A Little Bit Older

One week. I had been staying with my sister for one week. In that time, I had eight “chance” encounters with Mr. Matthew Sanders. Which, I will admit, is impressive given that I hadn’t even been in the country for eight days. I had been lucky on Wednesday and hadn’t seen him at all – which made me happy because Meghan had been going out of her way to ensure that I ran into him every day. However, on Thursday, Meghan made up for the lost time and I ran into the poor man three times: in the grocery store, at the park, and at the gas station. It was now Monday and I was starting to question how she managed to pull strings so effortlessly to make these encounters happen.

I also had to give her credit for her pick of man. Matt did tick almost every box on my ‘must-have’ list when it came to men. He was also extremely attractive – albeit not exactly the typical type that I went for. He was kind, always willing to strike up conversation, and extremely good with his kids. Not to mention, he’d also proven to be in possession of a killer sense of humor and I couldn’t help but to find myself completely at ease in his presence. In short, Meghan had provided a man who had no major faults that I could find.

I had two more weeks before my new position in Huntington started though so I had to grin and bear the time with her. Today marks the start of my house hunting with the realtor, Kevin, who Meghan had also found for me. My goal was that if I could quickly and easily find a place to stay – even if it was an apartment temporarily before finding a house the following year – that I would at least be able to avoid running into Matt. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he was great, but I had gotten to the age where it was almost easier to be single than in a relationship and there were way too many other things going on in my life to worry about dating.

Kevin and I had spoken on the phone briefly the week before about what I was looking for from my house hunt and today we’d had our first-time meeting. We went over some listings, laid out budgetary guidelines, and decided when we would start with the house tours. With my budget, I would easily be able to find a nice apartment or condo. However, I was hoping to have something with a bit of green space so I had my fingers crossed that there might be some small single family homes in my price point as well. I didn’t need a lot of space but I was hoping for three bedrooms – one for me, one for an office, and one for when Theo would come and visit me or guests in general.

All this good news from Kevin put me in a great mood when I had left his office. Given that it was shortly after lunch before I finally left his office. I thought about returning home but wasn’t sure if I was ready to go back to the mild chaos that is associated with a toddler. I loved Theo, but it took an adjustment period to go from living alone to living with three other people – especially when one was under the age of three.

So, I grabbed a sandwich from a local store and figured I’d go eat my lunch in a park. The weather was nice and I knew I wouldn’t have free time like this for long. I recognized that it was going to be a culture shock – having to adjust from my longer lunch breaks to only getting 45 minutes every day. Hopefully, once I was settled in my own place, I could start meal prepping ahead of times so I could at least make sure I was having healthy lunches.

“Daddy, it’s Ruby!” I looked up from my phone just in time to see River running over to me. He jumped up next to me on the bench and I could see Cash trying to run and join us as well.
“Hello there. What are you guys doing here?” I asked before taking another bite out of my sandwich. Cash tugged on my pants leg once he finally reached me and I lifted him onto my lap as well.
“We spent the weekend with Mommy so we’re having a Daddy day at the park.” River explained before gesturing to my water bottle. “Can I have some?”

“Sure.” I responded handing the Nalgene bottle to him just as Matt finally caught up with his kids and joined us at the bench.

“Woah, dude, you’ve got your own water bottle, remember?” Matt said holding up the Red Star Wars water bottle he carried in his one hand. In the other was a green TMNT water bottle which I assumed belonged to Cash.

“I was thirsty.” River explained simply before passing my water bottle over to Cash. Before I had a chance to take back the water bottle, recognizing that it was way too big for Cash to handle on his own, water was spilled all over himself and my leg.

“Shit!” Matt exclaimed grabbing Cash off me and taking the water bottle from his hands.

“Language!” River countered quickly pointing an accusing finger at his father.

“Shoot!” Matt remedied before setting Cash on his feet on the ground and helping me off the now soaked bench. “Are you okay?”

“It’s just a bit of water.” I reminded him gently as I took one of my napkins and handed it to him. We both set to work, me dapping my leg dry and him trying to dry off Cash as best as possible. It wasn’t very effective and finally Matt decided it would be easier to just strip Cash down and changing him into another outfit.

“It’s a good thing I carry an extra set of clothes for him.” He explained as the four of us made our way to him car. If not for the fact that I was inadvertently responsible for the soaked, crying child he was now dealing with, I might have just stayed on my bench.

