Half a F*ck

Chapter 11

"Damn, you go all out for first dates, don't you?" Kaia said with a happy sigh as she relaxed in the chair.

"You were on your feet all day, so I thought it would be a good choice." For Tuesday's date, I left the office a little early and picked up Kaia from the diner. She'd brought an outfit there that I had suggested that includes shorts and sandals, and then I brought her to a nice spa near the beach for a foot massage and pedicure.

Yes, I know, I could have done the whole picnic on the beach, or fancy dinner and a movie, but I thought this would make her feel a ton better. Who would want to go walk on the beach after waitressing for eight hours on your feet? This way she gets pampered, and we can have a low key dinner afterwards. I knew from our phone call that she was a single mom and was working two jobs to go to night school, so I didn't want to do anything that would show off my relative wealth. It wasn't like I made a ton of money with my job, but considering I had lived without a mortgage or car payments for the last five years, I had saved more than enough to be comfortable. The only real bill I had was the marina fee for my cabin cruiser, and I was already planning on selling that after the divorce was finalized. With the job issue, I wasn't going to be looking for a new place to live till I had a new job too, though I'd still help my mom out. Yes, I know, a 28 year old guy living with his mom, just who everyone wants to date.

"You're not wrong, I just never would have expected it." She looked so relaxed that I knew right away that I had done a good job on this plan. Even as we spoke, both our feet were soaking in an Epsom salt bath, and I was enjoying it as much as she was. Yes, part of that was because she looked so blissful right now, and her soft smile made her face radiant, but my feet were happy too.

"I'm a man of many talents, and dates are evidently one of them! This also gives us a chance to talk a little, unless you're going to nap." I couldn't help but joke a bit, but her smile broadened as she peeked one eye open, and mock glared at me.

"I just might nap. But first, why were you getting the surgery on Friday?" she wondered.

I should have known that would be one of her questions. I did promise I'd always tell the truth, so I guess that is what I should tell her. "My wife and I haven't had a great marriage since Connor was born. One of the things she kept complaining about was using birth control, which based on what I saw was just another lie. But I still tried to do something that I thought would make her happy and remove the need, but thankfully it didn't work."

"What do you mean it didn't work?" She opened both eyes to gaze at me now.

"I guess I didn't react well to the anesthesia, so I woke up part way through the procedure. So, they only got one side, and I would have to go back and get that finished if I ever wanted to," I explained. It was way too early to talk about having kids, but maybe it was a good thing the doc never finished?

"Where are you and Connor living now?"

"I'm staying with my mom until I decide what to do about my job. I'll start a job search in May or June and then once I know what I'm doing I can start looking for a place to live. The only thing that might delay that would be the divorce." I didn't think it would be an issue, but I had no idea what Kate might be thinking about it.

"So, you're here till July at least?" she sounded hopeful, and that seemed to be a good thing. She also didn't seem to mind me living with my mother too, which was good. She understood the situation, so it didn't matter.

I turned my head, and she trained her eyes on mine now. Her eyes were honest, and not hiding a thing, just looking for whatever answers I might give her. "The project I'm going to be starting soon has to be done before the NFL season kicks off in the beginning of September. Ideally it would be done a month before that so there is nothing interfering with the preseason too. This is my last project for my current company, and I'm hoping to go out with something ahead of schedule, and I have a good team to help with that. But I could stick around after that if I needed to. I don't know what is going to happen here, but if you and I wanted more time to decide things, I would stay."