Page 70 of His Bittersweet Regret

“It’s not really what it looks like. Sheila might have gotten the wrong idea, but I wasn’t looking for anything serious with anyone else, except you.”

“You’re a pig!” Sheila yelled at him before she stalked off. I couldn’t blame her.

“Did you think I would be okay with this?” I asked him.

“Look, Opal, I know you were only with Marsh and that you don’t have a lot of experience dating other people, but did you really think I’d be a monk while I waited for you to figure out whether you ever wanted to date again? I liked you and wanted to try something serious with you, but after a month, I knew it might be a while.”

“Did you know that when a woman gives birth she isn’t even supposed to have sex until after her six-week checkup?”

“O-kay?” He dragged the word out as he questioned what my point was.

“You couldn’t even wait a month before you had to go find someone to meet your needs. I’m assuming that’s what Sheila was about, since you don’t seem to care that you hurt her feelings. She was a hookup, right?” He nodded. “So, you couldn’t even wait a month. What am I supposed to think will happen if we got together, got serious, and had a kid together, down the road?”

“I’m not following.”

“You couldn’t even wait a month to hook up with someone else when you were trying to get me to date you, after I gave birth, so what’s to stop you from doing the same thing to me later on and cheating because your needs aren’t being met.”

“That would never happen.” The growl in his voice made it clear that he’d been insulted by my accusation.

“I’m sure Sheila felt the same,” I replied.

“Look, I’m not sure why you’re upset. Sheila knew the score and I stopped seeing her before we went out on our date.”

“You were still seeing her when you asked me out again.”

“Well, did you expect me to break up with her first? Then if you had said no…”

“Say no more. That’s just disgusting. If you were serious about something more than a hookup situation with me, then yes, you would have broken it off with her before ever asking me out again.” I stood.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Oh, come on, Opal! At some point, you’re going to have to grow up and realize that adults who date have baggage. You have a kid, with a man whose family is always going to be in your business, but you don’t see me holding that against you.” That did not even warrant a response. I turned and started walking out of the restaurant.

“Opal!” He called out. I ignored him. “How are you getting home? I’m your Uber driver and your date for the night too.”

I laughed at the thought that I would have to go back to taking the more unreliable taxi service in town, until I could purchase my own vehicle, because there was no way I’d ever get in a car with Joe again. His nice guy act was just that – a show. He had just shown me, and Sheila, exactly who he was and there was no part of what he did that said he was a nice guy. Even if I had been perceived as being on the “winning” side of that nightmare situation, all I could think of was how soon I’d be the woman in Sheila’s shoes. If he’d treat her that way, he’d do the same to me – eventually.

I started to walk home and got about a half mile from the restaurant when a car pulled up. To my complete and utter humiliation, it was Ryker and the twins.

“Need a ride?” Ryker asked.

“No, I’m fine, thanks.”

“What happened to Joe?”

I scoffed. “Joe happened.”

“Did he hurt you?” Ryker asked in a menacing tone. That boy really was going to be the best man a girl could ask for one day.

“My pride maybe, and Sheila’s feelings, otherwise, no, he didn’t hurt me.”

“Son of a bitch,” one of the twins hissed. “I told you I thought they’d been dating.”

“That moron will pay,” the other twin agreed.

I wanted to turn around and tell them both that they were idiots, but truthfully, I couldn’t face them. I was certain they were happy about my humiliating date experience.

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