Page 31 of The Bachelor's Dilemma

“Actually, we’re going on a picnic to Central Park,” Anna said.

She realized she hadn’t told her parents about meeting Myles. There was not much to say.

“With that friend of yours who has a child?” her mother asked.

“Actually, it’s with someone I met recently. He’s on leave right now and trying to see as much of New York as he can.”

“He?”

Her mother almost pounced on the word.

“Myles Riker.” She hadn’t told her parents about Myles’s role when Zack had run after a stranger, thinking it was Tom. Now it seemed too late.

“Someone I met because of preschool.”

That was the truth, just not all of it.

“An older man?” her mother asked.

“Not so old—just a few years older than I am.” Anna hadn’t considered how old Myles was. “He’s been working in the Middle East for the last few years.”

“Ah.”

“What does that mean?”

“I didn’t realize you had started dating again. It’s a good thing, honey.”

“Mom, we’re not dating. We’ve hardly spent any time together and Zack’s always with us. I don’t consider that dating.”

“He likes Zack?”

“Myles seems to like him very much.”

Anna remembered how he’d carried Zack home from pizza and tucked him into bed.

“And I’d say Zack likes him a lot. He insisted Myles read him his book last night at bedtime.”

Now that she thought about it, Zack had not looked at every man in the pizza place to see if he was Tom. Maybe meeting Myles had been a good thing.

“This Myles was there last night?”

“Mom, we went for pizza. He walked us home, read Zack a book, and that’s all. Don’t go making more of this than warranted.”

She didn’t see any reason to tell her mother about that kiss. The kiss that had kept her awake half the night, and dreaming X-rated dreams the other half.

“I want you to be happy, honey. We all miss Tom. It’s dreadful his dying so young. But you need not be a widow all your life. If you find happiness with another man, Tom would never have stood in your way. Clinging to the past won’t bring him back, honey.”

“I know.”

She looked at the closest picture. Tom was smiling into the camera. For a moment she felt the happiness in that day. He’d loved life. He’d want her to embrace it as well. But it was hard. She missed him so much. She didn’t know how to move on.

Could she with Myles?

Too early to tell. Though she’d been thinking about him a lot. And about the feelings she was coming to expect when around him—excitement, anticipation, desire.

“So should your father and I come up to meet Myles,” her mother said.

“No, you should not. If anything develops, I’ll let you know. For the moment, he’s just a lonely guy who wants some companionship when he goes sightseeing. We went to the zoo last week.”

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