Page 4 of Hesi-Dating
She nibbled on her bottom lip. "I’m about forty percent sure I do. If I pass, the end job will be respectable and will come with decent benefits."
"This new front desk job isn’t what you thought it’d be?"
"I thought it’d be more…" She gazed at the TVs. "I don’t know. It pays well, and there’s potential for promotion." She glanced my way. "I’ll stick it out for a while. Not like I'm in it for a career. My supervisor hit on me today, which stinks. I had to shoot him down. Relationships at work are a no for me, but I think it’s going to be a problem."
Artichoke dip and chips arrived.
She used a chip to scoop up a chunk of cheesy dip. "The dip at this place is the only reason to come here. You've got to try it. So, how long have you been divorced?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Officially about a month, but we were separated for eighteen months. I thought once we had our final mediation it'd be done, but we’re still in negotiation over the house. She said she didn't want it, but now she does."
"Were you married a long time?"
"Eight years."
"Any kids?"
I shook my head.
"Why not?" Her eyebrows rose.
I shrugged. "Wasn’t in the cards, I guess."
She waved a chip at me. "That came off judgy. Sorry." She scrunched up her face. "It surprises me you don't have kids. You’re prime parental age. You have a classy but stressful job. You’re hot as hell. I bet you’re a hot potato in bed. That means at some point there’s bound to be a close call or something to prompt the baby talk."
"Ahot potato?" My face hurt from grinning. "Don’t think I’ve ever been called that."
"I can tell you know your way around a bedroom. It's in the hands." She squinted at me with a deep look as if reading my soul. "Had to be your ex who didn’t want kids and then she left you. Seems like with the right girl, and you being a relationship man who can probably pull off hot sex, you’d roll with kids if it happened."
I snapped my mouth closed when I realized it hung open. No woman had ever put me and "hot sex" in the same sentence. No one suggested the sex would be so hot birth control might fail. I’d only been with a few women before I met Kara and got married. In the past, I tended toward conservative women who were more on the introverted spectrum. Nothing like Joley.
"Do you want your ex back?" Joley traced a crack in the countertop before glancing up.
Damn, this woman was blunt.
She tilted her head to the side. "Are you feeling guilty about being on a date while still pining for her and that someday-in-the-future kid? Is it holding you back from putting yourself out there?"
"No. It’s over for sure." I stared sightlessly at a few cracks in the countertop.She cheated on me with my best friend.
"Why don't you sell your part of the house to her or sell it outright and split the money? Then you can move on. It’s just a thing tying you to her. It's dragging out the hurt. You can get a new place. A better place that doesn't have all the memories of the past." She swiped a new chip through the dip. "Time to find out what else is out there.Whoelse is out there. What’re you looking for right now? A rebound hookup, perhaps?" She quickly added, "Not us. We're just talking and eating."
"I’m not sure about dating again." This woman was so much wiser than her years. Insightful. Beautiful. And crazy that she got me to open up this fast when even my therapist hadn't gotten any of that out of me over the past year.
"I respect you knowing you're not ready right now." She dipped a chip and handed it to me, wiggling it until I accepted it. "I think you're a person who can’t separate sex from commitment. That's not a bad thing, but important to understand about yourself. You still should have some meaningless sex to erase the past and start over." She chuckled. "Don't look at me like I'm volunteering. Just giving some advice."
My eyes dipped to her chest before I caught myself.
She sorted through chips while her lips turned upward into a mischievous grin. "The girls are devious brats. It's okay for you to look at them."
"Sorry." I cleared my throat before trying my first dip-covered chip. "Mmm. That is good."
"Told you." Her grin lit up her face and had me smiling back.
"I’m not looking for anything serious right now."
"Me either. You decided to give app dating a chance, which means it's not a for-sure no on you being open to something."
Two women pushed against me on my left as they tried to fit into the one empty bar seat.
