“Well … it wasn’t.” I wasn’t sure what to say now. “What do you want, Steele?”
“What do I want? You’re the one that left the letter for me.”
“Yeah. Because I was trying to help you.”
“You were trying to help me by telling me I had insta-kissable lips and I was a bangable dad?”
“Well, no. I was just trying to buddy you up so you would accept the help. I mean, I—”
“So do you want to bang me, Nellie?”
“That is a really inappropriate question, Steele.”
“Maybe.” He chuckled. “Look, I really want to continue this conversation, but the kids need dinner, so I need to go and cook something. But maybe we can talk later?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Or maybe I can take you on a date sometime.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Or maybe you can come over for dinner sometime?”
“What? To your house?”
“Well, that’s normally what someone means when they say come over for dinner.”
“But I don’t even know you. I’m not going to go to your house.”
“Well, you know me and you know my kids, and you can’t really expect me to try and pull something with my kids there, can you?”
“Well, no …”
“And you said you wanted to help me with my kids, right? If you really want to help me, a single father.” He paused. “I mean, I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, Nellie. If you’re not interested, then I won’t bother asking anymore.”
“No. I mean, sure. I can come to dinner, and I can give you some pointers and some tips.”
“You seem really good with kids from the way you’re talking. Are you some sort of teacher?”
“Yes. Yeah. I guess you could kind of say that,” I lied. I wasn’t a teacher, but I could be. I mean, I did teach Shelby how to flirt with guys when we were in high school. I knew that was a lame way of trying to make myself feel better for the lie. But I wasn’t about to say, No I’m in college and I have no idea what I’m going to do when I graduate.
“Awesome. What grade do you teach?”
“Well, let’s talk about this more at dinner,” I said with a small laugh. I did not want him to ask me any more questions about teaching.
“So when do you want to come for dinner?”
“Well, you’re inviting me. Shouldn’t you offer a particular day?”
“What about tomorrow?”
“Okay. Tomorrow’s fine.”
“Great. It’s a date.”
“Okay. It’s a date, I guess.”
“I’ll text you my address, but I really gotta go. The kids are dying for my attention, you know how it is.”
“I know how it is.” I laughed like I knew, even though I really didn’t.
“Bye.” He hung up before I could make a smart remark about how nice it was that he was now paying more attention to them.
I blew out a deep breath. I just made a date with the guy from the grocery store, a single dad, for dinner at his house. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to think or what to say. I was in way over my head, but I kind of liked it. It was kind of fun, and I was really excited to see him again. I just had to ensure that I didn’t tell any more lies. Maybe when I got there, I would explain to him that I had misspoken.
Well, maybe I wouldn’t volunteer that information unless he asked me.
Chapter Ten
“Shelby, I’ve gone and done it now!” I walked into her bedroom without knocking.
She sat up in the bed and yawned. “What’s going on?”
“I did it.”
“You called him?” She looked surprised.
“Yeah, wasn’t that our deal?”
“I didn’t actually think you’d go through with it, though.”
“Yeah, well, I kept my end of the deal.”
“So? What happened? What did he say? What’s going on?”
“I have a date tomorrow, kind of? Maybe? I’m not really sure?”
“You what?” She jumped off of the bed now. “You have a date with the guy in the store? The same guy in the store we were talking about earlier? The hot single guy?”
“Well, I don’t know that he’s single, but he is hot. And I mean, I don’t know if it’s technically a date or if he thinks I’m going to be offering him some free nanny services or something.”
“What?” Shelby looked at me like I was crazy. “You’re going to be a nanny?”
“Well, no, I didn’t say I’m going to be a nanny, but I kind of let it slip that I could give him some advice if he needed some.”
“Give him some advice on what, Nellie? You don’t know anything about kids.”
“That’s not true. I used to babysit when I was younger.”
“You babysat like three times and you hated it so you stopped doing it.”
“Well, yeah, but he doesn’t know that.” I laughed. “Plus how can I be an authority on kids if I only babysat three times?”
“Exactly, you’re not an authority.”
“Well, he doesn’t have to know that, Shelby. What he doesn’t know won’t kill him.”
“Oh my gosh Nellie. You’re absolutely crazy. You’re not going over there to babysit for this man’s kids, are you?”
“No, I’m going over for dinner. I told you that.”
“So it’s a dinner date?”
“I think so. I mean, I’m so confused. I don’t really know what it is.”
“Wow!” Shelby looked astonished. “I’m kind of shocked, to be honest.”
“Why are you shocked?”
“I mean, you just don’t really hear about single dads going on dates with college students. I mean … I don’t know,” she shrugged, “it’s cool.”
“Well … he doesn’t technically know I’m a college student.”
“What do you mean he doesn’t technically know you’re a college student? Either he knows you’re a college student or he doesn’t.”
“Well, he doesn’t know I’m a college student.” I shrugged.
“Are you going to tell him?”
“I don’t know. Should I?” I said softly, thinking about it. “I mean, I don’t want to be a liar, even though I kind of led him to believe I’m a little bit older and a professional when it comes to child-rearing. But I don’t want that to be what he thinks about me. You know?”
Shelby nodded slowly. “Because if you guys hit it off, you don’t want him to think you’re a liar.”
“I mean, it’s very unlikely that we’ll hit it off given how we started, but I definitely don’t want him to think I’m a liar. Just in case.”
“Yeah, girl. I don’t know what to tell you. I think you just need to bring it up casually tomorrow.”
“How do I bring that up casually?”
“Just say, Hey, this has been amazing, but I kind of have to get home to study because I have a midterm coming up.”