Not Another Bachelor

1

It's disheartening when your own mother refuses to listen to you. Bradley clutched the glass in her hand, as she waited for the guests to arrive.

"I have better things to do, Mom."

Her mother looked at her with disbelief. "You're just like your father sometimes. Work and work and even more work."

Bradley didn't like to be labelled a workaholic like her father. The truth is that she didn't like her job. But with her non-existent personal life and no one to share that life with, she managed to focus all of her frustration into her role at her father's company.

"We both know that I'm not interested in whoever you've once again chosen for me."

"You can't dislike him until you meet him, Bradley."

Bradley knew that she wouldn't be attracted to any man who walked into her life. But her parents were yet to figure it out. "It'll just be another dinner to me, Mom. I'm not interested in dating anyone you have in mind."

"You've always been stubborn. You're almost thirty, Bradley. You can't hold off marriage forever."

"Marriage?" Bradley leaned her glass of whiskey to her lips. "You can't get me to date anyone. How do you think you'll manage getting me married?"

"It'll happen. No one stays single forever."

"I don't need a man to make my life better, Mom. The sooner you realize that, the—"

"Bradley, let's just get through dinner without you making a fool of yourself."

Bradley mumbled a profanity under her breath and got up to refill her glass. "Sure."

"And don't drink too much. "

"Polly, cut her some slack. We've had a rough week at the office," her dad said when he walked into the room. "Who's this guy anyway? Not someone from the country club again, I hope."

"I know his mother from a charity. Look, if we don't help her, she'll never find someone to settle down with," she told her husband.

Frank observed his daughter with her overfilled glass. "Let's get through tonight. And then no more, Polly. She'll find someone when the time's right."

"Sure," Polly mumbled. "Just to spite me, she might get pregnant by a drummer and have a baby in the back of his truck."

"Mom, that's a far fetch." Bradley looked into her glass, knowing that she needed to tell her parents the truth. But the truth was a hard pill to swallow, especially when her mother didn't know what honesty was.

"Polly, don't be like that." Frank looked into his own glass.

"I'm tired and we have a long day tomorrow," Bradley said. "So I'm not staying long."

Bradley observed her mother's frustration. "They're here. Please be nice tonight, Bradley? I only want what's best for you," she said.

Bradley nodded, unable to believe the sincerity in her mother's words.