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Was it too much to ask for a decent, normal guy who wanted the same happy, successful three-point-two puppy life as you?
August Merriweather certainly didn’t think so. But, if her dating history was anything to go on, apparently itwastoo much to ask. Her last few dates had ranged from less appealing than a smelly tennis shoe to “engage fake emergency phone call” status. The guys ran the gamut from dull to infuriating, and every single time she went home alone wondering what the heck was wrong with her.
In her mind, the dating jungle was more like the dating fight pit.
Don’t be negative. You never know, this guy could be the one!
That had been her cautiously optimistic mantra as she’d walked into the restaurant where she was meeting her latest swipe right. And while August wasn’t the kind of woman who needed a man to be happy, shewanteda relationship. A partnership. A person with whom she could share in life’s joys and challenges. Someone who made her heart flutter.
Spoiler alert: Carter Edward Driscoll III did not make her heart flutter.
You should have known better than to accept a date from a guy with a number in his name.
“So that’s when I told her,babe, I simply cannot marry someone who wants to own a tiny home. Like, where would I put my shoe collection?” The man sitting across from August shuddered. He was classically handsome, but in a way that looked a little...sterile. Had he Botoxed his face? His eyebrows didn’t move that much.
August caught herself staring and brought her eyes down to the plate in front of her. She’d barely touched the croquettes they’d ordered to start, her appetite waning the second her date decided to talk about all the women he’d refused to marry.
All six of them.
Frankly, the fact that the guy had found evenonewoman interested in marrying him said more about his bank account than it did about his personality.
“I mean, can you believe it? A tiny home? Like, what am I? A minimalist?” he scoffed. “I should have known she’d be into that hippie shit the first time she used natural deodorant. That was a red flag.”
Oh boy. Was it too soon to pull the emergency phone call thing again? Or was this date bad karma for doing it last time?
“So anyway, that was potential wife number five scratched off the list. Number six...she was a doozy.”
August watched his eyebrows again, trying to see if they moved when he talked. Hmm. It was hard to tell. Carter droned on about the next poor, deluded woman who’d thought she could snag a diamond from him.
“I have to think about these things, you know.” This time he paused and took a breath, waiting as though he expected her to respond.
Shit. What had he just said? She’d totally zoned out.
“Uh...”
“I can’t exactly curse my future children with those issues, now, can I?” He snorted and nothing above his nose moved. He’d definitely hadsomethingdone. “I need to pick someone whose genes are at least as good as my own.”
August blinked. “Wait, you’re saying you’re going to choose a wife based on what genes she’s likely to pass on to your children?”
“Exactly.” Carter tossed his hands in the air. “Finally, someone gets it.”
“Are you looking for a wife or a mare?” Her lip curled in disgust.
“Mayor? I don’t really want someone who’s involved in politics.”
“Not mayor.Mare.Like a female breeding horse.” Ugh, why was she even bothering to argue with him? “And not all women want children, you know.”
He made a snorting sound. “Sure, theysaythat. But then biology happens...tick tock.”
She ground her back teeth together. Augusthatedthe idea of the biological clock. People made it sound like the second she turned thirty some kind of internal switch would flip and suddenly she’d be desperate to have a child.
So far, nothing.
It wasn’t as though she didn’tlikekids. She looked forward to being the cool “aunt” to her friends’ Mini-Mes. But she didn’t have the urge to have one of her own. Who knew, maybe itwouldchange in the future.
But then again, maybe it wouldn’t.
