Page 46 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

I thought about Jordan the next morning while making toaster waffles for Bran. My entire world felt like it had been turned upside down. The point of agreeing to the threesome—which then turned into a foursome by accident—was that the sex was meaningless. I knew I had no future with Lucas and Jordan, and the third guy was just some stranger who I would never see again. It was all physical, without any emotional attachment. Simple.

But Jordan wasn’t just some loser from another life. He’d graduated college early, gone to med school, and now worked at a Children’s clinic. He coached little league.

He was, I dared to admit,husband material.

I laughed to myself. Nothing made sense anymore.

“What’s so funny?” Bran asked around a mouthful of waffles.

“I was just thinking of something funny that I read in a book,” I replied. “Hurry up and finish your waffles. We have to go pick up Mommy’s car.”

Sara drove us to the park to get my car. She was quiet, but smiled the whole time.

“What?” I asked.

Her eyes cut over to me. “I’m just happy my sister took my advice last night.”

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Bran was still focused on his coloring book. “You didn’t give me any advice! You pretty much played matchmaker by inviting him to dinner!”

“Exactly. And it worked.”

“We’re just having fun,” I insisted. “That doesn’t mean it was a date.”

She smiled smugly the rest of the ride to the park.

My car was exactly where I had left it, with the receipt of work taped to the side window. Sara waited until I started the engine before driving home with Bran.

But there was another piece of paper shoved underneath the windshield wiper. I got out and removed it…

“You have got to be kidding me!” I yelled in the empty parking lot. It was a citation from the city for illegally parking my car overnight.

I had a busy day, so I put it out of my mind and drove to work. I was showing houses to two different couples today, so I spent two hours printing out listings and coordinating on when I would visit the houses that were for sale.

When I had a free moment, I compared the time on the citation to the timestamp on the AAA receipt; I’d gotten the ticketafterAAA had left. Which meant a police offer saw that my car was there for a legitimate reason, and gave me a ticket anyways.

Ugh. Whatever.

But when I went online to pay the ticket, I did a double-take. Fourhundreddollars? For a parking violation? That was insane!

Deciding that a judge might take pity on me, I clicked the button to contest the ticket. My court date was scheduled for this Friday morning. That was better than waiting weeks to deal with it, I guess.

Once that was out of the way, I focused on work again. The first couple was in their thirties, and were buying their second home—so they knew what they wanted, which made my job easier. After looking at four houses, they had two that they wanted to put offers on.

The second couple, however, was more difficult. It was the same newlywed couple I’d chauffeured around town the day I ran into Lucas at the grocery store, and they still had no idea what kind of place they wanted to buy. It was supposed to be a quick showing that ended by five, but they were insistent.

“Can we drive around the Monticello Heights neighborhood?” the wife asked. “I saw a few listings on Zillow that we should check out.”

“Of course,” I said patiently. “But that neighborhood is in a different school district than the one you want. Unless your priorities have changed?”

“Honestly, we’re open to changing our mind!” the husband said. “If we find our dream home, we can worry about schools later.”

“You don’t mind showing us now, right?” the wife insisted. “We don’t want to wait until next week.”

I smiled politely. I needed this commission. “Of course.”

While the couple was looking at the first house, I stayed in the car and called Sara. “Hey. I’m so sorry, but I’m stuck at work. Is there any way you can drive Bran to baseball practice in half an hour?”

I could hear Sara wince on the other end. “My car is at the mechanic. We dropped it off after taking you to your car. I’m picking it up when Harper gets home from work.”

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