Tyler:Thanks for swooping in and saving me with that cape. And out of those three options you gave me, I’d probably pick trying something new.

I’d thought he might pick fishing, because of the photo with a huge fish and the other with him watching the sunset on a boat, but since he had chosen the “doing something new” option, it told me that maybe boating and fishing were just some of the “new things” he had tried one weekend and weren’t necessarily hobbies.

I was about to ask him what kind of new things he’d like to try when he followed up his response with a question.

Tyler:What about you? Would you prefer fishing, Netflix, or trying something new?

I thought about it.

If I was going to choose the answer that would give him the best insight into my real life, I should probably say Netflix, since itwasthe weekend and I was currently watching a movie with my son.

Plus, it would probably be a good idea to get the whole having a kid thing out in the open just in case he hadn’t looked too closely at my profile.

So I said,Since I’m currently watching The Croods with my son, I should probably pick Netflix.

Then, just so he didn’t think I was a boring single mom, I hurried and added,Though you really can’t go wrong with any of those choices.

I held my breath and waited to see what Tyler thought about my responses.

Would he run the other direction now that I’d talked about having another man in my life?

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for him to say,You have a son? How old is he?

I smiled, happy that he hadn’t just ghosted me at the mention of Jaxon.

Me:He’s four and pretty much the cutest thing in the world.

The conversation dots showed on the screen for a moment, but then they disappeared. Maybe he was ghosting me now…

So I quickly shot him another message.

Me:Do you like kids?

The conversation dots showed again. His response came back a few seconds later.

Tyler:I love them. I actually have a son of my own.

I released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

He was a parent, too.

So even though he liked trying new things, he would understand how you couldn’t always just up and do whatever you wanted all the time when you had other people relying on you.

But the relief only lasted for about a second when I remembered how Dave had also loved kids…enough that he wanted five. Before things went any further with this conversation, I decided to nip the topic in the bud.

Me:You love kids? Does that mean you want to have a bunch of them? Hypothetically speaking…

His response came back quick.

Tyler:I don’t know if I’d go that far. ;) I do love my son and would be open to having more if the opportunity presented itself, but I don’t “need” more.

My chest lightened and a smile slipped on my lips as I read his response. Already this short messaging session was turning out to be more promising than last night’s date.

Maybe there were some guys out there who wouldn’t be completely turned off when they found out the chances of me having another baby were very slim.

Maybe I should let this guy know who my ex-husband was while we were at it and see if he’d heard and believed any of those rumors about me like Dave had.

But Tyler sent me another message before I could respond to his.