I took the small outfit into my hands and studied it. It was so tiny. And cute. My nephew was going to be freaking adorable and the best dressed baby this side of the Atlantic.
“It's perfect,” I replied, handing it off to Rosie. Rosie beamed. She looked amazing, even eight months pregnant. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was only wearing light makeup to accent her brown eyes, but she glowed. People always said we looked alike, and I hoped I looked half as beautiful as she did right now.
“So, when am I going to be able to purchase one of these for you?” Mom's question made my heart sink. We'd made it all of three minutes.
“Mom!” Rosie scolded. “Not cool.”
“I'm just concerned about you, Harper.” Mom pulled out the second onesie and put it on the changing table. “You just don't seem to be going anywhere.”
“I'm going plenty of places, Mom,” I told her through gritted teeth.
She put her hands on her hips and looked at me. It was easy to see where Rosie and I got our features. We all shared the same dark hair and eyes, a fairly average build, and noses that were probably just a little too big for our faces.
“You keep going on these terrible dates and not caring that you're not finding anyone. I know you just got back from another terrible one that you're super excited to share with the world. How are you going to find love like this?” Mom's features looked concerned, but I knew exactly the words that were coming next. “It's like you're not even trying, Harper.”
Every time. Those words killed me every time. Because I was trying. The whole reason the Never After Dates even existed was because I was trying and not getting anywhere. It was making lemonade out of the lemon dates that life kept handing me.
The fact that I now hoped for bad dates had nothing to do with it. Now, it was part of how I paid my rent. I had found that lemonade could be profitable.
“I do write other things than this one dating blog,” I reminded my mother. “Just last month, I won the General Excellence award for my travel piece in Now Magazine.”
“Yeah, but, honey, that isn't going to get you someone to love.” My mother frowned. “I'm just worried about you and your future. I want you to be happy.”
“I was happy until about three minutes ago,” I said quietly. My mother glared at me. I did my best not to roll my eyes. “I have plans. I have aspirations and I'm not hopeless, okay? I'll find someone when I'm ready.”
There was a moment of silence. You’d think a woman who spent so many years unhappily married would at least be willing to support a child who wasn’t even bothering with the notion of marriage at the moment, rather than push for intense focus on finding the right one.
“You're not getting any younger, Harper,” Mom scolded. “I don't want you to end up wasting your life going on these terrible dates and ignoring the possibility of finding actual happiness someday. You're just sabotaging yourself.”
“Right, Mom. I do this all so I can be miserable and alone. I want to end up as a crazy cat lady.” I stalked over to the baby elephant lamp. It was a good thing Thomas made me promise not to use it, because it was incredibly tempting to throw it at my mother's head at the moment.
“Harper, she just wants you to be happy.” Rosie said softly. She was always the peace-maker.
I didn't say anything. The only things I wanted to say, I knew I'd regret because they weren't nice. I really wished I got along as well with Mom as Rosie did, but Rosie was the golden child. She'd always done everything right. I was the screw up.
Rosie cleared her throat. “But, at least you have that really promising date coming up, right?”
“Of course I do,” I replied automatically. Technically, every date was a really promising one. For my blog.
“You do?” My mom looked skeptical. “A good date or a bad date?”
“A good one,” Rosie assured her. “A real, positive, find love kind of date. She's trying out this new dating service by Kindling Dating. They have this brand new application that's basically guaranteed to find your true love. And she has a date through it.”
“I do?” I looked at Rosie and she widened her eyes to tell me to play along. “Oh, right. I do. I totally do.”
“Sure.” Mom crossed her arms. “Who is he?”
“A local business owner,” Rosie answered. “And super cute. He likes football and has a great sense of humor. He's basically perfect for Harper.”
“Is that so?” Mom did not look convinced. She glared at me again. “Why didn't you say anything?”
“Well, I... um...” I had no answer because I didn't know what the hell Rosie was even talking about.
“She didn't want to get your hopes up, Mom,” Rosie interjected. “You get so excited for every single date she goes on, like she's going to get married next week if she finds the right one. That's hard to deal with.”
I wasn't sure whether to strangle or hug my sister. On the one hand, a good date would get my mother off my back, but on the other, I had no clue what Rosie had planned. If there was no actual guy, Mom was going to be even more trouble than usual. I'd heard of this Kindling Dating, but as it cost money and actually advertised yielding good dates, I had stayed far, far away from it. My business was bad dates.
What the heck was my sister doing?
“Is this true, Harper?” My mother fixed me with her best mom glare. When I was a kid, I would confess to anything under that look. It was hard not to break down even though I was twenty-six years old and no longer living under her roof.
“Rosie wouldn't lie, Mom,” I answered. It was true enough that I would avoid showing my guilty face.
Mom looked back and forth between the two of us for a moment before smiling broadly at me. “You have a real date?”
“Apparently,” I said while Rosie nodded vigorously.
“I can't tell you how happy that makes me, Harper.” Mom actually looked relieved. “I just want you to find that special someone and settle down like your sister. I need more grandkids and Rosie's baby needs some cousins.”
“That's the plan, Mom. Date this guy, marry him, have lots of babies,” I said, ticking off fingers for each item of my future.
“Don't be sarcastic, Harper,” Mom scolded, but then she wrapped me up in a big hug. “I'm just so proud of you for trying.”
Because I wasn't trying before, I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut.
“See, Mom, everything will work out,” Rosie promised.
I looked over at her and she grinned with two thumbs up.
“Okay.” Mom let me go and stood up straight. There were tears of joy in her eyes. If I had known that promising her a good date would make her this happy, I would have done it a long time ago.
“You okay, Mom?” I asked.
“I'm great, honey.” She wiped her eyes and smiled. “I'm just so happy to hear you're actually going to give this one a chance. Please, give him an actual chance? Don't make him hate you like do with all the guys you go out with now.”
I managed not to let my jaw hit the floor. “Yes, Mom.”