“Thanks again for inviting me out tonight. This place looks amazing, I’m already looking forward to the gelato for dessert.” Oh, me too. I’ve got my eye on that double chocolate flavor. “I was thinking that or one of the berry ones. The chocolate does sound good though. You’d get along great with my daughter, she’s a total chocoholic.” Oh, you have a daughter? “Yeah, I do, actually. Her name is Paisley, she’s about to turn 7. I’m a single mom.” Oh, wow. OK. I mean, that’s great. “It’s OK, I know that might be kind of surprising. You can ask me more if you want to, I’m happy to talk about her.” Well, I guess...how come you didn’t tell me earlier? “Well, it wasn’t really something I was going to bring up on a first date. I would never try to hide her from you, but I wanted to get to know you a little more first. We’ve been getting along really well though, so I thought I’d just let you know.” Yeah, I guess that makes sense. OK, well… what’s she like? If she’s anything like her mom, I bet she’s great. “Haha, thanks. She is pretty awesome. She’s in first grade now, and she loves science. She’s telling everyone she wants to be a vet and she’s absolutely dying for a dog, but I told her I definitely can’t handle that right now, haha. Maybe when she’s older though.” That was definitely me growing up. My sister and I wanted a puppy so bad, eventually my mom caved. We were little terrors, so I can see where she was coming from, haha. “I can picture you just being so stubborn about that. Yeah, you two would definitely get along.” I don’t know if it’s too early for this, but I’d love to meet her whenever you’re ready. “Well, she just started soccer, and I think her first game is in a few weeks. You could come to that, if you wanted?” Yeah, that’d be great. Also, I was just wondering… but I’m not sure how to bring this up... “It’s OK, you can go ahead. As a single mom, I get asked just about everything you can imagine haha.” Well… you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I’m just curious about her dad. Is he in the picture? “It’s OK, I can answer that. He’s not. We had a really short relationship, and we both decided it was better if I raised her on my own.” Wow, I could tell you were a strong person before, but now I can really see it. “It’s all Paisley, really. She’s made me into a much better person than I ever thought I could be.” Well, she sounds amazing. I can’t wait to meet her. And thanks for telling me, and answering me when I asked that...I hope it wasn’t rude. I really appreciate you telling me about her. “I’m glad I did. I think you guys are really gonna hit it off.”