“Why would you say that?”
“Because we were on the computer together looking at a dating site, and he was telling me how I should go find a guy and set up a date with him. It was the perfect situation for him to suggest himself, but he told me to go date someone else. I mean, that doesn’t sound like a guy who’s interested in me.”
May is frowning. “That is weird. He asked me lots of questions about you, even when we were talking about other things. He just brought it up randomly, several times. Why would he tell you to go out with other guys if he’s so interested in you, though?”
“Exactly.” I’m so sad right now. God, this sucks. I’m going to be single for the rest of my life.
“Maybe I read him wrong. Maybe I got the signals crossed or something.”
I nod. “He’s probably just being really friendly, asking you about me because you guys are coworkers and he likes you.”
May doesn’t look very convinced. “I don’t know. He seems to be interested in more than just a friendly way. But you never know with Dev. He plays it pretty close to the vest, I guess.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, his son, for one thing . . .”
“Jacob? What do you mean?” I take a big bite of my muffin to keep myself from talking for a while. I want to hear everything May has to say on this subject.
“I didn’t find out about Jacob until recently. I mean, I knew that Dev had a child, but I didn’t realize that he had a child with special needs, or that he was a single dad doing everything himself.”
“How could you not know everything about the situation? You’re dating his boss, and you see Dev every day.” Obviously my sister needs some training in how to be a proper busybody. I thought I’d taught her better than this . . .
She shrugs. “Ozzie isn’t somebody who’d share people’s personal details with me. If I ask about something specific, he’ll usually tell me, but he doesn’t elaborate and he doesn’t just volunteer stuff.” She shrugs. “I guess I never thought to ask about Dev’s family life.”
I shake my head. “Sometimes I’m not even sure we’re related.”
She pokes a finger at me and then herself. “You were always the psychoanalyst. I was always the patient, remember?”
“I guess so. I’m starting to think I should’ve let you be the doctor more often.”
May reaches over and puts her hand on mine, squeezing it gently. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been more concerned about your life. I should have asked you more questions about what was going on with Miles and the kids.”
I put my free hand on top of hers, making a tower of sisterly support. “Don’t say that. You haven’t done anything wrong. You’re the best sister in the world. Seriously. I didn’t want to talk to you today to make you feel guilty about anything, because you have nothing to feel guilty about.”
She sits back, apparently mollified. “So, what are you going to do about Dev?”
“Well, we’re going out to dinner tonight, so we’ll see. I guess I’ll just play it by ear.”
May’s expression brightens. “You’re going out for dinner? That’s awesome!” She takes a giant bite of her muffin, causing a pile of crumbs to fall and land in her lap. She brushes them onto the floor and then freezes when she realizes what she’s doing. “Oh cwab. Feev not here.”
I ignore her muffin-talk about her dog not being here to clean up her mess. I’ll vacuum it up later. I have bigger problems to fix right now.
“It’s not a date,” I say. “We had a bet and I lost it, so the loser had to buy dinner. And on this dinner event or whatever it’s supposed to be, we have plans to discuss our dating strategy moving forward.”
May’s mouth is still too stuffed with muffin to answer, but she tries anyway. “Vo vabing vabbevy?” More crumbs fly.
“Yeah. Dating strategy.” I shake my head, disappointed in myself. Why can’t I just get up the guts to tell him how I feel? “It’s so stupid.”
May finally manages to swallow her chunk of muffin and speaks in a strained voice. “Whose brilliant idea was this?”