Natalie throws me a wry look.
“You mean, I should be dating people like Tommy, the guy who was at here last time?”
I swallow hard, frustration inexplicably surging in my veins.
“Yes,” I manage through gritted teeth. “Like Tommy.”
She merely laughs lightly again.
“Tommy was an ass whom I’m not attracted to at all,” she says. “He ejaculated prematurely, did you know? I know a man like you would never do that.”
I swallow hard at the image of Natalie getting sprayed by the boy, and it’s a turn on, even if she was with another man. But shit, she’s still so young! Of course eighteen year old boys are going to spin out of control when they see something so luscious.
“Natalie,” I begin with a sigh, but she cuts me off.
“Maybe we have a May December thing going on, but the age gap doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you. Are you alright with it?”
Oh shit, she’s turned the tables on me with a direct question, and I look into her eyes.
“I’m totally fine with it, honey. In fact, I consider myself a lucky man to have someone as sweet and gorgeous as you in my arms.”
She smiles brightly then.
“So what’s the problem?”
I sigh again.
“There’s no problem legally at least, because you’re of age. But I just don’t know if you know what you’re getting into. I mean, you’re eighteen, Natalie, so you’re practically a child.”
She throws me a look.
“No, I’m not,” she says in a stubborn tone. “I’m definitely not a child, especially since I’m old enough to look after your daughter. Not only that, but you and I have already engaged in some very dirty acts that are definitely very un-childlike. As a matter of fact, I actually find it really attractive that you’re an older man. Boys my own age don’t float my boat and I find them to be pretty gross, to be honest.”
I can feel my defenses crumbling, and smile at her from across the coffee table.
“Good, because I want to keep going then,” I growl. “So long as you’re okay with it.”
“I’m more than okay with it,” she chirps brightly. But then her expression goes serious as she leans forward.
“I want to see where this goes, Morgan, but I have one question that’s a little sensitive. Is it okay to ask?”
I nod, my heart beating hard as I brace myself.
“Shoot.”
She takes a deep breath. “Well, what happened to June’s mom? I know that this is a little TMI, but I’m just curious.” She draws back at my sudden change in expression, and I know that I probably just frowned. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to answer of course,” she says quickly, but I give her a reassuring smile.
“No, it’s fine, and you deserve to know. It’s just not a happy story, and it’s one that I don’t enjoy relaying either.” I take a deep breath. “Fiona and I started the divorce process probably about two years ago, and believe it or not, it only wrapped up recently. Needless to say, the whole thing was a long, drawn out, and ugly affair. I guess a lot of divorces are like that, but ours was particularly bitter because we’d been together for a long time. We were college sweethearts,” I add.
Natalie nods, understanding in her eyes.
“Oh wow,” she breathes. “That is a long time to be with someone.”
I nod.
“Yes, and we’d talked about starting a family from pretty much the first date. Kids were always part of the plan.” I can feel my throat starting to tighten as I relive the memories. “At first, we were on the same page, and I thought that she was my soulmate. Everything was fine, and life was a dream. But you know, life throws you unexpected curveballs, and after we got married, we had problems conceiving.”
Natalie looks stunned.
“But you were young, right?”
I nod.
“Yeah, we got married right after graduation, so we were probably only twenty-two or so. It was rough, and totally unexpected because we never conceived of infertility even once while making plans for a family. But it happened, and after a few years, the infertility took its toll on our relationship. We were barely talking even though we were still seeing doctors and throwing money at the problem. When Fiona finally did get pregnant with June, I was thrilled and thought that having a baby would be a salve for our relationship. Everything we’d suffered could be forgotten, and we’d move on as a happy unit.” I shoot Natalie a lopsided smile then. “As you can tell, I was very naïve.”
She nods, her brown eyes filled with sympathy. I take a deep breath.
“Anyways, it turns out that Fiona never really wanted to be a mother. Pretty ironic, huh? After almost a decade of trying, we finally landed the “grand prize” only for Fiona to realize that she hated being a mom. But I guess that’s the disconnect between reality and theory: I think Fiona idealized the idea of being a mother, but actually doing it? That’s another story.”