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But I was going to kill Josie for this.
When I went back into the living room, Maryellen was holding a framed photograph of Kody that usually sat on the side table.
Her face was scrunched up with confusion. “Is this your brother?”
Brother? “No, that’s Kody, my son.”
Her eyes widened. “You have a kid?”
“Yeah.”
She looked around the room. “Are you married?”
She seemed to be shocked, so I kept my answer simple. “No.”
“Does his mother have custody?” She peeked over at me. “You see him every other weekend or something?”
My lips pressed together. “I have full custody. You don’t like kids?”
She let out a high-pitched squeak. “Meep. I’m just not used to them. It seems like a lot of responsibility to take care of them. I’ve got a Pomeranian and taking care of Sookie is overwhelming at times.”
She put the picture of Kody down and then swiped her phone a few times before pointing the screen at me. “That’s my Sookie.”
It was a picture of a white ball of fluff. A tiny dog sitting on a couch. “Cute,” I mumbled.
“Let me guess, you’re a cat person? Dogs are so much cooler! Do you want to see Sookie’s Insta page? She’s got a ton of followers. I don’t do social media — my therapist told me to give it up, too much anxiety — but I help Sookie out with her page.” She gave me a wink and then added, “If you follow her, she’ll follow you back. Sookie_Pom.”
I took a step back. “I don’t really do social media either.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “You don’t! Wow, we really are compatible. Do you love animals? I thought we could go to the zoo for our date. I mean, who doesn’t love animals?”
Fuck. I wasn’t about to spend all day at the zoo with this crazy girl just to be a nice guy. I had my limits. “Honestly, I’m not really a zoo person. I had a bad experience there once.”
“Oh shit!” She nodded. “I saw a male gorilla humping a female gorilla right behind the glass when I was a kid. He was huge. I mean, crazy big. And it happened like five feet away from me. It was really traumatizing. And that would be so awkward if that happened on a date.”
My hand tunneled through my hair. I was starting to sweat. “Maryellen, I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t seem comfortable that I had a son.”
She couldn’t meet my eye. “It was quite the surprise. Josie didn’t mention that to my grannie.”
“He’s a big part of my life. Actually, he’s the biggest part of my life.” I kept my tone nice and even. “So, I’m not sure that we are all that compatible.”
Her hand flew to her forehead. “I’m really sorry! I hope you aren’t too upset. I just … it’s not you, it’s me. You seem so great. I just...”
I started leading her to the door. “It’s okay. Thanks for being honest with me.”
Just as she got to the front door, she stopped. “I have this friend, Nugget. She really loves kids. I could give you her number?”
“No, that’s okay.” I bit my lip. “I think I’m going to take a little break from dating.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
I pressed my phone to my ear as I listened to it ring and ring.
“Pick up,” I muttered.
Finally, Josie answered, “Did you get lucky?”
“Cancel the date you set up for Saturday,” I growled into the phone. “I’m not spending another minute of my time with some whack job you set me up with.”
