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“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” Mom asks, her voice low and filled with concern. “That girl thinks she’s getting a mom now.”
“I know.” I groan and rake one hand down my face. “And I wish I could give her a mother, but I’m just not sure I’m there yet.”
Mom nods, knowing everything that I’ve been through and struggling with.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but why the hell are you doing a dating show if you aren’t prepared to actually date someone?”
My first reaction is to get angry at her words, but the longer I sit here, the more I realize that I’m angry for putting myself in this situation.
“Fuck if I know.”
“Language,” Mom says, proving that once a child, always a child.
“You just said hell,” I point out, and she grins.
“It’s my house.”
“Touché,” I say, matching her smirk with one of my own. “The truth is, I just saw an opportunity for Heartful, and I didn’t think of the consequences. Plus, I wasn’t really given a choice.”
“There are always choices, Simon,” Mom says, reaching to put her hand on my forearm. “Starting with being upfront with Ivy about realistic expectations.”
“You’re right. I’ll talk to her. I just don’t want to see any hurt and disappointment on her face.”
“There will be more if you let her believe a lie. She’s your daughter, and ultimately, it’s your decision, but I want you to think it through and make the best one for you and her and even Alice. What will you tell her when she finds out Alice is your date on the show and she’s living with you? That will change things. She might not see Alice as her nanny anymore and think that there’s more between you two than there is.”
I remain silent, contemplating what she said. I know she’s right, and I need to be honest with everything going on. But something inside me is holding me back, and I can’t figure out what it is.
“Is there?”
“Is there what?” I ask, looking up.
Mom sits beside me on a stool. “Is there more between you two than you’ve let on?”
“No,” I say a little too quickly, and Mom’s eyebrows rise. “Not really. I mean, she’s pretty and nice.” Then, I shrug.
“What a glowing recommendation. Pretty and nice,” Mom says, and I chuckle.
“I don’t know that I’m ready to go there.”
“But if you were, would you consider Alice?”
“I’d be an idiot not to,” I say.
Mom smiles, like she knows a secret I don’t. “I don’t know her, but I do see a sparkle in your eyes that wasn’t there before.” She climbs off her stool, resting one hand on my shoulder. “You deserve to get your sparkle back.”
I watch her as she walks back into the room with Ivy and Alice, and I shake my head.
Sparkle.
What have I gotten myself into?
