Dating for Two (Matchmaking Mamas) Read Free

didn’t you just reenter the dating world a couple of months ago?”
    Cecilia formed it as a question, but she knew perfectly well what his answer to that was. After two years of doing nothing but working and spending time with his son in an effort to shut down the sharp pain he’d felt over losing his wife, Julia, to uterine cancer, the personable lawyer had given in to his friends’ entreaties and started dating again.
    What had gone wrong? she wondered.
    And how could she help?
    “Technically, you’re not wrong,” Steve told her. He walked into the kitchen and opened his refrigerator. He took out a bottle of orange juice and poured himself a small glassful. “I did reenter the dating world, although it was more like four months ago than just a couple. In any case, now I’ve decided to un- reenter it.”
    Of the three lifelong friends, Cecilia had always been the most soft-spoken one. But being around Maizie and Theresa had caused her to be a little more aggressive in her approach toward people, a little bolder when it came to speaking her mind. Prior to their foray into the matchmaking world, she would have never had the nerve to say what she said now.
    “If you don’t mind my asking, why would you do that? You’re in the prime of your life and heaven knows, a good, solid man like you would be the answer to many a lady’s prayer.” When he looked at her in surprise, she quickly added, “I have a couple of good friends who bend my ear about their children’s inability to connect with the right person.”
    Although accurate, her explanation was a little dated. Up until several years ago, she, Maizie and Theresa would get together at least once a week for a friendly card game and a session of seeking mutual comfort regarding what they all viewed as the plight of their unmarried daughters. It was at one of these sessions that Maizie first decided that they needed to do more than just talk, lament and worry. They needed to take a proactive approach to their daughters’ situations.
    Since all three of them had businesses that allowed them to interact with a broad spectrum of people, they decided to make use of that and find husbands for their daughters, setting them up without either parties involved realizing that they were being set up.
    They succeeded so well that they just continued dabbling in the matchmaking business even after they ran out of their own offspring.
    Now every time she or one of her friends came across a single person without a significant other at least in the wings, the wheels in their heads began turning.
    The way they were doing right now.
    About to walk out of the kitchen, Steve remained where he was and lowered his voice. He didn’t want Jason to overhear.
    Once he began talking, Cecilia understood why.
    “I’m not cut out for this anymore,” Steve confided in her.
    The man was handsome, intelligent and sensitive. If ever a man belonged out in the dating world, looking for his soul mate, it was Steve.
    “But why?” she asked sympathetically, her manner quietly urging him to unburden himself.
    “All the women I’ve gone out with in these past few months have been very attractive. Not only that, but for the most part, they were also smart, funny, motivated career women,” Steve told her.
    So far, there seemed to be no problem. However, she was well aware that life was seldom just smooth, untroubled sailing.
    “But?” Cecilia supplied the missing word she could hear in his voice.
    Steve flashed a weary smile. “But as soon as they knew I had a son, they all reacted in one of three ways. Some were upset that I even had a son and ended the evening, saying there was no future for us. Others equated having children with being fitted with chains, something they made clear they wanted no part of. And the ones who were open to the idea of kids equated having a child with having a cute pet— not the way I view Jason,” he told her with feeling.
    Steve sighed and confessed,