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“He says he’s too afraid. That he’s lived like this for nearly twenty years and it’s all he knows.”
“Is he married?”
“He doesn’t stay put long enough to find anyone.”
“Marriage isn’t for everyone.” Melissa stops walking as soon as we step onto the pier.
“It’s not,” I agree. “But the reasons for staying single vary.” I inhale deeply before enumerating them. “Some people truly aren’t meant for partnership, some sadly never find their person, and some find them but discover they aren’t the people they thought they were.”
She interrupts, “And some choose to stay single, so they don’t freak out their kids.”
“Yes.” I know it’s abnormal to think this so soon after meeting someone, but Melissa is definitely the kind of woman I’d marry if I were interested in the institution.
“I never thought I’d use a dating app to find somebody,” she tells me. “But I’m starting to get excited about Catch.com. I mean, I found Tim there.”
“And then you broke up with him …” I can’t let that one slide.
“Yes, but not because he wasn’t a great guy. I broke up with him because he wanted to share his greatness with the free world. We just have different views of what it means to date.”
“And you only want to date one guy at a time.”
“Yes.”
“What happens when you find the guy you want to date?” I’m clearly asking about what happens between us.
“Then I date him.”
Time to spell it out. “I mean what happens with us?”
She disengages her hand from mine and uses both hands to pull her hair back into a ponytail. She places her hands on the railing, before saying, “Then you and I become just friends.”
“No more kissing?” I guess.
“That wouldn’t be fair to the guy I was seeing. And before you remind me that I kissed you after my first date with Tim, I think there’s some gray area at the very beginning. I didn’t know after the first date whether we were going to make a love connection.”
“You didn’t,” I feel the need to remind her.
“No, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. I know what I want in my life and I’m too old to pretend that doesn’t matter. While I love living in a time where I don’t have to get married and have a family—which isn’t something our grandmothers ever got to choose—I want those things.”
“I absolutely understand that,” I tell her. “But I’ll miss being really good friends with you.”
She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “Yes, but that’s your choice, isn’t it?”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
MELISSA
I need to stop being “really good” friends with Jamie now. He’s messing with my equilibrium to the point where I know I’m already in trouble. If we keep going, the situation will only amplify.
I nearly cheer when Sammy joins us on the pier. “You ready?” Jamie asks her.
“All set,” she says with a wide smile on her face.
As we walk back up the hill to the car, she asks me, “Did your skin break out during your period?”
“It still does,” I tell her. Her horrified expression has me adding, “But nothing like it used to.”
She touches her face and winces. “I have one of those deep-down zits starting to form that hurts to touch.”
