She was going to say it. Rick gritted his teeth into an approximation of a smile as Laney fluttered her eyelashes at him and then their waiter, the very picture of a helpless female.
It'd be a lot more endearing if the dilemma she was facing had an importance. Or if she hadn't said the exact same thing on the other two dates he'd taken her on.
"Ooooo, I don't know," she cooed, pouting her lips out. "Do you think we should indulge a little? I already ate so much!" Tinkling laugh as she rubbed her hand over her completely flat stomach.
The dating world had turned brutal, even though he'd only been out of it for a while. Half a year to meet and fall in love with his wife, another half to plan and have a wedding. One year to the birth of their son and her horror at what carrying a baby had done to her body, her rejection of Jordan in her resentment and another year till the divorce was finalized. They'd both wanted children and he'd never minded her constant obsession with her looks until after Jordan was born and she'd wanted him to get a vasectomy so that she wouldn't "entirely" lose her figure by getting pregnant again. He'd rather liked her curvier figure, but nothing he'd said had made any different. Clarissa had neglected Jordan to go to the gym and spa, and all their discussions about having at least two children, hopefully three, had gone completely out the window and his marriage had gone belly up.
Now Jordan was four and Clarissa had signed all rights to him away. Rick didn't want his son to grow up completely without feminine influence, and to be honest he rather missed having a woman around the house, and he still wanted marriage and more kids, the whole nine yards, so he'd decided it was time to get back into the dating scene.
Before Clarissa he'd never noticed when a woman talked about food, her weight, calories, or hemmed and hawed over dessert. Now he noticed every instance of it and it drove him batty wondering if they would have the same reaction to being pregnant and a mother that Clarissa did. Surely she had to be unusual or no one would be having babies... but any attraction he felt for a woman went out the window once she started to remind him of Clarissa.
Granted, Laney wasn't his normal type anyway. He was pretty sure that parts of her were already plastic, even he could tell that her hair was dyed (and what was with those chunks of blonde?), and she had a tendency to flirt like thought she was in a movie or something, but she'd chased him down at the coffee shop he normally frequented and he'd thought why not? Rick knew he was a pretty attractive guy, thirty one years old, tall, dark and handsome, and he certainly didn't have trouble getting a date when he wanted one, but none of the women he'd asked out had worked out and so he'd thought why not try someone who wanted to ask him out? It had a certain appeal, woman who knows what she wants and everything.
But then why couldn't she ever decide if she wanted dessert?
"I'm feeling kind of full myself," he said, handing the menu back to the waiter. "Just the check please."
Laney pouted at him and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. If she'd wanted dessert she should have said so. And he didn't want to spend any more time with her than he had to at this point.
Pay the check, get her out to the car. Make awkward conversation on the way to her house.
"So, we're done a little early," she said flirtatiously as he walked her up to her door. "Want to come inside for a cup of coffee... or some dessert..."
For a moment he seriously considered going inside just to get laid. It had been... hell, it had been months since the last time he'd been with a woman and that had been the night of a drunken bar crawl with some of his buddies when his divorce was finalized and he could barely remember it. But then he'd feel obligated to go out with her again...
"No thanks," he said. "Have a good night."
"Will you call me?" Now she was looking up at him with big eyes, but she didn't actually look sad. Just a little disappointed.
He hesitated and then decided to go for the truth. "I'm sorry Laney, I like you and you're a great woman, but there's just no spark for me."
To his relief she didn't pout, instead she let out a little sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah... I guess I should have realized that considering that you've never even given me a good night kiss. Oh well. Have a nice night, Rick."
"Thanks, you too."
Somewhat bemused he headed back to his car, checking his watch on the way. Wow. They really had rushed through that date, it was almost an hour and a half earlier than the time he normally was home from a date. Reaching into his pocket to grab his phone to let Dana, his baby-sitter, know that he was coming back early, he cursed when he realized it was out of battery.
A quick search of his car turned up one of Jordan's snack packs that he must have thrown on the floor at some point, but no car charger. Oh well. He'd always texted Dana when he was on his way back, ever since there had been a series of break-ins in their neighborhood so that she didn't get freaked when someone came through the front door.
Dana had been baby-sitting Jordan for the past three years. She'd been eighteen when he and Clarissa moved in, still living with her parents and going to community college; next year she'd be going to the local university and still living at home with her parents to save money. Thank goodness or he'd have to go looking for a new sitter.
If he'd been a younger single man when he'd first moved in he probably would have had the hots for the cute little girl next door. While she wasn't a knock out, or even the kind of girl that made guys heads' turn, she had a wide smile, firm curves, and short brown hair that bounced around her chin when she walked. The kind of girl a guy would feel immediately comfortable with and then he'd notice her soft pink lips, the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed, and the innocently seductive sway of her hips. Clarissa had occasionally made snide comments, because Dana wasn't a perfect size 2, but he'd always defended her - and secretly wished that Clarissa would take the hint that he didn't mind a few curves. Maybe more than a few. He'd loved Clarissa, but even before she'd gotten pregnant with Jordan he'd realized that they may have moved too fast... they hadn't even really lived together before getting married and her body / looks obsession had suddenly become clear once they were. More than once he'd enjoyed getting an eyeful of the girl next door, enjoying her natural good looks and her aura of cheerful confidence.
Being ten years older than her made him feel like a dirty old man when he checked her out, but fortunately Dana had never seemed to notice. And Jordan just adored her. She came over to play with him sometimes even when she wasn't babysitting, giving Rick plenty of time to indulge in dirty baby-sitter fantasies. Unfortunately Dana had never indicated that she noticed him at all, she was all about Jordan.
Or maybe that was fortunate. Dirty old man. He laughed at himself. Like a twenty one year old would have any interest in a thirty one year old divorcee with a three year old. Keep dreaming.
*******
The house was mostly dark when he pulled up, which meant that Jordan was behaving and sound asleep. Dana was probably in the television room, watching a movie.
Grabbing the snack pack he'd found, Rick heading up the front walk and unlocked the door. To his surprise he didn't hear any noise at all, which is what he would have expected had Dana been watching a movie. Frowning he walked into the hallway through the stairs; from the bottom of the stairs he was able to see into the back of the house. The kitchen light was on but there was no one in there.
