I was 36 years old when my daughter stated college. Being a single dad I was more than thrilled. She had graduated a year early from High School. Her mother had passed away over ten years ago. She herself was a phycologist turned marriage counselor. I was a mid-level manager at an accounting firm. We both made good money at the time.
Unfortunately for me, our relationship started to sour and I did not know why. I was putting in effort, at least I thought I was. I was made aware of the issue in our love life when she told me she was seeing someone. I told her we should get some counseling and work on it. That was a weird notion, seeing that therapy was her actual job. Strangely she did not want to work on it. I wondered why she did not have faith in her profession. We started the proceedings to file for divorce, keeping it quiet as we were not ready to tell Sara.
One day I got a call from a detective from the police station wanting to speak with me. I wondered what it was about, I was not involved in anything that would be illegal. Terrible news awaited me, the detective told me that my wife had been seeing a couple through some hard times. She had became involved with the woman and started an affair. The husband found out and ended all of them. Now the divorce made more sense. I was heartbroken and upset, I did not know how to deal with this. I kind if knew my wife was seeing someone. I had no idea it was a patient or even a woman. It was a traumatic time for me and Sara but we managed to get through together.
I never remarried or dated, I tried to focus on Sara. There were efforts by friends and family to set me up. I did get lonely and a few times when Sara was out at friends for the evening I ordered a call girl. I felt weird paying for sex so I did not do that often. Mostly resorted to my hand and some crappy porn. Even My daughter tried her hand at playing cupid a time or two. I entertained her setups, but clicked with no one.
Sara took a year off before school to attend college with friends. At least that was her plan, she ended up going to a ivy league school she had a scholarship for. Sara was going to be a phycologist, with a specialty in human sexuality. She took after her mother I guess. I was not too thrilled with the sexuality part, in reality I did not know what that meant. I assumed she studied what made people tick. After her first few degree's she kept studying and researching. She had earned her degrees faster then I knew was possible. One professor asked her to join his study while she worked on a masters.
One time while visiting home she told me about what she was working on. She described all the different genders, sexual orientation etc. Really to much for me to understand, I liked numbers and black and white. I was proud of her taking a scientific approach to her studies, no room for homophobia or slander of people choices. I was proud of the woman I raised.
She said, "You know dad, there are a lot of potential uses for our research, a lot of dating companies looking to get insight into making matches. We create profiles and study all aspects of some ones life. Not just the sexual parts, we can tell who someone is better with than they can themselves."
I said, "That is pretty awesome, how many people have you tested?"
She said, "We have tested about 3000 people across the country. We have a test, it takes about 2 hours, as long as people are truthful it has been accurate. Personally I have been working on the team developing some of the tooling for the companies interested in the matchmaking aspects."
Jokingly I asked, "Maybe you could help me out. I have not been able to connect with anyone. Even your mom, it was clear she was not connected to me. Honestly. I am not sure I was all that into her. I do like the one thing I got out of her though."
She said, "Really, you want to be in my study?"
I said, "Sure, it gets lonely around here."
She said, "I would like that, playing matchmaker for my dad, and getting some real insight. If I help you though I need 100% commitment. You have to be truthful and have to commit to meeting the matches. It is part of the program. Otherwise the professor will not let you join."
I said, "I can do that."
She hugged me and kissed my cheek, "Great thanks dad, I love you. We will find you a good woman."
She emailed me a profile kit, there was a NDA and a login. I spent about 4 hours the next Saturday filling it out. She told me they expanded some questions. I almost forgot about it when 3 weeks later she text me.
Sara: Dad, sorry it took a while, had some issues with your results, nothing to worry about.
Me: Great! What is the good news?
Sara: Well, I have at least 2 matches in your area. I will get in touch with them and set you two on a meeting.
I waited 2 days for her to text me back.
Sara: Ok, Carly is the girls name. Remember this is research so we need you to fill out an after meeting questionnaire. Also, I know you will be surprised, but just so you know, I can tell from your profile you like younger women. Don't worry I don't care dad. She is younger then me though.
I met this Carly girl, and she was young, not even 21. We were obligated to 3 dates. I filled out the questionnaire after all 3 dates. We did not click. She was a nice woman, just no spark.
Sara set me up with the other girl, Emily. She was equally beautiful and just as young, but nothing happened.
Sara was apologetic on the phone and said, "Dad, I went thru the data. Remember when I said I had issues with your results. I need you to keep an open mind. I will set up a new date. I have more then 2 matches, but one is ideal."
I asked, "What do you mean keep an open mind?"
She said, "Dad, you might be gay! I promise, don't worry I don't care. It might explain a lot."
I got defensive and said, "I am not gay Sara."
She said, "Well, ok you are not gay. Can you at least help me out, go on these dates and do the questionnaires. I need the data points, all my data is pointing to this. If my model is wrong I need to fix it. Honestly dad, my job is on the line here, I have never seen this."
I was open minded, but not gay. I also was not happy I might be an issue with her study, I owed this to her. I reluctantly told her, "Ok honey, I will do it, but can we not call it a date, something else please?"
She said, "Sure, go to these meetings then."
She scheduled me to meet Cory 3 times. He was a good kid. He was young, 23, I think. He was open minded, he also thought he might be gay. After the last meeting I asked her what next. We did the same with 2 other guys. One definitely gay Andy who was 18. Then there was another 18 year old Ben. He was open minded but thought he liked women, but he was willing to give it a try. When I was that age I would never entertain the idea, but these guys were braver then I ever was.
Sara came to visit me. While having diner she asked, "Dad, I need you to do me a favor."
I said, "Anything baby, what can I do?"
She said, "I conferred with a few colleges, one who specializes in non-monogamous and polyamorous relationships and another who specializes in homosexual relationships. Looking at the profiles, We or I guess they want you go on a date with Ben and Andy. In a more sensual space, like a place where there is dancing and more physical contact."
I said, "Sara, I want you to be successful, but you are pushing me somewhere that just won't work. You might just fail at your research. You want me to go on date, more then a meeting and with 2 guys? If you really want me to, I will do it for you, but after this, I am not sure I can help anymore."
She said, "I promise, this is the last time. I will move on to other people that I am having more success with."