Page 28 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

“Oh yeah. My friend down the hall is sending me on a clothing assignment this afternoon.”

He laughed. “To buy her clothes?”

“No. She wants me to dress a certain way tonight and send her a photo. It’s interesting.”

“You’re her very own paper doll?”

“Basically.” I cleared my throat. “What was the tough time you mentioned to Will?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you got into reading that series when you were going through a tough time as a kid.”

“Oh.” His expression darkened. “It was my mother. She, uh, sort of walked out on us when I was nine.”

“Gosh. I’m sorry.” I slowed my pace. “You never saw her again?”

“Only very sporadically through the years.”

That hurt my heart. “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

He looked down as we walked. “I’m over it.”

“Does anyone ever really get over that?” I asked.

“No choice.” He turned to me. “You know?”

I nodded. And then I tried to stop where my brain was going. I’d like to think Brayden’s interest in me had nothing to do with potential mommy issues. I intentionally changed the subject. “Where did you say we were going today?”

“Wherever you want.”

“Wait, you said you needed my help picking out appliances, right?”

“I guess we should get that over with, yeah.”

When Brayden and I pulled up at the home improvement store, we parked in two adjacent spaces.

The smell of plywood hit me the moment we entered, and Brayden’s eyes gleamed under the bright fluorescent lights. “It’s kind of nice being here with a guy,” I said. “Normally I get hit on in these places.”

“I don’t blame those guys one bit.” Brayden bumped into me playfully. “Although technically, you are getting hit on in here today—just by me.”

“Damn.” I snapped my fingers. “I thought I was gonna get a break.”

We headed toward the appliances. “I loved listening to you talking to Will earlier. You seem to have a good rapport with kids.”

“I love kids.”

I swallowed. “You mentioned you want them someday…”

“I’m in no rush.”

Yeah. That was exactly it. He had all the time in the world. Yet another reason we were not right for each other. I shook my head, vowing to forget the heavy stuff for now and just enjoy this time with him.

We picked out a stove fairly quickly, since only one model was available for pickup this weekend and that’s when Brayden wanted to install it.

“What else are we getting here?” I asked.

“Fuck if I know. This whole thing was just a ploy to get you to come out here early.”

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