Chapter 4
Maybe it hadn’t worked out, but the date with Leticia had been pleasant, and that gave Kyle some hope.
When he got another inquiry a few days later, he figured he’d take a chance.
The profile was promising. She loved kids, loved cooking and cleaning and canning, loved family time.
Everything about her sounded good, so he sent her a quick message.
Hi, Nanette. I saw your inquiry, noticed you’re in Madisonville, and wondered if you’d be interested in meeting me sometime this week. Please let me know and have a great evening. Kyle
Two hours later, he got a message.
Yes! I’d love to. Just let me know where and when.
How about the pizza place over by the bowling alley? They have a great pizza buffet.
A few minutes later, he got another message.
Do they sell beer?
He honestly didn’t know.
I don’t think so. Is that a problem?
The answer surprised him.
No. I don’t want to go where they sell liquor.
Gotcha. I think it’s okay.
Well, he didn’t have to worry about her being an alcoholic. Or maybe she was and didn’t want to be around liquor. It was a sure thing he’d find out when they met, since they’d arranged to meet on Thursday night.
He approached the evening with excitement and dread.
So far, every one of the dates except for Amy had been a total bust. It had become such a dismal process that he’d stopped telling Myla where he was going because she’d just be disappointed, but not as disappointed as he was.
Of course, the one with Leticia had actually been nice.
It was just sad that they weren’t compatible.
Maybe this would be the date that went right.
The picture of her hadn’t been very good, so he wasn’t sure who he was looking for. He’d been sitting on the bench at the front of the restaurant for about ten minutes when a woman stepped up and whispered, “Kyle?”
“Are you Nanette?” he asked as he rose.
“Yes. Nice to meet you.” She held out a hand and Kyle took it, but her grip was loose, almost as though she was afraid of being touched. “Let’s go in and get a seat and we can get our food and talk. Sound good?”
“Yes. It does.” He held the door for her and watched her as she made her way to the hostess stand.
She was a decent height, very pretty, with long, dark hair and dark eyes, and her skin was like peaches and cream.
Everything about her was soft and feminine, even the long, pastel dress she was wearing, and he liked that.
Once they were seated, he smiled across the table at her and she blushed. “So, Nanette, you live here in town?”
“Yes. With my parents.”
“Oh, do you help to care for them?”
The way she jacked up one eyebrow told him she was confused. “Uh, no. They’re fine.”
“Oh.” Well, that was weird. A grown woman living with her parents. “So, where do you work?”
“I don’t work.”
That was even weirder. She wasn’t helping to care for her parents and she didn’t work. “Do you have children?”
“Oh, no. I’ve never been married. I saw that you have a little girl and you’re a widower.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s good. I don’t want anything to do with a divorced man. Divorce is a sin.”
Uh-oh. Everything he’d observed about her rolled around in Kyle’s head and it all started to make sense. “So what do you like to do?”
“Well, let’s see. My mother and I do a lot of canning. You know, for the end times. I like to sew. I like to embroider. Baking—I love to bake! I make the best cinnamon rolls. Everybody loves them.”
“That’s great. I love cinnamon rolls.” Shit. I have no idea how to make conversation with this woman. “So what do you like to read?”
“The Bible.”
Kyle tried again. “Have you seen any good movies lately?”
“Oh, no. I don’t watch movies. I don’t watch TV. All those people having relations without being married? They’re terrible role models for today’s youth.” She stopped for a second, took a deep breath, and plastered on that same placid smile she’d had originally. “So what church do you go to?”
“I don’t.”
“Oh, my. I suppose it’s time you did that, right? So my church would be a good one. It would only take you about a year to learn everything and go to all the classes, but I bet you’d fit right in. Once you were baptized into the faith, we could get married.”
Holy shit, it’s a cult. “Let me guess—you don’t believe in birth control?”
“Heavens, no! Children are a blessing, and the more children a man has, the happier he’ll be in heaven. You know that show on TV, the people with almost twenty kids? Oh, I’d love to have a family like that! It would be wonderful. Don’t you think your little daughter would love that?”
“I’m not sure. Let me get this straight. Anyone you’d marry would have to go through classes and become a member of your religion. Is that what I understood?”
“Yes, sir. That’s right. I can’t marry outside the church. It would be an abomination. It would be like we weren’t really married and I was living in sin.”
