Page 3 of The Problem with Dating
God, how I wanted to experience new things in the bedroom.
Chapter 2
Gideon~
How early was too early to drink?
“I’m just saying, Jake really does know how to put a nice wedding together.”
I pulled the phone away and took a secret deep breath.
I loved my mother.
I did.
She was the most important person in the world to me, even over my father and two brothers. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’d kill and die for any member of my family, but my mother was my heart’s home. With Sayer being the oldest and getting the oldest son treatment, and Nathan being the youngest and getting the youngest son treatment, I had fallen in the middle and had gotten the sibling treatment. That’s not to say I’d been treated badly, but Mom had always made sure I was just as visible as my brothers. And that was something I will always be grateful to her for.
However, Mom was also batshit crazy.
Granted, that wasn’t anything I’d admit to Sayer or Nate, but she really was a piece of work. She didn’t think I was aware of how much she manipulated me, but I was.
I was very aware.
But I fucking loved the nutjob, so I played my part and harassed my brothers on her behalf and forced my dad to leave the office when he started losing track of time.
“Yes, Mom,” I agreed. “Jake definitely knows how to plan a beautiful wedding.”
“I mean, who would have thought,” she tittered over the phone.
Not me, that’s for sure.
Sayer was the oldest at thirty-seven and was a firefighter. He was one of the best, and two years ago, he had fallen in love with his neighbor, and they had gotten married a year later. Jake was one of Sayer’s fellow firefighters and good friend. And while I still wasn’t sure how it happened, Jake had ended up planning Sayer and Monroe’s wedding, and it had been beautiful.
Nathan was the youngest at thirty-three and was a retired professional baseball player. He had played the hell out of the game and was destined for the Hall of Fame. Last year, he had fallen in love with his neighbor, or well…more accurately, he had hijacked Andie’s son, and then Andie. And after a year of dating, they’d gotten married this past May, and Jake had planned their wedding, too. And, again, he had done a great job. I swear, if he ever got tired of fighting fires and posing for calendars, he could totally become a party planner.
So, now, Mom was on the phone, and her hints were not subtle at all. “Well, if I ever plan on getting married, I’ll be sure to ask Jake about it.”
Mom cleared her throat. “You know, Gideon…”God, save me now.“…how do you expect to find a wife if you don’t even date? Your dad says you’re at the office before he even gets in and you’re still there when he leaves. That’s not healthy, son.”
The middle child at thirty-five, I was a contract engineer. I had chosen to follow in my father’s footsteps because creating things had always fascinated me. I enjoyed getting lost in my visions of what something could become and making it happen. My father had taught me all he knew, and it was a lot.
When I had graduated from college, Dad had been working for a huge engineering firm, and the pay had made it possible for him to put three sons through college. But Dad had been too talented and knowledgeable to be working for someone else. So, upon graduation, I had put together a business proposal that would make us partners in our own engineering firm. Dad had jumped onboard before I had even finished my pseudo-professional presentation.
We were small, but we were happy with not having to answer to anyone, and happiness trumped money any day of the week. Of course, that was easy to say when your brother was worth millions and you knew you’d never go hungry. But while Nate had paid off all of our parents’ debts, Sayer and I had bought our own homes and paid our own bills.
Granted, Sayer and Nathan had new homes since getting married with their instant families, but I never lost sight of how much easier it was to take risks when there was always a safety net. In my family’s case, Nathan’s money was our safety net because we knew he’d never let us ever go without. And his generous nature was the very reason I was so happy that he’d found Andie. The last thing Andie wanted from Nate was money. She loved Nate for Nate, and I loved how she didn’t care for sports in the least. It kept my brother humble.
“Mom, I like working,” I said-for the millionth time.This was a conversation that was as annoying as a record being left on the turntable to skipfor-fucking-ever.
“There’s more to life than work, Gideon,” she chastised, and I wanted to bash my brothers’ heads in for falling in love and getting married. Talk about putting a bullseye on my single back. It didn’t help my case either that Monroe had come with a daughter and Andie had come with a son. My mother had gotten instant grandchildren, and that just made her itching for more.
“Mom-”
“You know, there’s this nice girl who volunt-”
“Nate’s calling,” I lied-lied straight to my mother’s face. Or ear, I guess. “Can I call you back?”
She let out a deep sigh as I crossed my fingers. “Okay, son,” she said. “We can talk about this later.”Fuck, no.
