Samantha opened her mouth to reply, but Jenna beat her to it. “That waiter from the restaurant on Friday. Turns out he’s the owner and he gave us dinner free because he had a huge crush on Samantha.”
“Really?” Kelly asked, still delighted. “He was very nice.”
“Andhot,” Jenna added.
“Hey,” Samantha cut in. “If he’s going to be my boyfriend,you’re going to have to stop that.”
Jenna gasped. “What! Did you guys make it official last night? Did you, you know?”
Samantha’s face flamed. “Jen-na!”
“What?”
“Not in front of the M-O-M.”
Kelly chuckled as she carried a plate of bacon to the table. “I was young once, too, girls.” She set the plate down and glanced over her shoulder. “And you’ll be old like me one day so you’d better enjoy yourselves now.”
“Gramma, why are you old?” seven-year-old Ava demanded.
“Because, darling. Everyone gets old.”
“You’re old,” five-year-old Justice zinged his sister and then cackled.
“No I’m not!” Ava screeched.
“You’re older than me!”
“I’m not old!”
Two-year-old Lizzy instantly burst into tears, causing Kelly to lift her out of the chair as she calmed the other two. “That’s enough. Let’s be civil, please. None of you are old, and old is not bad.”
Jenna lifted an eyebrow at Samantha. “See what you have to look forward to? In ten years, you and Nick will be herding your own brood of screaming children.”
Samantha made a face. “In ten years, I’ll be thirty-seven.”
“Yeah, and?”
Samantha’s eyes got huge. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“I am running out of time!”
“So? You’ve found Mister Right.”
Samantha scoffed. “But what if he’s not? What then? I have no other prospects.”
Jenna flipped her wrist. “Oh stop! You have plenty of prospects. You just have to make an effort. But I honestly think Nick is your man. So what did you guys do?”
Samantha’s anxiety at her dwindling time melted away and she grinned as she recalled the previous night. “Well, we met at this upscale bar slash restaurant of sorts downtown. He was a half hour late, but he said it was because he was helping his dad with something—”
“See? Family man.”
“And then he apologized for the bar-type atmosphere and said he wasn’t very good at dates.”
“See? He’s been waiting for the right girl to go out with.”
Samantha cocked her head slightly. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that.”