“I see. So let me be clear about this before we go any farther. I’m not converting to another religion. I don’t want more than three kids, so birth control would be used.”
“Just abstinence. And you’d have to initiate that. It would be my responsibility to please you.”
A buzzing was setting up in Kyle’s head, one loud enough to drown out the craziness in the things she was saying, thank god. “Abstinence is all I have right now. It’s part of why I’m getting out into the dating world. I’m guessing you’d have a cow if I had beer in the refrigerator?”
“I don’t want liquor in my house. It’s a sin.”
“And TV’s a sin.” She nodded. “And movies.” Another nod. It took everything he had not to smirk when he asked, “So I guess oral sex would be a sin, huh?”
She couldn’t have looked more horrified if he’d lopped off the server’s head.
“What? Dear me! Why would anybody ever do that? That’s horrible, and I can’t believe you’d say that in front of me!
How disgusting!” Kyle had to call on every ounce of restraint he could muster to keep from laughing his ass off as he watched her recoil in terror.
“Nanette, look. You’re a lovely woman. But I can tell you right now, I’m not the man for you. I’m not very worldly, but you make me feel like a porn star. I hope you find someone you can marry and have babies with, but that someone isn’t me. We can finish our pizza or we can go. Your choice.”
She frowned and her eyes reddened, and he prayed she wouldn’t start to cry. “I think I should just go.”
“As you wish. I’m not trying to be rude, but please, think about using Sunday Morning Meetup dot com to look for dates. I think being on the RuralLove site is not going to get you what you’re looking for, and you’ll probably piss somebody off in the process.”
“There’s no need to curse,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Honey, if you think me using the word ‘piss’ is cursing, you and I are farther apart than I ever imagined. I’ll be glad to walk you out to your car.”
“Thank you.” Without another word, she hopped up and headed for the door. Kyle didn’t even wait for the check, just tossed two twenties down on the table and followed her out.
Her car was a beaten-up compact, and the door squeaked loudly when she opened it. “Drive safely, Nanette,” Kyle told her. “It was good to meet you.”
“I’ll be praying for your soul,” she said in response as she slammed the car door shut. In seconds, she was almost squealing out of the parking lot.
Kyle stood there for a minute, not believing his luck. Every time he asked himself if it could get any worse … it did. If she was a princess, he had a feeling he’d be happier with a frog.
“Wow. How do you find these weirdos?” Constance asked him as he told her about the date.
“They find me. I guess I’m a weirdo magnet. But in fairness, Amy and Leticia weren’t weirdos.”
“A chick with a dick and she’s not a weirdo?”
“No, and I’m kinda offended that you’d say that. She’s not a weirdo. She’s transgender. You need some schooling in acceptance and being politically correct, sister o’ mine,” Kyle said with a grin as he folded towels.
“Going to try again?”
“I haven’t gotten a hit in a week. I think that’s over. Might as well resign myself to—” A sound from his phone made him stop. “I think that’s my messaging app.” When he grabbed the phone and opened it up, there was a message from the dating site.
You have a message in your inbox. Please respond in forty-eight hours. There was a link, and when he tapped it, his eyes went wide.
The picture was of a woman probably his age, maybe even a little older. She had mousy brown hair and hazel eyes, and she didn’t look to be too tall. But her face was kind, and her smile was warm.
Hi. My name is Gina. I saw your profile and I’m interested in meeting you. Please let me know if you’d be interested. Thank you.
“Whatcha got?” Constance asked.
“Another one. Let’s see …” Opening her profile, he took a look and almost fell out.
Her family owned the farmer’s co-op in Hopkinsville.
That was promising. It said she’d been divorced for at least five years and had two kids, a fourteen-year-old girl and a sixteen-year-old boy.
A check of the religious preference revealed that she didn’t have one.
Well, that was one worry off the table. For hobbies it said she liked to go for walks and fish.
That one was pretty damn great. Her favorite quote: “Honesty is the best policy.” And when it asked what she felt her best quality was, he gasped: “My capacity for love. I just want to love and be loved. It’s that simple. ”
Regina Pritchard. Gina. Kyle’s hands were shaking as he typed a response to the message.
Hi, Gina. I’m responding to your message. I’d really like to meet you sometime. Please let me know where and when. I’m a farmer, so I’m flexible. Thank you for contacting me and have a great evening. Kyle
“That sounds pretty promising,” Constance said as she peered over his shoulder, and he jumped.