“Thank you.” Craig slammed his hand down on the bar. “That right there! That is the appropriate reaction.”
“Okay, so obviously I don’t get it.” Joss seemed to unconsciously lean across the bar toward her boyfriend. Braden automatically linked their hands together.
Craig ignored their lovey-dovey shit. “Do you know how dangerous dating sites can be?”
“They’re not too bad,” Jo said.
It was not lost on him that he was a lucky man who got to work alongside two stunning women he had a laugh with, but right now they were being deliberately obtuse and annoying. “Not too bad?”
She shrugged. “My friend found her boyfriend on a dating website.”
“This isn’t your friend. This is my mum.”
“I didn’t realize you were a momma’s boy,” Joss teased.
“Jocelyn,” Braden murmured in warning.
She sighed. “What? What am I not getting?”
“It’s weird for a man to think of his mother being a woman. It’s even stranger for your mother to be dating. It’s concerning for your mother to be dating via the Internet, where there are millions of fucking weirdos pretending to be people they are not,” Braden said.
Her eyes lit up with understanding. “Oh. Right. I see.” She patted Craig on the shoulder. “She’ll be fine.”
“Aye.” Jo patted his other shoulder. “Don’t worry about her. Just make sure she tells someone where and when she’s going if she decides to meet up with a guy.”
He nodded. “I’ve already told her to tell me.”
“Well there’s nothing more you can do, I’m afraid,” Joss said in her usual straightforward manner. “She’s a grown woman and she has a right to make these kinds of decisions. Has it been a while since she’s been on a date?”
“Ten years.”
“Oh hell yeah.” She scrunched up her nose, “You are going let your mom do this.”
“Ten years,” Jo whispered, her eyes wide. “God, I hope I never have to go ten years without getting some.”
“Right,” Joss murmured, shooting Braden a look.
Braden grinned at her. “You have nothing to worry about on that front, babe.”
The thought of his mother doing what they were talking about doing and using the Internet to find men to do it with . . . “Okay, subject change. You bastards just made it worse.”
Braden shot him an amused but apologetic look. “What would you like to talk about instead?”
Feeling uncharacteristically agitated, Craig just shook his head. “I think I’m just going to take my break.”
* * *
When he returned from break the bar was a little busier, and he was feeling somewhat better about the whole situation. Joss was right. His mother was a grown woman and he had to let her do this. He’d be there to protect her if she needed him.
As Jo passed him to take her break, she touched his arm. “I’m sorry about earlier. And I think it’s really nice you worry so much about your mum.”
He gave her a peck on the cheek. “We’re all cool, darlin’.”
She smiled, her stance relaxing a little before disappearing into the staff area.
“So . . . you’re really touchy about your mom,” Joss called down the bar to him as he poured a customer a draft of lager. Joss was anything but sensitive. He shot her a filthy look and she laughed. “I’m just saying . . . this is another side to you. It’s nice.” She shrugged and turned back to her customer.
He shook his head, wearing a small smile. Women. He’d never fully understand them. And that was all part of the appeal.