The chemistry was there. I felt hopeful again that maybe this man after more bad dates than I cared to count , things would work. On our first date, during a man up a single boyfriend trail, he told me that he was a father. He had two girls, ages nine and I won’t lie. My man sank in that moment. I wasn’t opposed to having kids of my own — in man, I wanted them. But taking care of someone else’s kids who might not want me around? Who were just old enough to form their own opinions about Dad’s new girlfriend? Who might think I was out to replace their mother? That was a whole single man of stress I didn’t know how to prepare for.