His brow furrows.“Excuse me?”
“That’s not really a thing that you can do, as a parent.From the moment your child’s born, you come second.”
He blinks.
“I mean, I think it’s one of the reasons it’s good to have kids.You occasionally meet someone like Samantha who puts others first even without having kids, but most humans tend to get pretty self-absorbed unless they’ve had children.They teach you to focus on other stuff.”
“Other stuff?”He scrunches his nose.“Like changing diapers?”
I don’t bother to continue with my line of questioning while we each order our pizza.But when the smiling man behind the counter hands us our steaming hot slices, and we duck outside to sit at a tiny table on the street, I can’t help it.
“Babies and kids aren’t just about changing diapers.I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of drudgery, especially at the beginning, and I’m a little relieved to be out of that stage, if I’m being honest.But I just read this interesting study out of one of the Ivy League schools.”I wave my hand.“I can find it and send it to you if you want, but they were studying people who were close to dying—sick, in end of life care—and they found that the people who were the most happy, the people who were satisfied and had the most joy, were the ones who hadlovedthe most, not the ones who hadbeen lovedthe most.The number one indicator of how satisfied you’ll be with your life is how much you love.So having kids wasn’t really about them at all.”I smile.“It’s about me.”
“So, if the converse is true, my life must be pretty sad.”Cillian’s staring at his pizza.
He can’t see that I take a bite of pizza so I don’t have to agree with him.It’s pretty patronizing, I realize, for me to think that his life is less happy without any children in it than it would bewiththem.
But I still think it might be true.
Maybe I’m wrong, but from my perspective, that’s how I feel.
He changes the subject to the horse show, then to the hotel, and then to my plans for the Halloween party.It’s a relief, because things were getting a little too real for a minute.
“Last week, I had a client who listed her cottage.”
“Okay,” I say.
“Because it smelled like her aunt.”
“Excuse me?”
He nods.“Yep, she told me to list the cottage she’s lived in for three years, because the smell, quote, ‘reminds her of the aunt she hated.’”
“Did you ask her why it suddenly bothers her now?”
“Of course I did!”Cillian smiles.“Apparently her aunt died, and she’s convinced that she’shauntingthe place, making it smell like menthol.”
“No way.”
He shrugs.“She’s one of my best clients.Never lived in the same place more than three years.”
I’m having an idea.“And she always sells the first place and buys the next through you?”
“Yep, has for almost twenty years now.”
“Single?”
“Does it matter?”He frowns.
“I’m just wondering if she’s ever flirted with you.”I can’t help it.I have my suspicions.
“She’s almost sixty.”
“A girl can dream,” I say.
He laughs.“No way.”His brow furrows again.“Though, she is pretty well-off, and I wouldn’t put it past her to use me to buy or sell because she’s bored.The designer she uses to redecorate is an old friend of mine, and he’s pretty good-looking, too.”
“I knew it,” I say.
