The Dating Resolution. Hannah Bernard

know all about, it’s the complexities of the post-nuclear family.”

      “Post-nuclear family?”

      “It’s a genuine scientific term,” she said defensively.

      “If it’s anything like post-modernism, I don’t like it.”

      She peered at him. He was joking. Right? Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. She wasn’t used to interpreting these kinds of dry ironic remarks. “Well—post-nuclear is as good a description as any, I guess,” she said. “And you’re doing fine as a post-nuclear father. Don’t worry about Simon. He’ll be fine.”

      Jordan chuckled. “Thanks for defending me, Hailey. His mother seems to think my dogs and the other animals are more an attraction for Simon than I am.”

      Hailey pictured the petite dark-haired lady she’d met at school. She’d seemed nice. This was not nice. “She said that to you?”

      “It sort of slipped out, she didn’t mean to be cruel.” He shrugged. “We have an okay relationship, no fights—but it’s obvious she wishes her husband was Simon’s father instead of me.”

      “Has it been long since you two broke up?”

      “Yeah. Cynthia didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was four months along. We’d split up a couple of months before.” He shrugged again. “She didn’t think there was any point in trying to work things out just for the sake of the child, and in retrospect she was probably right.”

      “Don’t let her push you away from your son. Don’t let anybody do that.”

      “No. I won’t.”

      They were silent for a while, watching the child and the cat play. Both of them came running, as they did every few minutes, and this time Simon climbed up on the fence and boasted, “Daddy is coming to school next week!”

      “Right, I heard something about that. You talk to the kids about animals. That’s already next week?”

      “Yeah. It’s been going on for several years. The kids also visit my clinic once a year, in small groups.”

      Next week! She’d thought she had more time. She wasn’t at all sure how she felt about Jordan invading her safe, neutral school environment. While she kept him on the other side of the fence—literally—things had been going fine. She really didn’t need him to invade her thoughts at work. “I see. Sounds like…” She had been about to say fun, but as Simon had wandered off again she changed it to reflect her true feelings. “Sounds like utter chaos! How do the animals react? They’re sick to begin with, aren’t they?”

      “I wouldn’t do this if it traumatized or hurt the animals.” He seemed almost offended. “Only two or three kids go in at a time, and they receive a stern lecture beforehand on the dos and don’ts. We never have any problems. The kids know the consequence—no visit next year if they misbehave.”