I finished my sandwich as we walked and the whole-time Matt apologized profusely for Cash drenching both of us and spilling as my water while I apologized in response for giving the water bottle to his kids in the first place. Ultimately, we both were incredibly awkward about the whole situation.

When we reach the car, I set about keeping River occupied while Matt changed Cash’s outfit. Thankfully by that point, Cash had stopped crying and the whole situation was much more subdued.

“So if you’re Aunt Meghan’s sister, does that mean you’re technically my aunt too?” River asked as we played tic tac toe in the dirt under a nearby tree.

“I mean, if you want it to, it could. But you’re not blood related to Aunt Meghan, remember?” I reminded him drawing a circle in one of the corner spots with my finger.

“I think it’d be weird if you were my aunt.” He confessed placing an x on the game board.

“Why?” I asked playing my next move carelessly because I had to at least try and give a level playing field.

“Because Dad gives you gushy eyes. He’s not allowed to give gushy eyes to my aunt. That’s weird.” I tried to keep a poker face as River looked up at me. I could tell he was trying to get a read on me and part of me wondered how much my sister was paying him off.

“Gushy eyes? Who says he does that?” There was no way he thought up a term like that or even noticed. He’d only seen me and his dad interact a few times and he was just a kid.

“Aunt Meghan.” He said matter-of-factly and I tried to hide my smug smile. Point one for Ruby: seeing through Meghan’s web of matchmaking.

“Oh really? When?” I tried to dig out more information so that I could use it against Meghan when I got home.

“She and my mom were talking about it this weekend.”

“What was your mom talking to Aunt Meghan about?” Matt asked sitting down next to us with Cash in his lap.

River sighed dramatically before looking at his dad and starting a long rant, “Aunt Meghan told Mom that Ruby moved to town. Mom didn’t know Aunt Meghan had a sister. Aunt Meghan told Mom all about Ruby and Mom asked us what we thought about her. I said she was cool but when Cash heard her name, he was all like ‘Aunt Ruby’ and Aunt Meghan was like ‘No, don’t call her that.’ She said it’s weird to call someone your aunt when your dad makes gushy eyes at them.”

“And what did your Mom say to that?” Matt asked with a poker face that was a million times better than mine which was currently heating up and turning a lovely shade of tomato red to match my name.

“She laughed. She asked Aunt Meghan to organize a girl’s night so she could meet Ruby.”

“Cool.” Matt said simply without much emotion as River looked back at our game and drew a final x on the board.

“I win.” He said looking up at me and smiling. I tried to muster back a smile at him but it came out more of a grimace.

“Play on swings?” Cash asked grabbing hold of River’s hand and the two looked at Matt expectantly. He nodded and stood up following them over to the small playground near the parking lot.
When he looked back and gestured for me to follow them, I did without question. I got up, wiped the dirt off my back side, and soon Matt and I were leaned against a small fence watching the two boys play on the swings.

“So, it sounds like Meg’s got my ex on board for this match making game.” He started after a few moments of us standing in silence.

“You knew what she was doing?” I asked incredulously raising my eyebrows.

“How could I not? Huntington may not be a huge town but it’s big enough for me to not run into you every day. Besides, Meghan’s notorious for matchmaking.” He laughed and smiled down at me. I shrugged and nodded in agreement. My sister wasn’t known for being subtle.

“Sorry about her.” I apologized and he shook his head before staring out at his kids who were playing on the swings.

“Don’t be, it’s not the first time she’s trying to pair me with someone. Her and Val both think I should be dating already.”

“Val is your ex?” I inquired and he nodded. “I thought you just got divorced a few months ago?”

“It’d been a longtime coming- would’ve been sooner but Cash delayed it a bit. Val started dating someone about two months ago. He’s a good guy – longtime friend – I know he’s good with the kids. She thinks I can’t be happy unless I’m in a relationship.” He explained rolling his eyes.

“Meg’s the same with me. As much as I’d love to have that couple thing going on, it’s so much easier to just be single.” I explained.

“Exactly!” He exclaimed throwing an arm over my shoulder with a hearty laugh. “Finally, a woman who understands.”

I looked up to see him smiling down at me and couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “Oh trust me, I understand. This has been Meghan’s game plan for years with me. All I wish is that I knew a way to beat her at her own game.”

He paused before looking over at me as a large smile spread across his face. “Maybe we can…” I looked at him questioningly and all he responded with was, “A little bit older, a little bit better at playing the game.”