If It Didn't Suck....

While I was dating profusely there was a woman I had met named Stacey. She said she was a nanny working in Park Slope. We spoke on the phone for several hours, several times. I decided to meet her but the times, and situation of the meet would change, so I started to think she was playing games but decided to give her another chance.

She said that the family had taken an extended vacation and she could not get away, and I said it would be all right to meet her whenever she had time, I would not mind a "coffee" meeting as opposed to a date date. She decided to meet me the next day at a coffee house in Park Slope which is rife with such establishments. She told me the name and location of the place and told me what she would be wearing. We had met on line and did not exchange pictures, or she didn't send me one. I sent her one and she still wanted to meet, so I figured I had a shot.

As I entered the place she called to me. She was wearing an entirely different outfit and she was sitting with a small boy of about four or five years old.
"Doug?" she inquired.
"Stacey?"
The kid walked up to me and smiled. "Hi HUG!!" And he proceeded to hug me.

I shook off the awkward moment and said hello to the boy and before I sat she told me she had to get back to the house because she was expecting an important phone call. She asked if I could walk them there since it was only around the corner. I did. Reluctantly.

At the apartment I sat on the couch and entertained the boy, named Matthew, while she ironed and performed some errands. The place was in disarray, but not dirty. I wondered if her job involved cleaning as well, if so she should be docked.

I became increasingly more uncomfortable and said I had to go.
"No HUG don't go." Matthew said. He then hugged me while I was on the couch, trying to get up, and I realized in that moment, albeit an infinitesimally fleeting one, why parents love their children. I felt warm, and loved unconditionally and wanted to know what I could do to make this child feel better. I wanted to please this child. So I stayed another hour, and we ate Pizza and talked.

Eventually I left. There was something odd about Stacey, and there was no chemistry whatsoever, at least on my part, and when I left I did promise to call, or visit again, more so I feel for Matthews sake than hers, or even myself.

When I did call her she would play games with me by putting him on and letting him ask me, Hug, when I was coming over. Eventually I had to stop calling. Stacey ultimately revealed that Matt was her child and while she was a nanny that was her apartment and not her employers she had taken me too that evening.

I wondered what she had wanted from me or what I could have gotten out of the relationship. Most of all I wondered what happened to the bright eyed young cherubic faced child that mistook my name and called me Hug.