Dr. Daddy's Virgin

"I did. Seems her mom was...well, she was an alcoholic, apparently. She walked out on him and Jane."

"What?! Wow, she must be one cold-hearted bitch. No way I could ever leave my kids," Kerry stated adamantly.

"Right? Well anyway, as horrible as that is, at least Jane has a loving father."

"I guess. So, what have you and he been doing? Details, remember?" she teased.

"Well, we were supposed to go on a date last night, but he, uh, he stood me up – kinda."

"Say what? What kinda decent guy stands a girl up on the first date? And if that’s the case, why the hell are you smiling like that?"

"No, no, it was just a big mix-up. He got an emergency call and had to leave 15 minutes before our date started. And he forgot his phone, so he couldn't call and let me know about it."

"Hmm. What kind of problems does a high school principal have that are emergencies on a Friday night?" Kerry asked.

"Actually, there's some pretty serious stuff going on at his school. There's a massive drug problem."

"Well…shouldn’t the cops be handling that?"

"He’s very involved. That’s all I know. And then his daughter got sick, and he had to rush her to the hospital."

"Okay, that's a legit reason…and terrible. How is she?"

"She'll be okay, but they are keeping her to get the meds in her through an IV. He and I got to spend some time together this morning. He brought me flowers to apologize, then we chatted a lot, and uh..."

Kerry gave me a knowing glare. "And uh what? Spill it!"

"He kissed me," I admitted.

"And?! How was it?!"

"It was...yeah. Let's just say he's a really, really good kisser."

"Judging by the look on your face, I bet he is! And, what else? Are there any other juicy details I need to know about?"

I laughed. "No, nothing else you need to know. But he is going to take me on another date – and this one he won't stand me up for."

"He'd better not! A guy should only get one free pass when it comes to stuff like that."

"Oh, believe me, he knows; he knows."

"Well, I'm really happy for you," she said, smiling. "I mean, it's been so long since you've, you know...since there's been a man in your life; and this one, he sounds like a decent guy."

/> "He really is, Kerry. At least that's the impression I have of him."

"Well, I hope your impression is accurate. I seriously do. So, when do Carl and I get to meet this hunk, huh?"

"Let's not move too fast now!" I said with a laugh. "But, you know you guys are welcome here anytime."

"I wouldn't mind getting down there for a weekend, actually. Maybe we'll make a plan to come down soon."

Despite the light-hearted nature of our conversation, something more serious was gnawing at the back of my mind, and I had to ask Kerry about it.

"Kerry, did Carl hear anything else about Simon's whereabouts?" I asked.

She frowned and shook her head.

"No, I'm afraid not. He really has gone off the radar. Carl has been calling people and looking online, but I don't know...it's like he's just vanished into thin air."