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Colby laughed, but the sound felt heavy and wrong. “I’m slightly homeless, but I’m going to start looking at apartments.”
“Ugh, apartments,” Jane said. “That’s something I don’t miss. Remember our first one? And how the laundry was in some outside utility room thing? So sketchy.”
“But it was so close to campus!” Kara said. “I miss school. Not, like school itself. But just getting to hang out all night, do whatever, no kids jumping on me in the middle of the night. That was the good life.”
“You’re only allowed to say good things about your kids from here on out,” Jane said. “No freaking me out. They’re all angels and you’re all perfectly happy being stay-at-home moms. Right? Right.”
Debbi clapped her hands. “Ooh! Will you let me find you a place? I haven’t gotten to do anything real estate since Joshua was born. Please? I’ll be able to find places for rent outside of complexes, too.”
“I’d love that, actually. I hate apartment complexes. Everything’s so bland,” Colby said. She heard her phone buzzing and pulled it out in a rush. She had been hoping for a message from Napper or even a text form Nate setting up a coffee date where he would tell her the truth. But it was just a message alert from Sonic letting her know that slushes were half-price tomorrow.
Colby had felt weird messaging him after seeing Nate. After finding out Liz was coming home, she did, but other than that, she hadn’t sent him anything. She didn’t know if she should tell him or not. If she didn’t, it seemed like she was hiding it. If she did…what would she say?
I ran into a guy I might have been in love with but never went on a date with who disappeared and I thought he was dead.
Nope, definitely not telling him that.
Napper hadn’t messaged her all day and she wondered if he was okay. Maybe she should check in. She opened the app, her fingers hovering over the phone.
“Colby?” Jane was starting at her with a half-smile on her face. “Are you messaging a guy?” she asked in a knowing, sing-song-y voice.
Colby was a terrible liar, but considered it for a brief second. She looked down at the phone in her hands, hesitating. She could tell them about Nate. Or she could tell them she met someone through a dating app. Which were her friends less likely to freak out about?
They had all been there when she mourned and cried and obsessively searched obituaries for Nate senior year. If she told them that she had seen him, they’d be sharpening pitchforks. Jane had met her husband online, so that was definitely a better option to talk about. Honestly, they probably didn’t care if she met a guy in a dark alley if he was nice and they could stop worrying about her being single.
“Actually, um…”
Before Colby could even get words out, there was squealing and they were demanding all the details.
“I’m doing this dating app and I’ve connected with a really great guy. We haven’t met yet, though.” She explained a bit about how First Sight worked.
“So, you won’t be able to meet him for a few more weeks?” Debbi asked. “That’s weird.”
“I’ve got to wait two more weeks,” Colby said. “It’s killing me. But it’s kind of good too. I mean, I feel like the more we talk, the more excited I get about him.”
“And you haven’t even seen a picture? What if you aren’t attracted to him?” Jane asked.
Colby had worried about this as well. But most of the time she’d been attracted to guys over the years, it wasn’t just physical. The more she knew and liked a guy’s personality, the more she attractive he became. The questionnaire at the beginning of the app had asked about physical appearance and she had been honest that it didn’t matter that much. When it pressed her for specifics, she realized that she had described Nate.
Ugh. Nate.
Colby tried to focus on the conversation at hand, pushing thoughts of Nate away. She certainly wasn’t going to bring him up now.
“I’m not really worried about it. I’m more worried that we can talk through an app, but in person we’d have super awkward conversation or nothing to say.”
Debbi pointed a finger at her. “Under no circumstances are you going to talk to him about PCOS on your first date.”
“I don’t always—” Colby started.
“Name the last date you went on when you didn’t start talking about the fact that you may not be able to have kids,” Debbi said.
“I haven’t been on that many dates, but I guess…Fine. Maybe I do talk about it. But what if the guy wants a big family? I feel like I’m just making it easy to get out before everyone gets hurt. I’m being honest.”
Jane grabbed her hand, shaking her head. “You have to stop doing that. Guys can’t handle talking about having babies when you’re just starting out. Honesty is great, but there is a time and a place to talk about your reproductive system.”
“You don’t mention your cycle when you’re having these conversations, right?” Kara asked.
“No! Gross!”
