Page 66 of Mr. February

“It’s the part after the date. Ugh, I need to back up, but I also don’t know how much I can really tell you.”

“Okay, that’s mysterious. Let me see if I can guess some of it, so then you’re not breaking any confidences.”

“Sure, fine. Whatever.”

Wade slumped back down on the edge of the bed again. Dating was so stupidly complicated. He liked being in a committed relationship, and he didn’t mind being single, but the transition between the two sucked.

“Here’s my guess,” Kyle said. “You went on the date. Suzanne pulled some attention-seeking bullshit, but you set her straight, so now she’s withdrawn to lick her wounds in private while scheming something else.”

To his surprise, Kyle’s summation made him chuckle.

“Pretty close.”

“So back to the date. Jenny’s a nice girl so she wouldn’t do some duplicitous stuff. My guess is that afterwards, you got carried away. Now you’re freaking out that she’s going to quit or report you to Elizabeth. There’s no reason to worry.”

“No, that’s not it. I guess I’ll need to tell you a little bit, but please keep it between us.”

“You know I would never share your private stuff with anyone. I may enjoy knowing everything about everybody”—Wade fake-sneezed the word gossip—“but I wouldn’t talk about you behind your back.”

“I know, I know. But Jenny isn’t quite ready for me to tell people. That’s part of the problem. Why isn’t she ready? Is she embarrassed of me?”

“O-kay. That’s not at all the direction I thought we were going, but that’s great. It sounds like things went well.”

“Yeah, they did, and then they went even better, and we had a lot of great conversation, covered some heavy stuff, joked a little bit, did some fun things, had some more heavy conversation, but she still isn’t ready. I’m all-in, and she isn’t.”

Wade flopped back on his bed. “Is this Suzanne all over again? Am I so eager to be in a relationship that I don’t care if she’s just tolerating me?”

“Slow down while I parse this. If I understand correctly, are you seriously freaking out that someone you literally just went on your first real date with is not ready for you to propose?”

“What? No! I didn’t propose.”

“Yeah, I know, but I was just trying to put it into perspective. Besides, your mom would kill you if you did that before she got the chance to vet her.”

“My mom is gonna love Jenny, but she doesn’t want to meet her. Jenny, I mean. She doesn’t want to meet my mom. Or my sisters. Why doesn’t she want to meet my sisters? They’re awesome. I didn’t like them a lot when we were kids, but they’regreat now, and everybody else likes them. Why doesn’t she like them?”

“Woah, dude, you need to calm the fuck down. What is wrong with you? I’ve never heard you act like this. You’ve gone on one date, and you already asked her to meet your mom? What the fuck are you doing? That would scare anyone away.”

“Yeah?”

“Holy shit. Do you have a brain parasite?”

Wade snorted.

“No, I’m being serious,” Kyle continued. “Did you truly ask her to meet your family after one date? And you’re spiraling because she wasn’t ready for that? I’m shocked you didn’t propose. Oh God, tell me you didn’t plan to propose as soon as you returned home and got your grandmother’s ring out of storage.”

Wade’s tension released from his shoulders as Kyle’s words sunk in.

“No, I didn’t think about getting my grandmother’s ring and proposing, but that’s a great idea,” he teased.

“Don’t you fuck with me,” Kyle warned. “I like Jenny for you, and you’re my best friend, but I would kick your ass and do everything possible to break you up if I thought you were planning to propose to her after one date.”

“It’s not really one date, though, is it? We’ve been playing at dating all week. We’ve gotten to know each other really well since we’re sharing a suite and spending all our time together. Fighting Suzanne’s bullshit brought us closer together than we would have been on our own. Say you’ll give us your blessing.”

Wade tried to keep the laughter out of his voice, but it burst out of him before he finished with his fake entreaty.

“Fuck you, jackass. Fine, if you don’t want to tell me what’s going on, I’m gonna go back to my real friends who don’t make me talk on the phone.”

“Damn, Kyle, I’m an asshole. Weren’t you supposed to have a date this week? An early anti-Valentine’s Day date or something?”

---