Page 35 of British Daddy to Go

She rubs my back gently. “You’re not. You’re an adult. At this point, age really is just a number.”

I turn my head to meet her eyes. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

Jenna sighs. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s totally normal, but I get it. You can’t help who you fall for. If you like him and he likes you, it doesn’t matter how much older he is.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Maggie. The only thing is… you have different life experiences, you know? And what about kids? I know you want kids, and your parents definitely want you to have kids. Will Sean want to be a father at his age?”

“My parents were older when they had me.”

She nods. “That’s true. It’s just something you’ll have to talk about. Does he know how young you are?”

Does he? I replay our conversations in my head. “Yeah, he does. I told him when I mentioned how my parents didn’t know we were going out. Oh no. He probably thinks I’m a child!”

Tears form in my eyes. How could I be so naïve? This will never work between us!

“Hey… calm down, Maggie. Just because he’s older doesn’t mean it’s the end of your relationship. You have to openly communicate with him. That’s all it takes.”

I hiccup through my sobs and try to nod. “You’re just trying to make me feel better again.”

“Maggie, when have I ever told you what you wanted to hear instead of telling you the truth?”

“You always tell me the truth, even when I don’t want to hear it.”

I don’t have to see her face to know that she’s smirking. “Exactly, and this is no different. All you have to do is talk to Sean about it. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” I promise. How hard can it be to have a conversation about our age difference? I think the biggest problem will be keeping our hands off of each other long enough to talk.

“Good. You’re going to be fine, Maggie.”

I groan. “There’s something else, too.”

“If you tell me he has a kid your age, I don’t think I’ll be able to spin it.”

This makes me laugh. “No kids. We actually did talk about that over the weekend.”

“Then there’s no problem we can’t fix.”

“How about my parents finally choosing my future husband?”

Jenna goes totally silent. “What are you talking about?”

I sit up against Jenna’s headboard and drop my spoon into the ice cream carton. Just thinking about my parents’ scheming makes me lose my appetite.

When my parents sat me down after church yesterday to tell me their big surprise, I thought maybe I’d get more freedom or that they were letting me get my own place. Instead, they’d dropped the ultimate bombshell.

“They’ve been talking since I was eighteen about finding the perfect, good, Catholic boy to court me. Since they never actually had any prospects, I figured they’d dropped it or given up. Yesterday morning, they told me they had a surprise for me. They’ve chosen the guy I’m going to marry. We have a date on Wednesday.”

“Oh my God! Maggie, how could you hold out on me?! Who is the guy?”

“His name is Randall, and he’s awful. His parents are in Bible study with mine. We’ve only met a few times, but he seems totally brainwashed by our parents’ beliefs. And he was homeschooled his whole life!”

Jenna takes my hand and squeezes it. “This is awful. Why don’t you tell your parents you don’t want to date Randall?”

I gape at her. “You’re joking, right?”

“Come on, Maggie, you have to disobey your parents eventually.”