The Dancer

5

By Wednesday, I was riddled with anxiety. I hadn't been on an actual date in a long time. Take away the fact that I had never been on a date with a man like Nicolae. He was established and already a father. I was used to dating men that acted more like college boys. While the age difference wasn't huge between Nicolae and the other men I dated, the maturity level was. I had a feeling he didn't date often. My guess was because of Katerina. Truth be told, most women around my age didn't want to deal with a man that already had a child. While that wasn't ideal for me, I didn't hate the idea. I wondered if he told Katerina. I wondered what would happen if this went anywhere. Would she resent me? Would she think I was just nice to her to get close to him? I hoped she wouldn't think that low of me. I had just gained her trust and I wasn't willing to lose it.

Carol dug through my closet with me in search of something to wear. I didn't wear normal clothes often and when I did it was jeans and a t-shirt. I didn't even know where he was taking me. He had called me in the morning while he was at work to make sure we were still on for tonight and told me he would pick me up.

I didn't even think to ask where we were going.

I didn't know if I should wear heels or not. Wedges seemed like a good compromise. I hoped we weren't going anywhere fancy. With Nicolae, I really had no idea. There were times I knew he had business dinners at nice restaurants, but then there was the one night I went out with him and Alexandru.

"How about this one?" Carol asked.

I glanced at the coral dress in her hands. "Too bright. This is pointless," I complained.

"Be quiet. I'm sure between the two of us you can find something," she scolded.

"Do you think this is a mistake?"

"Going on a date with him?" She asked.

"Yeah. I mean, he has a daughter."

"So?"

"So what if she hates me for this?"

Carol rolled her amber eyes at my question. "Does she hate you right now?"

"No," I admitted. "But she could. She has that weird thing about women that spend too much time around him."

"Maybe she just knows how to spot a leech."

I paused as I considered that. Katerina was, without a doubt, extremely observant. Maybe she hated other women because she could see their motivation for wanting Nicolae and there was a lot of motivation. He was handsome, well off, polite, funny, smart, and the list went on. He was the whole package and he asked me on a date. He could have picked anyone, but he picked me. I wondered why.

I shook the question away as I kept digging for something to wear. "I guess. Still, I don't think I'm ready for that."

"For taking on someone else's daughter?"

"I honestly don't know how you did it and I was younger than her."

"You were a bit of a nightmare," she joked.

"I was not!"

"Okay, Holly. Whatever you say," she laughed.

"Yeah, just keep looking."

She finally pulled out a navy chiffon dress with long sleeves. I forgot I even had it. It was a looser fitting dress with a deep v in the front and back. Footed tights and and a closed heel made the outfit. Done.

"You're not planning on having sex with him tonight, are you?"

And that was our relationship summed up in one sentence. Carol and I shared everything, but when I was younger I knew damn well she was a parent and not a friend even though I could tell her anything.