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"Normally?"
"Yeah, the other night was all me, Theo is sick. Milly was very happy so I guess I did alright."
"You're a phenomenal cook."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"So tell me about you. What do you do?"
"I'm a teacher. High school English."
"Oh, you must be a saint. Teenagers are the devil. Unless they're not..." I huff at myself. "I bet you know what I mean."
He laughs again. "I do. Most of them are great, honestly. I like working with them. They keep me on my toes."
"How old are you?"
"Me? I'm forty-two. I'll be forty-three in March. How about you? Is that ok to ask?"
He's even older than I thought he was. And no that's not a bad thing.
Grinning, I say, "It's fine, I'm twenty-nine."
"Freaking out about thirty?" He asks, amused.
"Nah, it's just a number," I tell him honestly.
"You're smart. I wasnotat your age."
"Oh? Tell me more."
He chuckles. "I thought the world was ending, made a lot of questionable choices." My curiosity is piqued now but I don't want to be rude. I decide to wait and see if he'll offer more information on his own.
He doesn't.
So I prod him. "Questionable choices?"
He sighs. "I brought that on myself, didn't I?" He clears his throat and says, "I was determined that I should have been married already." He sounds embarrassed. "I was hellbent on finding a bride."
"Ah, did you maybe talk to my mother? She thinks I should have a man to take care of me by now. Blah."
He laughs again and I find I really like the sound. "I'm so glad my mother is nothing like that," he says.
"You're lucky," I tell him. "Other than her desperation for me to find a man, she's not so bad though. She just has too much time on her hands since my dad passed away."
That old emptiness rises up inside me for a moment but Gus' sympathetic voice drags me back to the present. "I'm sorry, Betty. How long has it been?"
"Fifteen years now..."
"That's rough. I don't remember my dad. He died when I was a baby. My stepdad is an alright guy, though."
"I'm sorry, Gus. That's awful. No memories of your father." My memories are the only thing that keep me going sometimes.
"Thanks, but you know, it's ok. You can't really miss what you never had. And my mom made sure I knew I was loved unconditionally. You were right when you said I'm lucky."
I sigh. "It's good that you know that." I look at the clock, surprised to find that we've been talking for so long. "So about that dinner you asked me for..."
