First comes love.
Then comes marriage.
Then comes a-
Unfortunately, life is not a checklist, and there's no white picket fences and baby carriages. After a failed long and stable relationship, Arryn Rivera tries her hand at online dating and gets mo...
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Medicine Man's wife ended up canceling their date five minutes before they were set to meet. She was a bit dejected, but on the plus side, at least she hadn't wasted her time with him. The last thing she needed was a cheater. Dazed, she walked across the street to the park after doing a little junk food therapy.
The park was filled with mothers and their children sharing playdates. They appeared perfect and content. Toddlers full of innocence. Young wives married to the love of their life. Or not. Maybe they weren't happy. Perhaps they'd not found their perfect person, but simply settled. She couldn't criticize them for that. Finding the ideal person was a pipe dream. Of all her dates, not one of them she liked enough to warrant a second date. This was a terrible way to end her online dating experience—rejected. Maybe that was the universe telling her to give up on the natural sequence of things—love, marriage, baby carriage.
Depression came in waves, ebbing between her consumption of donuts purchased on her way home from Medicine Man's infidelity. She still couldn't believe it.
She stuffed a bite of chocolate-glazed goodness into her mouth. Pulling the box of Krispy Kremes closer, she waved her hand over the contents, as if choosing the right one produced a prize, and then settled on the jelly-filled cream puff. Strawberry filling squirted as she bit into it, dropping onto the top of the carton. She scooped the glob up with her finger and licked it clean.
She hated being judged. Her mom furnished plenty of that. The wife had messaged her on Medicine Man's account, cussing her out for being a homewrecking whore, even if her husband was cheating with oblivious women. Arsenic and Old Lace followed Arryn into the kitchen and twined around her ankles. She looked down at them. "You don't know how lucky you are. A little surgery, and you don't give a rats ass about making any babies." Old Lace licked Arsenic's face. "Well, even when you cared, it was only a few times a year. Find a guy. Mate. Move on. You girls have the right idea."
Arryn took another bite, then mulled over what she'd said. Maybe that was it. Plenty of single mothers. Of course, not all of them intended to be that way, but surely plenty of them did. Only—before the thought finished forming, a tap at the door got her attention. She went to open it, carrying the donuts with her.
Yennefer blew in as if being chased. "What about the Medicine guy? How'd that turn out?"
"Come in."
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I'm in a hurry. I left the shop under the care of that new high school girl that Linette and I hired, and I'm afraid she'll burn the place down somehow."
"You could have just texted."
Yen waved it off. "Yeah, but I was running errands for the store on this side of town anyway. So? Tell me."
Before Arryn could answer, Darcy threw open the door and breezed in holding a greasy McDonald's bag. "I took a late lunch so I can live vicariously through you. How was your date?" She walked to the counter, sat on a stool, and lifted a kid's meal from the sack. "When can we meet him?"
