Jack’s first serious date was a cold night in the middle of December a few days before our fifth wedding anniversary. The things he told me in advance:
He met his date online.
His date was 27 and liked older men.
They were going to meet for a drink to see if they clicked.
His date was, for the first time in Jack’s life, a man.
“Okay!” I said nervously as he was getting ready to leave. “Have, um, fun! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
There wasn’t enough this statement excluded.
I asked if they were going to have sex. Jack said it was probably just a meet and greet. After he left, I focused on Asher.
“Daddy’s meeting a friend for dinner, honey.”
I didn’t bother with the protein-vegetable push at dinner time. If he wanted mac and cheese with tortilla chips and a plain hamburger bun, fine. I tried not to look at my phone while he ate dinner. I tried to rally my spirits after he finished by singing the bath time song we sang most nights.
“It’s bath time, it’s bath time, it’s time to take a bath…”
Objectively speaking, I was glad for Jack that he was going to get to fulfill his curiosity, or at least he’d get to savor the potential. I was curious what would happen. I wondered what his date was like as a person. But I was also nervous.
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