“You’re being ridiculous. It was just an idea that Estelle and I had. We thought you two might hit it off.”

Estelle being my mother’s tennis partner at the club. I’m sure this plan was hatched post victory over dirty martinis with the vision of chubby-cheeked grandbabies dancing in their heads.

“Because we have so much in common?” I practically snort.

My second drink of the evening was the only thing that got me through listening to Kristin, Krista, or was it Kristy’s sorority house drama. Kristy, I’m seventy-five percent sure. Something about her best friend’s boyfriend dating another girl behind her back, and they were all roommates, I think. Shit, I give myself props for listening that long.

Estelle’s daughter is the latest in a long line of set ups my mother has attempted. Kristy is a twenty-two-year-old socialite who just graduated college and is looking to find a husband and become a housewife. Good luck to her, because I’m not that guy.

I don’t have time for personal exploits. The sole reason for accepting today’s invitation is for business purposes. Not so my mother can play matchmaker.

I would think my mother would be running out of female relatives of her friends and acquaintances, but being the warm and friendly extrovert that she is, she will likely never run out of fresh-faced females to dangle in front of me. No disrespect, the women are nice, I’m sure. They would make another man happy and content, but that is not the focus of my life right now.

Closing a deal with Voltaire Telecom is my sole focus. Why can’t my mother see that my attention needs to be on the company my father started? The company that after my father’s death, my Uncle Leo, a delightfully charming man with no business sense, slowly ran into the ground in my late teens and early twenties. A company that she still holds the majority stock in and has entrusted me to run.

My mother side-eyes me. I can tell she’s waiting for me to cave on this. To be the obedient son she raised. That’s the thing. I have always conceded and done what I was supposed to. I’ve gotten good grades, gone to the right schools, taken over the family business. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let my mother interfere with my personal life. I’m thirty-two years old and I have no intention of settling down. Especially not for someone my mother handpicked for me.

“It’s wedding season, Barrett.”