyn: I think I just got bullied into going on a date tonight with Alex Emerson from high school BY HIS MOM. It’s a good thing he’s a likable enough guy.
Marcus: You’re going to let someone else make food for you?
Joselyn: Travesty, I know. If I had it my way, I’d only eat food made by you morning, noon, and night.
Joselyn: It’s in an hour and I still need to finish grocery shopping. I’ll talk to you later.
* * *
Alex was already seated at a table when Joselyn arrived at the restaurant, and he stood to greet her as she neared. He’d been tall and lanky in high school, but it looked like he’d grown into it now. It suited him. She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d last seen him until she saw how much more defined his facial features were.
“It’s great to see you, Joselyn. You look very nice.”
“Thank you,” she said as they both took a seat. “You do, too.” She’d only had nine minutes at home between when she finished getting the groceries in the house and the cold things put away and when she had to leave to meet Alex. She’d changed into a pair of dark wash jeans, ankle boots, and a soft sweater, brushed her hair and teeth, and super quickly brushed on blush, mascara, and lipstick. Not what she’d normally do to prepare for a date, but at least she looked better than she had at the grocery store.
Alex brought his hands together on top of the menu that sat in front of him. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course.” She opened her own menu.
“No, really. I know how pushy my mom can be, and I can guess fairly well that she didn’t leave you much of a choice in whether or not you came tonight.”
She smiled at him. It was surprisingly nice to have that acknowledged. “Either way, it’s really good to see you again, Alex. It’s been too long. Your mom was bragging you up! What’s new with you over the past few years?”
“She was? Well, then that means I’ve got some claims to debunk. Hmm... Let me guess— she told you that I was ‘highly recruited’ at my current job?”
Joselyn chuckled. “She used that exact phrase.”
“I’ve heard her say that one before. Let me translate. ‘Highly recruited’ means that a friend let me know about a job opening at his company that he thought I’d be perfect for. Turns out, it was a good fit. What else did she say?”
“That you’ve won some prestigious awards.”
“Ahh. Yeah, I should’ve guessed that one. At my previous job, I worked for a small company and I was the only solution architect. My boss and I used to joke about how I was the top employee in my department— since I was the only one in my department— and one day he made me a plaque, just to be funny. My mom happened to stop by and see it and doesn’t seem to get that it wasn’t legit.”
“That’s hilarious. I think I need your mom to be the one to introduce me to people now and then and make me sound awesome. Oh, and she also said that you’re developing a new computer chip.”
He nodded. “I’m on a team oftwelveworking to develop it. And they started working on it months before I started. It’s not like I’m not some prodigy disappearing into my lab to change the world.”
Jocelyn laughed. She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed hanging out with Alex.
“Anything else?”
“She said that Hailey put you ‘through the wringer.’”
Alex grimaced. “Okay, that part’s true. I wish my mom would’ve left it out of the conversation.” He shook his head. “All of the parts. She could leave outallthe parts of my life. But it is really good to see you, Joselyn.”
“It’s great to see you, too,” she said.
And it was. They laughed their way through the homemade chips and dips that were their appetizer and most of the way through their entrees. They shared updates about their lives and reminisced about their high school days. She loved that they picked up where they left off so easily. Especially since he had grown up and all the great things about him that made them friends as teens were even better now. She could really enjoy dating him.
If it wasn’t for Marcus.
Because as great as Alex was, all she could think of throughout the meal was that he simply wasn’t Marcus.
When had she started using Marcus as a measuring stick? Had she been doing it her entire adult life without even realizing it?
Maybe that was why she’d never had any strong romantic relationships. She’d always had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right whenever she started getting serious with anyone. Sometimes she got that impression right from the first date. She had that same feeling right now, but now that she was spending so much time with Marcus, she seemed to be able to sense that the feeling was actually the voice saying “but he’s not Marcus” much more loudly than usual.
No, that is ridiculous, she told herself. She made herself think of how she and Marcus had almost kissed and all the fears that had attacked her so strongly. Their breakup as teens had destroyed her. If they dated and then broke up now, it would be infinitely worse. She couldn’t handle that kind of pain. Alex not being Marcus was probably a good thing.
