"I'm so glad you came in today," she said. "I need to talk to you."
"Is something wrong? I thought the mayor approved the last round of changes."
"Oh no, dear. This is something more personal. Let's go into your office."
As we entered my office, Janice closed my door behind her.
"I hope you don't mind my asking, but I haven't seen Gideon around much lately. Is everything okay between the two of you?"
"Gideon? Of course, he's just busy."
"So you're still dating?"
"Dating? Oh no, we never dated, we're just friends."
"Mmm hmm," she said as she nodded knowingly. "That's a shame. I always thought you were perfect together. So does that mean you're available?"
I looked at her suspiciously as my nose scrunched involuntarily.
"Yes, I guess I am. Why?" I asked.
"Have I ever told you about my son Taylor? He's thirty and I know I'm biased, but he's very handsome." She pulled out her phone, showed me a photo of her son, then looked at me expectantly.
"Yes, he is a very handsome man," I said.
"He had a date back out at the last minute for tonight, my friend's niece. And since I set that up, I'm feeling bad that his date canceled on him. Are you busy tonight?"
"Wait, you're asking me to go on a blind date with your son?"
"Umm…yes." Her face contorted like she bit into a lemon. "This is weird, isn't it?"
"A little," I said with a laugh.
"He's a doctor and he doesn't get much time to date, but I'll be honest, I really want some grandchildren so I'm pushing him along." She laughed. "I had to beg him to go on this date, and I know next time it'll be even harder to convince him. Please say you'll go."
As her eyes pleaded with me, I tried to think of a reason to say no. I didn't know if I wanted a boyfriend. Sometimes I thought I had one in Gideon, but this date had nothing to do with that. This date with Janice's son was just meeting someone and going out. There were no expectations that it was going to go anywhere. It didn't sound like he was even looking for a girlfriend, and I definitely wasn't looking for a boyfriend. It might be the perfect way to just get out and distract myself with something other than Gideon.
"Well, I guess I don't have anything else to do tonight," I said. "Maybe a night out is just what the doctor ordered."
She laughed. "See, my son is perfect. What woman wouldn't want to go out with a handsome doctor?" She clapped her hands excitedly and then hugged me. "You do want kids, right?"
"Whoa, slow down, I'm just meeting him," I said.
"I know, I know," she said. "I just have a really good feeling about this."
Janice gave me the details before she went back to her office. As I packed up to go home, Gideon stormed into my office.
"You're going on a date?" he roared.
"I guess news travels fast around here," I said, unsure why he seemed so angry.
"How could you?"
"Janice needed some help and I figured it might be nice to get out." I shrugged.
"If you wanted to go out, you should've told me. You know I'd take you anywhere you want to go."
"It just came up. I didn't plan it," I said. "What is going on, Gideon? I don't understand why you're acting like this. We're just friends, remember?"
