Hannah Bernard - The Dating Resolution

“So you still like your husband?”

“Uh, yes. I still like him. It’s just my fingers are so swollen…”

“No need to explain.” Jordan’s grin was enigmatic, but the frown aimed at his son was clear-cut. “That’s enough, Simon. Don’t be rude.”

She looked at him sideways, trying to decipher the look on his face. Did he suspect she was lying? It was impossible to tell from the bland look in his eyes.

“When does it start to snow?” Simon whined, staring up at the sky. His father rolled his eyes.

“Simon, do you honestly think we don’t get enough snow around here? Remember last year? We thought spring would never arrive.”

“I can’t wait for the snow! I want to go sledding, and skiing and ice skating…”

Jordan grinned at Hailey, a wry grin from one suffering snow-shoveling, ice-scraping adult to another, she supposed, but of course she’d never shoveled snow in her life. She was sort of looking forward to the experience, but if she said anything about that, it would probably have two identical jaws drop. One smooth—the other a bit bristly. How come she was now finding that sort of thing attractive? Must be something in the air.

“There will be time enough to play in the snow, Simon,” Jordan told his son. “I promise.”

“Maybe I’ve forgotten how to ski,” Simon complained, and his father ruffled his hair.

“Then you’ll have fun learning it again.”

Simon tore off again.

“Is he behaving in school?” Jordan asked. “He’s got so much energy…”

“Yeah, he’s fine.” Right, she reminded herself and stood up straight, folding her arms on her chest. This was her student’s father. It wasn’t professional to stare at his lips and wonder if he was a good kisser. “He’s not the quietest one in my class, I’ll admit, but he’s a good kid. Very bright and inquisitive, too.”

“Yes.” Jordan stared after his son, wistfulness in his face. “I wish I had more time with him. There’s so much of his life that I miss. Sometimes I don’t see him for as long as two weeks and it actually seems he’s grown since I last saw him.”

She made a sound of sympathy. “I know. That’s what happens with so many kids after a divorce. It’s inevitable, I suppose.”

“We’re not divorced,” Jordan said. “I was never married to his mother.”

“Oh.” She shook her head. “Sorry. He bears your name and everything—I just assumed.”

“Of course. Glad to hear you didn’t know. That must mean Simon isn’t teased about it in school.”

“Not at all—well, not that I’m aware of. Of course, teachers don’t see everything, but I don’t think anybody’s teased about being illegit…ah…well, nobody’s teased about things like that anymore. And his mother and stepfather came to Open Night, so he had two parents there…” She trailed off at the look on Jordan’s face. “Oops.”

Jordan swore under his breath. “Don’t get me wrong—I think it’s wonderful he has a good stepfather…. And I want them to be a complete family…. I try not to complain about it but sometimes it really feels like they’re trying to exclude me. It’s ‘better’ that I don’t attend this and that, it would just be confusing to Simon…”

“Nobody can replace you in Simon’s life.”

“His stepfather has been raising him since he was four years old.”

“You’re his father. Anyone can see he adores you! You should come to school functions too. A lot of kids have three or four parents there. If there’s anything today’s kids know all about, it’s the complexities of the post-nuclear family.”

“Post-nuclear family?”

“It’s a genuine scientific term,” she said defensively.

“If it’s anything like post-modernism, I don’t like it.”

She peered at him. He was joking. Right? Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. She wasn’t used to interpreting these kinds of dry ironic remarks. “Well—post-nuclear is as good a description as any, I guess,” she said. “And you’re doing fine as a post-nuclear father. Don’t worry about Simon. He’ll be fine.”

Jordan chuckled. “Thanks for defending me, Hailey. His mother seems to think my dogs and the other animals are more an attraction for Simon than I am.”

Hailey pictured the petite dark-haired lady she’d met at school. She’d seemed nice. This was not nice. “She said that to you?”

“It sort of slipped out, she didn’t mean to be cruel.” He shrugged. “We have an okay relationship, no fights—but it’s obvious she wishes her husband was Simon’s father instead of me.”

“Has it been long since you two broke up?”

“Yeah. Cynthia didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was four months along. We’d split up a couple of months before.” He shrugged again. “She didn’t think there was any point in trying to work things out just for the sake of the child, and in retrospect she was probably right.”

“Don’t let her push you away from your son. Don’t let anybody do that.”

“No. I won’t.”

They were silent for a while, watching the child and the cat play. Both of them came running, as they did every few minutes, and this time Simon climbed up on the fence and boasted, “Daddy is coming to school next week!”

“Right, I heard something about that. You talk to the kids about animals. That’s already next week?”

“Yeah. It’s been going on for several years. The kids also visit my clinic once a year, in small groups.”

Next week! She’d thought she had more time. She wasn’t at all sure how she felt about Jordan invading her safe, neutral school environment. While she kept him on the other side of the fence—literally—things had been going fine. She really didn’t need him to invade her thoughts at work. “I see. Sounds like…” She had been about to say fun, but as Simon had wandered off again she changed it to reflect her true feelings. “Sounds like utter chaos! How do the animals react? They’re sick to begin with, aren’t they?”

“I wouldn’t do this if it traumatized or hurt the animals.” He seemed almost offended. “Only two or three kids go in at a time, and they receive a stern lecture beforehand on the dos and don’ts. We never have any problems. The kids know the consequence—no visit next year if they misbehave.”

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